Starting a new business can be an exciting yet daunting endeavor. With limited resources, startups need to be smart and strategic with their marketing efforts in order to grow their customer base. Implementing low-cost tactics that maximize reach and engagement can provide an affordable way for startups to build brand awareness and drive conversions.

Overview

Launching a startup often means bootstrapping your marketing efforts. Traditional advertising channels like TV, radio, and print ads are usually out of reach for new companies with small marketing budgets. Startups need to focus their efforts on low-cost marketing tactics that allow them to connect with potential customers and build an audience.

The good news is that the digital age provides a plethora of low-cost marketing options for startups. With a solid social media presence, thought leadership content, referral programs, email marketing and more, companies can get their brand and message in front of target audiences without breaking the bank. Capitalizing on these opportunities can help startups gain traction even with limited resources.

Implementing low-cost marketing strategies not only helps startups maximize their budgets, but also provides valuable data and feedback early on. Testing and iterating on various tactics allows startups to see what resonates best with their target customers. The experience gained during the early marketing phase can inform efforts as the company scales.

Social Media Marketing

One of the most valuable marketing channels for startups is social media. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok provide an opportunity to build brand awareness, engage with customers, drive traffic, and deliver digital ads with relatively little financial investment.

New brands can leverage social networks to directly interact with target audiences and join relevant conversations. For example, a new mobile app startup regularly shared development updates and beta testing opportunities on its Twitter and Facebook pages. This generated an engaged user base even before launch.

Creating shareable content optimized for various platforms is key. Infographics, behind-the-scenes photos, short videos, and tutorials can all elicit high engagement. Social contests and giveaways are another popular tactic to increase followers and exposure.

“We built our entire business on social media. Getting our content and messaging right for each platform allowed us to build an audience without any ad spend.” – Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx

With a solid social media strategy, startups can establish brand authority and credibility. Consistently engaging followers builds loyalty and retention. Promoted social ads are also relatively affordable, especially when targeted to specific demographics and interests.

Content Marketing

Content marketing entails creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and retain customers. This content is designed to establish a startup as a thought leader and go-to resource for customers in their space. Content can take many forms, including blog posts, videos, podcasts, ebooks, webinars, and more.

The benefit of content marketing is it draws organic traffic through search engines and social media. Startups can position themselves as trusted authorities by consistently providing educational and helpful content. For example, a financial tech startup published weekly blog posts explaining key concepts and developments in investing. This positioned them as finance experts and drove signups.

“We focused all of our early marketing on creating high-quality blog and video content centered around our ideal customers’ interests. That content continues to drive 25-30% of our revenue today.” – Sujan Patel, co-founder of Web Profits

Startups should focus on addressing pain points and unanswered questions in their target customers’ journeys. Optimizing content for related keywords can ensure this content surfaces when customers are searching for solutions. High-quality content that solves problems and engages readers can be a startup’s most powerful marketing asset.

Referral Marketing

Referral programs incentivize existing customers to share a brand with friends and networks. This allows startups to leverage satisfied customers to organically promote and acquire new users. 84% of people trust recommendations from family, colleagues, and friends above all other forms of marketing.

Creating a compelling referral program can accelerate growth for startups. For example, DropBox grew signups by 60% by offering customers free storage space for successful referrals. Similarly, Uber provided riders and drivers referral bonuses in the form of account credits.

The key is making sure the incentive is enticing and easy to share. Coupons, discount codes, cash rewards, free products, entry into contests, and status upgrades are all examples of compelling referral rewards.

“We succeeded by creating an extremely viral referral program. Our users were incentivized to share us as they also got rewards.” – Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox

Startups should make it as simple as possible for satisfied users to spread the word to relevant networks. Tracking codes and links make it easy to attribute signups to referrals. Strong referral programs take advantage of users’ existing connections to drive organic growth.

Email Marketing

Email marketing allows startups to directly reach potential and existing customers. While abusive spam tactics should never be used, coordinating targeted email campaigns is an extremely effective way to engage audiences.

Start by offering an incentive like a discount code or exclusive content to encourage email signups. This gives you permission to market to subscribers. Provide value by sending helpful content, product updates, special promotions, and more through email newsletters and campaigns.

Segment your list to send tailored messages. For example, target recent site visitors who didn’t purchase with an offer, or reach out to engaged subscribers who have been inactive with new content.

“We’ve found email to be the most cost-efficient way to build deeper relationships with customers. Strategic email nurturing campaigns have reduced our customer acquisition costs by 50%.” – Ellen Levy, VP of Marketing at Harbr

Make sure emails are optimized for conversion by highlighting benefits, using effective calls-to-action, and crafting compelling subject lines. A/B test various elements like send times, content, and subject lines. Pay attention to key metrics like open, click through, and conversion rates to continuously refine your approach.

With some research and optimization, email can be one of the most affordable and effective marketing tactics for startups.

Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing refers to using unconventional tactics to create buzz and increase brand awareness. This is ideal for startups that need to make a splash with small budgets.

Examples include PR stunts, flash mobs, interactive displays, sticker bombing, experiential events, and more. Oftentimes these tactics aim to capture attention and get people engaging with and sharing your brand in public spaces.

For example, when launching in New York City, the meditation app Calm distributed lawn signs to residents that read “Keep Calm and Carry On” to increase brand impressions.

“We needed a way to create buzz and intrigue around our app with limited funds. Our guerrilla lawn sign marketing campaign resulted in a 600% increase in downloads from New York.” – Michael Acton Smith, Co-Founder of Calm

Guerrilla marketing requires creativity and boldness. The goal is to do something unique, memorable and shareable on a small budget. This generates brand exposure beyond just the individuals who actively engage with the campaign.

Even a small startup can make a big splash with the right guerrilla marketing initiative. Think outside the box and consider how you can creatively insert your brand into public spaces.

Partnership Marketing

Partnership marketing involves collaborating with other brands and influencers to cross-promote and reach each other’s audiences. This amplifies exposure and builds credibility through affiliations with trusted partners.

Startups can pursue mutually beneficial partnerships with complementary brands in their industry or niche. The key is finding brands that serve a similar target customer but don’t directly compete with your core products or services.

Examples of effective partnerships include:

• Co-creating content or products
• Cross-promoting special offers or discounts
• Sponsoring or attending events together
• Offering bundled products or services
• Promoting on each other’s website or social media
• Sharing customer data and insights

“One of our first big growth levers was forming strategic partnerships with brands in the photography space. Their promotion exposed us to highly targeted new audiences.” – Ben Silberman, CEO of Pinterest

Partnerships should be a win-win – driving value and ROI for both partners. Reach out to brands that would logically benefit from greater exposure to your customer base and explore creative partnerships that drive growth.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Ranking high in search engines is critical for startups looking to drive organic website traffic. With some technical and on-page optimization, startups can boost their rankings and gain more visibility without paying for ads.

Keywords research is the foundation of any SEO strategy. Identify terms and questions your ideal users are searching that relate to your products or services. Once you know your target keywords, you can optimize website pages and content around these terms.

“We focused hard on SEO early on. Optimizing our website for keywords related to computer vision and machine learning allowed us to rank well and build organic traffic.” – Daniela Braga, founder of DefinedCrowd

On-page elements like page titles, headings, image alt text, URL structures, schema markup, and internal linking all impact how search engines view and rank your pages. Producing content like blog posts that target your keywords also signals your relevance for those searches.

Approach SEO as an ongoing process. Continually expand your keyword targeting, produce engaging content, and optimize technical elements. SEO success requires consistency, but the payoff of higher organic traffic makes it well worth the effort.

User-Generated Content

User-generated content from your fans and followers provides free marketing collateral. UGC includes posts, photos, videos, testimonials, ratings, reviews, and more created by your customers.

Consumers place greater trust in UGC than brand-created content. It comes across as more authentic and credible, providing influential peer validation.

Startups should actively encourage UGC by:

• Running contests for customers to share photos, videos, etc
• Giving discounts for leaving ratings and reviews
• Featuring UGC assets on your website and social media channels
• Making it easy to share content with and about your brand

Curating and displaying UGC adds customer perspectives that visitors find valuable.

“Our customers produce amazing photos and videos showcasing our products. By reposting this UGC, we build credibility while also engaging our users.” – Kelsie Besinger, Social Media Manager at YETI

UGC essentially allows startups to leverage satisfied customers to create marketing materials on their behalf. It’s a win-win, providing customers an outlet while supplying startups with powerful assets.

Low-Cost Advertising

While major advertising mediums may be unrealistic for most young startups, low-cost advertising options do exist. These present an opportunity to test out paid promotion to complement organic marketing efforts.

Some options include:

Social Media Ads

• Highly targeted by location, interests, behaviors, etc.
• Low minimum spends (as little as $5 daily)
• Flexible campaign options like traffic, conversions, video views

Search Engine Marketing

• Contextual text ads on Google, Bing, etc.
• Only pay when your ad is clicked
• Can target by keywords and searcher intent signals

Affiliate Marketing

• Only pay affiliates when they drive an action like a sale
• Allows you to tap into an existing audience
• Cost per acquisition model

Retargeting Ads

• Serve ads to previous visitors after they’ve left your site
• Keeps your brand top of mind and drives conversions
• Low cost per impression or click

“We tested out low-budget social media ads, SEM, and retargeting when we launched. For less than $100 a day, we were able to generate 100+ new customer signups.” – Ryan Deiss, founder of DigitalMarketer

The key is starting small, tracking performance, and iterating to optimize returns. Take advantage of affordable paid channels to complement organic marketing efforts.

Conclusion

Launching and growing a startup takes creativity and perseverance, especially when it comes to marketing. While advertising budgets may be restricted, strategic utilization of low-cost tactics allows startups to effectively get the word out.

With social media engagement, thought leadership content, referral programs, email marketing, guerrilla campaigns, partnerships, organic SEO, user generated content, and low-cost ads, companies can build credibility and connect with audiences in their space.

Testing out a variety of affordable marketing tactics optimizes the chances of discovering which resonate best with target customers. Doubling down on what works can provide startups with a sustainable growth strategy, even with limited resources.

As succinctly put by marketing guru Seth Godin:

“Instead of wasting time and money trying to reach everyone, find the tightest niche and own them with stellar marketing.”

Implementing smart guerrilla marketing tactics focused on very specific audiences is the best bet for startups. Use the strategies outlined to identify and convert your ideal customers. With consistent effort, your startup can build momentum and scale new marketing heights.