How Founders Can Market Their Startup Themselves

Nobody knows a startup’s value like the founders do, which is why they should control their own marketing campaign if possible. Popular marketing blogs are a great source of up-to-date information about various forms of digital marketing. If there are multiple founders, each can learn one aspect of marketing. As long as all communications reflect the brand’s identity, each person can tackle one aspect of marketing the startup.

Branding

A startup’s founders should develop a brand identity before marketing their company. All marketing communications should reflect the brand’s values and what sets it apart it from the competition.

Start a Social Media Campaign

Someone at a startup is usually good at social media; this person can take on managing the company’s social media presence. A social media manager does not have to create all the content, however, they should approve all posts and tweets before they go live to ensure the brand’s message is consistent. A good social media manager announces new hires and company news besides linking to press releases and interviews with the founders.

Select a Thought Leader

One of the startup’s founders should become an industry thought leader and the face of the company. Thought leaders are experts in their industry that the media turns to for quotes and opinions. Thought leaders write articles about the industry and give interviews. There are websites where a founder can submit a written interview for publication to get started. Create podcasts as well; these will also help the startup get found in search engines.

Blog

Assuming a startup already has a website, one of the founders or one of the employees in the marketing department should post often on the company blog. Blog posts can include articles, video, infographics and other content. Startups can outsource explainer videos, infographic creation and other content to freelancers if necessary.

Free Marketing Ideas

Free marketing ideas include answering questions on industry forums and Quora, reposting content on Medium and posting videos on YouTube. YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, so it pays for startups to create a channel.

Startups where none of the founders have any experience in marketing can hire a reputable digital marketing company or do their own in-house marketing and outsource work as needed. In-house marketing isn’t always right for every startup, but if the founders can market their startup until they can hire a marketing manager or a digital marketing firm, they will have more money to put into the business.