In the early stages of growing a business, budgets are limited, timing is crucial, and speed paramount. As a fellow founder and a marketer new to the scene, I've been exploring cost-effective marketing strategies for emailemu.com, focusing on options that are free or relatively inexpensive.
Based on numerous discussions with marketers and my own experimentation, I've compiled a list of strategies that have proven effective.Z
1. Sharing Your Journey While Building in Public:
Utilize your social media platforms to gradually grow an audience by finding a unique perspective and creating content tailored to your audience. Incorporate hashtags like #buildinpublic to attract community attention. Share your origins, the challenges you've overcome, and your motivations. These have significantly helped emailemu.com grow in users. My top performing blog post was one about me telling my story of getting to my first 100 users.
I have a friend who shared his transition from a call center job to a product designer, inspiring others to consider similar career shifts without a college degree, which has consistently attracted new followers.
2. Offering a Free Resource Behind an Email Wall:
Design a free resource targeting your ideal customer. Visitors must provide their email address on your landing page to access it, helping you gather potential leads and build an email list. Consider running low-cost Facebook ads to drive traffic to the landing page, especially to reach beyond your current social media following.
Examples include: white papers, topical idea lists, resource compilations, free estimates, and guides.
3. Weekly Conversations with Target Customers:
Dedicate time each week to engage with both current and prospective customers. These discussions are helpful for understanding their needs, preferences, and feedback on your offerings. These calls often lead to referrals and increased interest in your product. Treat these as learning opportunities rather than sales pitches. People hate sales pitches.
Resource: If finding people within your target demographic is challenging, platforms like ADPlist.com offer a way to connect with and receive mentorship from tech industry professionals.
4. Educational Content Series:
Develop a blog or video series that provides educational content to your target demographic. Start by identifying popular search topics within your audience's demographic using tools like Google Trends. Then, create a series of posts or videos on those subjects. Organize the content into a series for easy consumption and to keep your audience engaged over time, promoting the series through emails, tweets, LinkedIn posts, etc.
5. Cross-Promotion and Link Exchanges:
Look for businesses, indie hackers, or founders with a similar target audience but offering different products. Propose exchanging advertisements or links to each other's products. This cross-promotion acts like trading at a market, aiding in customer acquisition and improving SEO rankings through backlinks.
Interested in doing this? Hit me up!
Bonus: If you want a full list of 100 marketing ideas just like these then follow me on LinkedIn, shoot me a DM and I’ll send it your way! 😊
