How to Supercharge Your Startup’s Marketing Results—Without Spending Money

It’s no surprise that entrepreneurs want the world to know what they’re working on. After all, we spend countless late nights and early mornings battling everything from corporate competitors and confusion to fatigue and depression just to see our dreams come to fruition.

But the way many startups market themselves is responsible for killing the precious momentum we so often count on to hit critical mass, go revenue positive, or raise funds.

I’ve been growing brands for almost 10 years and have done everything from beating Kickstarter to getting millions of views on music videos. I’ve learned the hard way what most startups are missing in their marketing and why most spend too much money on too little growth.

So, without further ado, below you will find the golden realization that will supercharge your startup’s marketing results.

Marketing Is Not about You, It’s about Your Audience

Sounds simple, but let’s break down what this means in practical terms.

Reverse-engineer What They’re Interested In

Before spending $5,000 on that new promo video for your app, or $10,000 in promoting your Facebook page to strangers, ask yourself: Do I have a gallery of content that my audience would be interested in regardless of what I’m selling?

As an exercise, try removing your product/app/service entirely from your marketing. Does it still work? Does your Facebook page still bring value to musicians whether or not your SaaS product is a part of the equation? Is your Instagram page still the best place for moms to see content they love whether or not your app exists?

If you want to grow your audience 10x with the same budget.

Become a Master at Curating Content Before You Create Content

If you want to grow your audience 10x with the same budget, you must…

Grow Your Community Around a Shared Interest

This simple shift is the single most powerful thing you can do when marketing on a tight budget.

Talking about only you and your solution in the digital realm is just as awkward and unlikely to be shared as physically doing it in a room full of people.

Whether you have a SaaS platform, a service, or a product, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably on a budget. Figuring out what your audience is interested in and building a community around that is the single cheapest way to get traction. Pair this up with things like Facebook ads and high quality, consistent posts, and you’re on your way to virality with less than $1,000 USD in marketing spend.