The Guide to Growing a Startup with Inbound Marketing

INBOUND MARKETING

THE GUIDE TO GROWING A STARTUP WITH

Some entrepreneurs

think marketing is

A NECESSARY EVIL.

Others think it is

AN UNNECESSARY EVIL.

Others think it is

AN UNNECESSARY EVIL. Why care about marketing?

1

So, let’s start with WHY

entrepreneurs often avoid marketing.

(not you, of course, those other entrepreneurs)

WHO NEEDS MARKETING?

I’m building something people

will LOVE.

AWESOME!

Marketing can help you

find people to love it.

“I’m just going to

hire a PR agency.”

(I’m all set.)

Stealth mode is for aircraft,

not startups.

Stop worrying that

somebody will steal

your idea.

(Start worrying that nobody will care about it.)

“I’m just not ready.

I believe in marketing. Just not right now.”

I UNDERSTAND.

But you should start marketing

the day you start building your product.

(Waiting until you are “ready” is too late.)

“Marketing seems really unpleasant.”

YOU’RE NOT ALONE. The marketing industry has a problem.

Less Trusted More Trusted

Car Sales Stockbrokers Lobbyists Lawyers Marketers

But, that’s old-school marketing.

When done right, marketing isn’t unpleasant.

(more on this later)

“I’ve raised funding.

I’ll just buy my way through.”

CONGRATS! (on the funding)

But, there are a few issues with

buying your way through.

You’re not really

buying attention,

you’re renting it.

Ads are TEMPORARY. When you stop paying the “rent”, you stop getting the attention.

Your well heeled

competitor has a

massive marketing budget.

And you…

not so much.

Startups shouldn’t get into the arms race for attention.

You can’t outspend

the behemoths.

Not only do they have more money,

they have fewer brain cells.

Oh, and one last issue

with interruptive marketing…

NOBODY wakes up

and thinks:

“I hope I get

spammed today.”

95% of people

don’t like being

interrupted.

The other 5%

hate it.

“OK, fine. I don’t want to annoy people. What’s a better way?”

INBOUND MARKETING

Others think it is

AN UNNECESSARY EVIL. What’s Inbound Marketing?

2

Inbound takes the

marketing people

know (and hate)

and turns it

on its head.

It focuses on

attracting people

instead of annoying them.

It also helps startups get long-term leverage.

you

“I like the sound of

that... …tell me more.”

It’s simple. (but not easy)

It’s about providing value

instead of pushing your way in.

And the most common way to do that

is to create content that’s helpful.

You’ve heard of

product/market fit?

If not, add this to your

reading list.

You can always feel when product/market fit

isn’t happening.

The customers aren’t quite getting value and

word of mouth isn’t spreading.

MARC ANDREESEN (he coined the term in 2007!)

Inbound marketing starts with

content/market fit?

Some types of content you can create…

Blogs Photos &

Infographics

Videos &

Podcasts

Presentations

& eBooks

Software/

Tools

Build your marketing machine

just like you build your product.

Release early, release often.

Publish early, publish often.

And, validated learning applies here too.

Publish

Learn Measure

Now, back to the types of content.

ONE word of advice.

In short…

So that’s a bit about

strategy and philosophy.

Now, let’s dig in to some details.

To better understand this,

here’s a typical flow…

Typical applications

needed for

marketing

Blogging CMS Social SEO

Calls-to-action

Landing pages

Email nurturing

Sales Analytics CRM

Top Of The Funnel is about pulling visitors

to your website.

Blogging CMS Social SEO

Calls-to-action

Landing pages

Email nurturing

Sales Analytics CRM

Middle Of The Funnel is about converting

visitors into leads.

Blogging CMS Social SEO

Calls-to-action

Landing pages

Email nurturing

Sales Analytics CRM

Others think it is

AN UNNECESSARY EVIL. How do I attract visitors?

3

Did you know there are

5.9 BILLION searches on xxxxxxxxx

every day?

(me neither, had to look it up)

Maybe a few of those people

would be interested

in your product?

You need to know

at least the basics

of Search Engine Optimization

(SEO)

“Wait, can’t I just buy pay-per-click (PPC) ads?”

Yes, you can.

PPC ads are a great

way to learn what works?

But a couple of issues.

#1: You’re still renting attention.

#2…

90% of the links searchers click on are organic— not paid.

Why pay to reach the 10%,

when the other 90% are

free low marginal cost?

So, invest in organic search.

As ye SEO, so shall ye reap.

Before you do any SEO,

you’ll need to choose

the search keywords

you will focus on.

Be careful

about the

keywords you

choose.

You want keywords that have

decent search volume

(people search for that word)

Don’t pick keywords

that are so

competitive that

you’ll never rank.

(Don’t pick a fight with a ninja.)

There are tools available

to help with keyword

discovery and selection.

Now, prepare for the

advice on SEO you will ever hear…

(at least from me)

Solve for the searcher

not the search engine.

Relevant, useful content makes people happy.

Fast websites make people happy.

Clear, well-designed sites

make people happy.

Invest in great design

and user experience.

Mobile friendly websites

also make people happy.

Once you’ve created content,

and optimized it…

the next step is to spread it.

That’s where social media can help.

Make it simple to share your content. Put sharing buttons on your site. The easier it is to share, the more people will share it.

For social to work, you’ll need followers (social marketing is not much without it)

What’s the best way to get fans?

Create value for the connections

you hope to get someday.

Don’t try and

automate

getting fans or

followers.

Numbers may

go up, but

your brand

goes down.

Others think it is

AN UNNECESSARY EVIL. How do I convert visitors?

4

So, you’re creating a bunch

of great content, rockin’ on

social and people are

starting to visit your

website.

It’s not a torrent of traffic,

but everyone has to start

somewhere.

Now, you need to start

converting these random visitors.

Based on your business,

you want them to become:

1. users/trials

2. leads

3. customers

First thing you should do:

Implement “Calls To Action”

Here are some examples:

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Now, a life-changing

question you may be asking

yourself…

Others think it is

AN UNNECESSARY EVIL. Who should I hire for marketing?

5

Us, of course (shameless plug)

We will jump in and

start helping your future

users/customers.

Our team is comprised of

inbound marketers,

content writers,

designers and developers.

Others think it is

AN UNNECESSARY EVIL. What should I do next?

6

Read this book

This is an easy read.

Request a free 30-minute

marketing assessment

GET A FREE MARKETING ASSESSMENT

THANK YOU!

Hope this was helpful and fun.