Nine out of ten startups fail. About a third fail, because founders skip market research and decide to produce something nobody wants to consume. The second most common reason new businesses fail is, they run out of money. And the third? They can’t figure out the best affordable marketing strategies for startups.
In other words, most startups fail, because the owners do not understand their market at all. Or, they can’t find affordable ways to promote their products until the cash stash runs dry. Ineffective marketing is a bottomless hole. On the other hand, an effective one is a thought-through scalable solution that starts small, but smart.
Here we’re to discuss some of the most affordable but easily scalable marketing strategies for startups on a tight budget. We’ll discuss real-life examples of emerging startups that scored a few marketing points in 2024!
Content marketing: How to Stand Out & Scale
Content marketing is an obvious start, but here’s the bummer. Which type of content marketing should a startup choose to nail its niche market? The logical answer is, any form you can do best with your current budget and resources. Blog posts, videos, images, and podcasts are all solid choices, as long as you can create great content that connects with your audience.
Usually, a brand cannot go wrong with educating its followers. Especially if that’s part of the job description. Last year, the edtech startup Headway amazed everyone by reaching 40 million users. This happened in under five years since it started in 2019.
The idea was nothing new. An app offered 15-30-minute book summaries in text and audio form already had a major competitor – German-based Blinklist. But Headway nailed the freebie infotainment part of its blog.
Check out their blog section with tasty freebies of the available goods:
Unlike Blinklist with its infinite blog posts that list hundreds of books in one article, Headway creates shorter content. That is, the brand really leverages its target users’ pain points – lack of time! They create short, 7-9-minute reads related to their book database and offer those for free!
This is a great example that combines education, entertainment, and users’ love for freebies. And have you noticed the quiz part at the top of the page? This strategy draws people in and allows brands to advertise their offers.
On a side note, Headway did an excellent job leveraging colors. The sepia theme reminds people of books, which is what they came to consume, right? But leveraging color to create a truly iconic brand is an entirely different matter. So, let’s move on to other affordable marketing strategies for startups.
SEO: Playbook for Ranking & Organic Growth
It would be strange if we didn’t suggest investing in SEO, so here goes.
An optimized, high-ranking website is your best shot at brand visibility. But everyone knows that, right? The question is, how do you get there? With Google’s new generative AI search results, how do you feature your website in the SGE (Search Generative Experience) snippets?
There is only one way – research key phrases, optimize, and focus on user intent. All the time. Quality SEO starts with purely technical details, such as:
- Making all pages indexable
- Boosting website speed
- Optimizing the site for different screen sizes
- Making it mobile-responsive
- Encrypting website data
- Including rich snippets
- Checking all URLs are keyword-optimized
- Removing duplicate content
- Providing all images with keyword-rich alt descriptions
- Optimizing for voice search, etc.
That is already a lot of work, but the real fun begins with backlink building. Brands need links from reliable, trustworthy sites related to their business niche to establish E.E.A.T (Effectiveness, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness). To accomplish that, guest posting on high-authority websites is usually the best strategy.
Yes, it’s a long game. Finding sites that accept guest posts, pitching your content ideas to admins, and creating quality content… All of that requires time, effort, and money – because you will probably hire someone to do it for you. But outstanding content is always a huge bonus for brands. Even when it’s published on external sites.
Besides, with careful targeting, you may not need that many high-quality posts. Last year, a fintech startup, Airbase, was acquired by Paylocity after a 9-month SEO campaign based on 56 human-written articles. At this point, we should recall that fintech startups ‘enjoy’ a 75% flop rate. But Airbase did not make it to this sad list, so clearly, the company did something right.
Sure, SEO is not the only reason behind this startup acquisition. But you should still invest in SEO because no website gets a high Google ranking overnight. And carefully-targeted content is the key to ensuring lasting SEO results. Once the quality piece is out there, it can generate backlinks to your landing pages for months, if not years.
Webinar: How Startups Can Convert Leads into Customers
Webinar marketing is often overlooked. Still, it offers an affordable way to drive traffic and build brand awareness. No wonder HubSpot, Microsoft, Google, and Adobe are all invested in webinar marketing.
But you do not need Google-scale budgets to use the same strategy. The best webinars leverage the brand’s expertise to educate its audience. Wiz, a cloud security startup, successfully acquires new leads through its tech courses:
Next, past webinars can be watched on-demand, which means more traffic to your website. So, even if creating a webinar seems like a lot of work (and it is), your efforts will not go to waste.
Wiz successfully creates meaningful educational content to drive traffic and acquire followers. Around 26% of Wiz website traffic comes from organic sources, and webinars also play a part in that.
The bet is on personal branding, and webinars showcasing Wiz’s industry experience are a great way to spread the message. Sure, it’s not about webinars alone. Field marketing and on-site industry events are also a part of the general picture. But webinars add a nice polishing touch to the ‘we’re the experts and we can help you’ message.
Another curious fact? In mid-2024, Wiz turned down a $23-billion acquisition deal from Google to go public instead. That certainly shows confidence!
If you decide webinars could work for your business, keep in mind that a quality event:
- Answers specific questions relevant to your audience’s needs
- Accepts a limited number of participants to stimulate live discussion
- Is advertised on relevant platforms in advance to attract ‘full room’
- Delivered by experts who can answer questions in live mode
- Is engaging, has high-quality visuals, slides, and demonstrations, not just one speaker talking
- Has a follow-up with recordings, summaries, or additional resources to maintain interest in the brand and its products..
Follow-ups are not just formalities. A well-promoted webinar can help generate leads; follow-ups nurture relationships and boost conversions.
Social Media: Picking the Right Platforms for Success
Can’t discuss marketing today without taking a dive into social media. For most startups, a carefully chosen social platform can become the springboard to fame and publicity. But here’s a catch: high engagement levels do not necessarily mean high revenue. Or even additional funding.
In essence, social media marketing has the same foundations as any other marketing. It’s about understanding your target audience and offering them what they need. Would you believe that forty YouTube videos could generate almost 5K subscribers? InworldAI has managed just that, and it’s only beginning to tap into YouTube’s potential.
Inworld AI offers an AI-powered framework for game developers. It is also one of the most well-funded startups today. The company literally redesigns developers’ approaches to creating game characters.
The best part about its social media marketing policies? The brand keeps its target audience, game devs, in mind. InworldAI does not chase engagement for the sake of engagement. Even though it has all the tools to create videos that would collect millions of likes from gaming fans.
But gaming fans are not the focus, as can be seen from the company’s YouTube page. Game developers and industry experts are. So, Inworld AI creates high-quality, valuable content for its target users. Since 2022, the company has achieved impressive results thanks to this policy. At the same time, the startup still focuses on just three platforms:
- X for short-form announcements and updates
- LinkedIn for long-form industry insights and thought leadership;
- YouTube for demos, tutorials, and interviews with other industry leaders.
The lesson we should all learn from Inworld is that more is not always better. Focusing on fewer platforms while delivering top-notch content for each is wiser.
Influencer Marketing: Leverage Social Proof
Since we already touched on the subject of social media, no reason to stop there. The next logical ‘stop’ for a startup is influencer marketing and the many forms of UGC (user-generated content). This is another example of a perfectly scalable marketing strategy that can start small and turn into something big.
Bloom Nutrition, a startup producing dietary supplements, made a bet on micro-influencers and won. In 2024, the company earned almost $170 million in revenue, doubling its annual growth since 2022. The key to their success? User-generated TikTok videos, accumulating from thousands to millions of views.
Reasonably enough, TikTok is a perfect platform for UGC that promotes beauty and wellness products. Micro influencers with small but engaged follower base help Bloom build credibility with its audience. Because let’s face it – even in the beauty and wellness niche, food supplements are met with a fair degree of criticism.
Bloom invites micro-influencers to film how the brand’s products fit into their routines. The idea is not new, but it works because it shows viewers how Bloom fits into a real person’s daily wellness rituals. And that’s what influencer marketing is essentially about.
Besides daily routines, the brand encourages before-and-after features, shared recipes, and comedic stunts. Once again, the kind of content that resonates well with the TikTok audience.
On Instagram, Bloom incorporated a slightly fancier approach to meet its users’ expectations. Just like on TikTok, it teams up with wellness and lifestyle creators. But the brand also works with fitness-focused accounts (trainers, yoga instructors, Pilates enthusiasts). This combined approach and playing along with IG’s popular content helped achieve impressive results.
As of late, YouTube is also part of Bloom’s marketing efforts – once again, through influencers. So, similarly to Inworld AI, Bloom Nutrition does not try to encompass multiple social media platforms. The brand chose its delivery form: video. It decided on user-generated content (UGC) as the method. The main message focuses on beauty tips from real people. Now, the marketing strategy is about scaling and welcoming more brand ambassadors onboard.
Key Takeaways
To succeed, startups need more than just a great product. It requires scalable marketing strategies that maximize reach while keeping costs low. The best marketing ideas for startups on a tight budget are:
- Content Marketing: high-quality, educational, and engaging content can help startups stand out. Create content that addresses your audience’s pain points and offer freebies when possible.
- SEO Optimization: a well-optimized website ensures long-term visibility and organic traffic. Regular optimization and guest posting are long games, but it’s worth the candle.
- Webinar Marketing: webinars can generate leads and establish brand authority. Host short courses on industry-relevant topics and provide on-demand replays to maximize reach.
- Social Media Marketing: the right platform and content strategy can drive significant engagement. Find out where your audience spends their time. Then, create useful content just for those platforms. Don’t cast a wide net. Don’t cast a wide net.
- Influencer and UGC Marketing: influencer and UGC can significantly boost brand credibility. Start with micro-influencers and tailor content to fit each platform’s strengths.
Over to You
Ineffective marketing is one of the most common reasons startups fail. When used correctly, affordable marketing strategies for startups can help avoid this. If you have a tight budget, you can start small, focus on high-impact strategies, and scale what works for your brand. Just ensure you have a fully-researched, robust marketing plan before you launch your business.