The life of an entrepreneur can be an exciting one, full of ups and downs, heartbreaks, and with a little luck and a lot of determination, a rewarding and even lucrative one. But as anybody who has launched a startup before will tell you, getting your business off the ground and into the market takes some serious mettle and a thought-out strategy.

We can’t tell you which industry you should set up shop in, but we can tell you a few things about building out a marketing strategy for your startup that will help set you up for success.

So follow along as we run you through the basics of a startup marketing strategy.

Why is marketing strategy so important?

Your marketing is the way you connect and convey your brand, mission, and product to your customers. You can have the most interesting and unique product or service, but without the right marketing, your launch is going to land with a thud. The right channels, name, colors, content, direct response ads, and more all do their own part toward collectively making your startup shine as bright as that shiny idea first was.

Building a Startup Marketing Strategy

Fortunately, setting your startup marketing strategy doesn’t mean completely reinventing the wheel when it comes to marketing. Some of the same basic principles apply, so let’s walk through them.

1. Setting Goals for Your Marketing

An easy misstep for first-time founders is to boil marketing down to something like, “Alright, let’s build a website and set up some social media profiles.” And while those are certainly good steps for most, they don’t have a clear, underlying goal.

Marketing is a tool for connecting your product and brand to its audience. So depending on what your goals are for your marketing will help you get specific and more effectively strategize. If you’re just looking to gauge the interest in a potential product, the needs for your marketing will be different than if you have a product already and you’re looking to grow your sales.

Yet another marketing goal might be to establish a crystal-clear brand and media presence as a leveraging point for investors or fundraising down the line. Clarity about your goals with marketing strategy

2. Determining Your Target Audience

Who is your product or service for? Kids, teens, women, men, outdoorsy types, car types, pop culture enthusiasts, hiring managers, municipal governments?

It doesn’t matter the industry you’re setting up shop in; your marketing needs to reach the correct audience. Otherwise, you won’t effectively meet your marketing goals. After all, you can’t properly gauge interest in your potential product if you’re showing a Facebook Ad to the wrong people.

Ask your questions to define in clear terms for yourself what issues your product or service is solving, what makes your brand unique from the others out there, and who the ideal person (or business) is for your offering. Answering questions like these will help you filter down your audience from everyone in the known and unknown universe to something much more focused. For example…

Before these questions: “People who have just moved to a new town.”

After these questions: “Homeowners, age 30-49, who aren’t familiar with all the utility, Internet, and other municipal offerings in a new city or neighborhood.”

2. Picking Your Marketing Tools

Think of your marketing tools as where you’ll look to connect with your new target audience. While some things are standard in the modern world, like social media and a website, it’s best to think beyond that.

A few options at your disposal:

• Website
• Email
• Social Media
• Content Marketing & SEO
• Press Releases
• Paid Advertising or Promotion
• Sponsorships
• Offline Promotion

We’re beyond the point where every single startup needs a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But similarly, we’re beyond the point where startups only need a website or email. If your product will be an app targeting homeowners who have recently moved, then Instagram and Facebook ads may give you much better results than buying an email list might. Or perhaps investing in a booth at a swap meet will most efficiently connect your new candle business with the right audience!

Giving Your Startup the Launch It Deserves

The failure rate of startups can be intimidating, regardless of your industry. But with the right strategy, you can work against the odds and give your startup the opportunity for success that it deserves.

Your startup marketing strategy is an opportunity to introduce your company, product, service, or idea to the world and help connect it with the people its designed for. By setting goals, determining your audience, and selecting the channels to use, you’ll give your startup the launch it deserves.

Best of luck! We know you won’t need it.

We can’t tell you which industry you should set up shop in, but we can tell you a few things about building out a marketing strategy for your startup that will help set you up for success.

So follow along as we run you through the basics of a startup marketing strategy.

Why is marketing strategy so important?

Your marketing is the way you connect and convey your brand, mission, and product to your customers. You can have the most interesting and unique product or service, but without the right marketing, your launch is going to land with a thud. The right channels, name, colors, content, direct response ads, and more all do their own part toward collectively making your startup shine as bright as that shiny idea first was.

Building a Startup Marketing Strategy

Fortunately, setting your startup marketing strategy doesn’t mean completely reinventing the wheel when it comes to marketing. Some of the same basic principles apply, so let’s walk through them.

1. Setting Goals for Your Marketing

An easy misstep for first-time founders is to boil marketing down to something like, “Alright, let’s build a website and set up some social media profiles.” And while those are certainly good steps for most, they don’t have a clear, underlying goal.

Marketing is a tool for connecting your product and brand to its audience. So depending on what your goals are for your marketing will help you get specific and more effectively strategize. If you’re just looking to gauge the interest in a potential product, the needs for your marketing will be different than if you have a product already and you’re looking to grow your sales.

Yet another marketing goal might be to establish a crystal-clear brand and media presence as a leveraging point for investors or fundraising down the line. Clarity about your goals with marketing strategy helps you define success and failure.

2. Determining Your Target Audience

Who is your product or service for? Kids, teens, women, men, outdoorsy types, car types, pop culture enthusiasts, hiring managers, municipal governments?

It doesn’t matter the industry you’re setting up shop in; your marketing needs to reach the correct audience. Otherwise, you won’t effectively meet your marketing goals. After all, you can’t properly gauge interest in your potential product if you’re showing a Facebook Ad to the wrong people.

Ask your questions to define in clear terms for yourself what issues your product or service is solving, what makes your brand unique from the others out there, and who the ideal person (or business) is for your offering. Answering questions like these will help you filter down your audience from everyone in the known and unknown universe to something much more focused. For example…

Before these questions: “People who have just moved to a new town”

After these questions: “Homeowners, age 30-49, who aren’t familiar with all the utility, Internet, and other municipal offerings in a new city or neighborhood.”

2. Picking Your Marketing Tools

Think of your marketing tools as where you’ll look to connect with your new target audience. While some things are standard in the modern world, like social media and a website, it’s best to think beyond that.

A few options at your disposal:

• Website
• Email
• Social Media
• Content Marketing & SEO
• Press Releases
• Paid Advertising or Promotion
• Sponsorships
• Offline Promotion

We’re beyond the point where every single startup needs a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But similarly, we’re beyond the point where startups only need a website or email. If your product will be an app targeting homeowners who have recently moved, then Instagram and Facebook ads may give you much better results than buying an email list might. Or perhaps investing in a booth at a swap meet will most efficiently connect your new candle business with the right audience!

Giving Your Startup the Launch It Deserves

The failure rate of startups can be intimidating, regardless of your industry. But with the right strategy, you can work against the odds and give your startup the opportunity for success that it deserves.

Your startup marketing strategy is an opportunity to introduce your company, product, service, or idea to the world and help connect it with the people its designed for. By setting goals, determining your audience, and selecting the channels to use, you’ll give your startup the launch it deserves.

Best of luck! We know you won’t need it.