Growth

An Early-stage Startup Marketing Handbook

This is for ya’ll one-person marketing “teams'' and early-stage startup founders out there. I feel you and this is my attempt to help.

Misho Zghuladze

Misho Zghuladze

— 27 min read
An Early-stage Startup Marketing Handbook
Disclaimer: I’ll be heavily borrowing from my favorite marketers and newsletters: Elena Verna, Leah Tharin, MKT1, Kyle Poyar, Lenny Rachitsky, Julian Shapiro, April Dunford, Kevin Indig, Reforge, Demand Curve. 

Part 1: Getting Things Straight

Look, startups are amazing; they’re fresh, energetic, and full of hope. 

But, let's be real for a second – marketing in a startup is rough.

There’s no money. There’s no data. There’s no clear Ideal Customer Profile. The product is full of bugs. The landing page sucks. And brand? Are you kidding me?

It’s like assembling IKEA furniture. You've got a rough idea, some tools, and instructions in a language you barely understand. Fun, right?

But the fun doesn’t end there. 

In most startups, the marketing department, if you can even call it that, is just...well, you. Just a one-person team. You’re the whole orchestra and you better play every instrument. 

Imagine all the fun you can have under all this responsibility. 

Every dollar you put into marketing is a dollar less for product development. And, you don't have the privilege of past data. You know, the comfort of thinking, "Hey, this worked last time!" You’re basically setting sail without a map.

Starting from scratch is both a curse and a blessing. There's no legacy, no baggage – sounds great, right? But it also means there's no established voice, no brand presence. You’re creating everything on the fly while trying to ensure it all makes sense.

Sure, the title might say "Growth Marketer", "Marketing Manager" or even “CMO”, but come on, when you’re in a startup you're the plumber, the electrician, and occasionally, the gardener too.

I would know. I’m a founder and I’ve been a one-man marketing “team” here at Kernel for years. So this is for ya’ll solo startup marketers and founders out there - a handbook for startup marketing.

But first I’ve got a bone to pick with some of the startup founders.

Founders, Curb Your Ego

Here's a scene I've witnessed too often: founders believing they can wear the marketing hat just as effectively as their entrepreneurial one. 

I mean, how hard can it be?

“I can create Facebook ads. I can build a website on Wix. I can write blog posts and send emails and honestly, my product is so good and there’s such a big need for it that it’s basically gonna sell itself.”

- Says literally everyone who’s been a founder for less than 60 days.

Sure, good for you. Get back to me in a few months when reality slaps you.

In this oversaturated world we live in today, people will NOT find your product on their own, and mediocre marketing won’t get you anywhere either.

Bottomline – unless you’re a marketing founder with co-founders to take on business and product leadership roles – running a marketing engine is not your responsibility.

You have a product to build, a vision to validate, people to hire, customers to interview, decks to pitch, and a shitload of money to raise.

Nope. You should NOT have time to be a full-time marketer. If you do, you’re doing something wrong.

So, curb your ego and either get yourself a marketing co-founder or onboard a full-time π-Shaped marketer.

π-shaped marketers are like T-shaped marketers, but instead of having depth in 1 area, they have depth in 2 and competency in other areas. For example, they could be an expert in product marketing, and proficient in growth marketing.

Having said that, let’s define the type of marketing early-stage startups should be doing.

Marketing in an Early-stage Startup Needs to Be Product-led

What’s the one goal every early-stage startup has?

To find the product-market fit, of course.

And what does the PMF mean in its simplest form?

It means building the right product for the right audience.

If your product is amazing, but no one finds it, it fails. If your marketing attracts millions of people, but they hate the product, it fails. To make this relationship work you need to be product-led.

Product-led marketing is NOT just about grabbing leads! Nope. It’s a marriage between the product, marketing, and customer success. It’s about escorting users through every twist and turn of their journey—from the ‘Aha!’ moment they realize they need your product, right down to the sad (or happy) day they decide to part ways.

Marketers like this have one leg in the marketing boat and the other in the product. Sometimes they’re called growth marketers, sometimes product marketers but it really doesn’t matter.

The true essence of product-led marketing isn't just about knowing the ins and outs of what you're selling—it's about deeply understanding who you're selling to.

In fact, think of it as audience marketing. It's not about the tool, gadget, or app. It’s about the people whose lives you're aiming to transform with your creation.

Being an effective product-led marketer starts from deep audience knowledge, then deep product knowledge, and not the other way around. 

This is a person who can nail the communication, create content, build landing pages, set up and optimize campaigns and analytics, design onboarding experiments, handle lifecycle marketing, and conduct customer interviews.

They are the whole orchestra and this handbook is their sheet music.

Start with Positioning

For many businesses, it's an overlooked aspect, but positioning is essential for setting the right context for your product.

What is Positioning, Anyway?

Imagine watching a movie without an opening scene. You'd be lost, right? Positioning is similar to that opening scene. It establishes the setting and provides clarity.

April Dunford, the world’s leading authority on positioning says:

"Positioning defines how your product is a leader at delivering something that a well-defined set of customers cares a lot about."

Positioning encompasses a particular set of components. The magic lies in understanding these components and their relationship with each other.

Consider positioning as context-setting for your products. Much like that first scene in a movie that lays out the setting. It addresses the critical questions:

  • If you didn’t exist what would customers use?
  • What features/capabilities do you have that others do not?
  • What value do these attributes enable for customers?
  • Who cares a lot about that value?
  • What context makes the value obvious to your target segments?

Once these questions are answered, both you and your customers can dive deeper into the product's nuances.

  • Good positioning sparks a set of assumptions about your product that align with reality. It ensures your product is perceived in the light you intended. 
  • Bad positioning can cause misaligned assumptions, making your sales and marketing teams work twice as hard to correct any misconceptions.

Remember, the opening scene in a movie sets the tone for the entire film. Similarly, the positioning of your product establishes the foundational perception in your customers' minds. 

Do it right, and your product's narrative will seamlessly flow. Do it wrong, and you'll be constantly course-correcting.

In the next part, we’ll be taking this positioning framework and using it as a foundation for the whole marketing engine, starting with marketing assets and advertising engine and ending with content strategy and brand.

Part 2: Marketing Assets & Advertising Engine

When you’re done with the first draft of your positioning statement it’s time to create some assets to communicate it. 

In this part of the handbook let’s talk about marketing assets and advertising engine. We’ll be answering questions like:

  • How do I write value propositions?
  • Which assets do I need to create to get started?
  • What advertising channels exist out there?
  • How do I choose which channels to use for paid media?

The Only Marketing Assets You Need

This is going to be the recurring theme throughout this article – do not overcomplicate. It’s a trap.

The only assets you need in the beginning to start running experiments are:

  • Value Props
  • Ad Copies
  • Ad Creatives
  • A Landing Page
  • A Sign-up Page
  • Product Onboarding

This is of course assuming that your product works. 

Value Props

For all these you first need value propositions. I’m going to use Julian Shapiro’s framework and examples.

Here's an exercise for finding your product's value props:

  • What bad alternative do people resort to when they lack your product?
  • How is your product better than that bad alternative?
  • Now turn the last step into an action statement—that's your value prop.

A few examples:

Now you take these value props and do some copywriting.

Ad Copies & Creatives

Ads are one of the most effective ways to find new customers and connect with people already familiar with your company. But there's a big hurdle you have to overcome if you want to make money off your ads: user intent.

Someone on Facebook is not actively searching for a product or service. It's not like Google, where they want to find results related to their search.

That’s why ad copies are important. Here I will be quoting from Demand Curve.

Headline copy

A few specific formulas that work best for headline copy:

  • A headline that focuses on the target audience’s biggest anxieties (pull these from the problem and implication sections of your value props sheet).
  • A headline that focuses on the solution and benefits of your product.
  • A straightforward description of the product itself.
  • A headline that focuses on social proof: ratings, press, famous customers, testimonials, etc.

Here are a few formatting and word tips:

  • Keep the headline to 50 characters or less.
  • If the headline is one sentence, don’t end it with a period.
  • If it’s two sentences or more, use periods.
  • We've found headlines that use “the only … in the world”, as in “the only organic dog food in the world”, convert particularly well.

Body copy

Each ‘block’ in your ad template has three length options:

  • Short body copy variations: (150 characters and less)
  • Medium body copy variations: (150 - (roughly) 250 characters)
  • Long body copy variations: (250+ characters)

You might think short copy outperforms the others. But our data tells us otherwise. That’s why it’s a good idea to come up with at least a couple of variations for each body length.

The more you test, the more you’ll know.

By the way, when you do come up with long body copy variations, it’s best to follow this formula:

  • Hook
  • Product/service explanation
  • Handle objections
  • Write in a CTA

Creative Copy

The creative part of your ad (the image, graphic, or video) is the first element of your ad that people see in their feed. Most channels, including Facebook's and Twitter's, provide space for both copy and creative.

Your creative need to do just one thing:

  • Depict the product in action.
    • If you're selling software, show a decluttered screenshot of the dashboard instead of an abstract vector illustration of your services.
    • If you're selling services, show the service in action, e.g. a dog walker walking a dog instead of an image of a dog next to a leash.

That’s it. Do not overcomplicate.

Just remember – video ads usually outperform static visual ads simply because they display products in action better.

And you don’t need a designer to create these visuals. Here are some tools instead:

  • Sketch or Canva - Lightweight drag-and-drop design tools.
  • Unsplash - High-quality and natural-looking free photos.
  • Animoto - Create affordable videos at scale.

Building an Effective Landing Page

Your website is your #1 most important marketing asset.

When your homepage content and copy miss the mark, your conversion rate suffers, and all of your top-of-funnel efforts are wasteful.

This is the landing page framework I swear by, designed by Emily Kramer:

Everything is on the visual, so zoom in.

Here are some additional tips:

  • Don’t model your website after a late-stage company: If you are an early or growth-stage startup, don’t look at Stripe or Notion’s website. People know what Stripe and Notion are. They don’t know you.
  • Communicate your product, not your vision: Users don’t care about your vision (investors do). What users care about is whether or not this is the product they need. Again – product-led.
  • Be clear about who you’re talking to: Be realistic. Your budget is limited. You can only reach so many people. Be picky with who you target.
  • Copy is only half the battle: You need design and images to augment the words on the page. Do NOT use stock photos.

The tools I’d recommend to build a landing page:

  • Webflow - for a full-blown professional website with a blog.
  • Carrd - for a one-page simple website. This is as simple as it gets.

Sign-up Page and Onboarding

Most SaaS apps lose 95% of their new users after 90 days. That's insane.

When you lose a user's interest on the sign-up page or during onboarding, your first impression is complete, and they typically never return.‌

When you onboard users, you want to welcome them into your product in a way that excites them to become lifelong customers.

You can do this multiple ways:

  • Integrated walkthrough - Walk the user through one product feature at a time while having them fill out their profile or create a sample project in the process.
  • Sample data and tooltips - Or you can throw them right into their account. If you do this, present them with pre-filled sample data to play with in places where they're expected to enter their own input.
  • Video - only if you can easily visualize your product's value — or if you have a very complex product that requires intricate explanation — make users watch an optional screen recording video.

These are the principles of onboarding design:

  • Decrease friction (remove obstacles)
  • Make it enticing
  • Make it productive

One last thing to remember is that the onboarding doesn’t start after signing up. It starts when they see the ad. That’s why the road from the ad → to the landing page → to the sign-up page → to the product onboarding – needs to be smooth and productive.

Part 3: Product-led Advertising Engine

People don’t like ads. There, I said it.

But here’s the irony – done right, they can't resist clicking.

You’re going to need all the assets you created in the previous chapter. That goes for all the channels over here. But which channels?

Google Search · Instagram · Facebook · Quora · Amazon · Google Display · App Store · Pinterest · YouTube · Bing · LinkedIn · Affiliates · Influencers · Email · Physical ads · TV · Print · Radio · Community

Basically, whichever happens to cost-effectively scale for your startup. Nobody can tell you for sure what will work for you but here are some of the experiments I would prioritize based on your business type:

For B2C

  • B2C eCommerce: Instagram/FB, influencers, sponsorships, and marketplaces should be your playground. You might also try dipping your toes into Pinterest, Google Ads, and Google Shopping.
  • B2C Mobile Apps: Your best bets? Instagram/FB Ads, Google Ads and Apple Search. Maybe a bit of good old referrals.
  • B2C SaaS: Facebook Ads, content-driven strategies, and product-led growth should be your mantra. And don’t be shy to play with Google Ads and collaborative partnerships.
  • Brick and Mortar: Traditional, but evergreen. Try Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Banners, and a bit of PR magic. Maybe even Google Ads, and affiliate program.

For B2B

  • Niche B2B with high ARPU: Think enterprise software charging big bucks annually. Sales, content, webinars, partnerships, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and LinkedIn Ads will be your allies for lead generation.
  • Broad B2B with medium ARPU: Imagine software for small businesses, say, accounting tools. The tactics from the previous point largely apply. The only twist: a bit more focus on ads and content and a bit less on sales, webinars and partnerships.
  • Niche B2B with low ARPU: Say, a specialized tool for app developers. With limited ad and sales budgets, your best shots are word-of-mouth, communities, product-led growth, and genuine content.
  • Broad B2B with low ARPU: General software products that don’t break the bank. Content Marketing, Google Ads, and perhaps Apple Search Ads if you've got an app in the mix. Mass distribution partnerships and integrations could be the cherry on top.

*ARPU - average revenue per user

Use ICE Framework to Choose

So, you're gearing up to test the waters. But a word of caution – don't dive in head-first without a strategy. Sean Ellis’s ICE prioritization framework is your compass here. Rank each channel using the ICE method:

  • Impact (1-10): How game-changing would the channel be if it hits the bullseye?
  • Confidence (1-10): How sure are you about its potential?
  • Ease (1-10): How effortless is the trial?

Armed with this, you're not just throwing darts in the dark. You're aiming with precision.

That’s it for marketing assets and advertising engine. The next part will focus on content and SEO.

Part 4: Content Marketing & SEO

In this part of the handbook let’s dive deep into the world of content marketing and SEO. We’ll cover stuff like:

  • What does content marketing really mean?
  • How do I choose the right content types?
  • How do I do keyword research?
  • How do I write the articles?
  • Can I use AI, please?
  • How do I generate backlinks?

Researching, Choosing, and Creating

Startups often fall into the trap of confining their content strategy to a strict output: 

“Produce 10 blog posts a month”, and believe the job's done. 

This linear approach is restrictive and overlooks the multifaceted nature of effective content. It’s crucial to break free from traditional content boundaries.

It’s a mistake to see content only as blog posts or mundane case studies. Content can be so much more:

  • Spreadsheet templates
  • Free tools like calculators, generators, templates, etc
  • Detailed guides
  • Trend analyses
  • Data-driven studies
  • Tactical guidelines on niche subjects
  • Q&A sessions
  • Webinars and podcasts
  • Video tutorials
  • Engaging Twitter threads
  • In-depth tool comparisons
  • Polls and insights

... and so many other combinations of these formats.

When creating content, adopt a product-oriented approach. Here are three foundational principles:

  1. Problem-Solution Paradigm: Content should address the audience’s pain points, even if these don’t directly relate to your product. It's based on the “30% juice rule”. Essentially, the audience is looking beyond just your product features. By addressing a broader set of issues, you attract more potential users. Once engaged, nurture them towards more product-specific content.
  2. Differentiation: Before even starting, draft a GACC brief. It ensures your content stands distinctively apart from competitors, providing unique value.
  3. Repurposing: A single content idea isn’t a one-off. Reformat, extend, update, or redistribute it. Let each idea give birth to multiple content offspring.

Just remember the content journey isn’t over post-publication. You need to make distribution part of your content strategy.

How to Choose the Right Content

*Heavily borrowed from Demand Curve’s Growth Program. Hope you guys don’t mind me sharing some course content here. It’s an amazing (if a bit pricy) program. Highly recommend.

Guys at the Demand Curve, say that there is no “right” way to do content marketing – to decide which strategy is best for your company, start by answering these two questions:

  • What kind of content would your potential customers be most interested in?
  • What kind of content can naturally segue into a pitch for your product?

They’ve also developed a framework to help:

  1. Search interest: Is there a high search volume for your product?
  2. Product shareability: Do users find your product shareworthy?
  3. User content: Do users create content using your product?
  4. Data and research: Does your brand have access to proprietary data? Alternatively, does it conduct industry research? 
  5. Emotional appeal: Does your product or brand create a strong emotional impact?
  6. Thought leadership: Do you or your team have lots of industry expertise to share?

Also ask yourself these questions:

  • Can I Realistically Produce Quality Content?
    • Do I have the required resources: time, budget, and expertise?
    • Considering the necessary tools and know-how, can I create content like high-quality videos?
  • Can I Consistently Deliver Quality Content?
    • Do I have the capacity to produce impactful content regularly?
    • Beyond a few standout pieces, can I maintain content quality over time?
  • How Will My Content Stand Out?
    • In a crowded content landscape, what will set my content apart?
    • What unique perspectives or insights can I offer?
  • Where and How Do My Target Users Consume Content?
    • Which platforms and formats are preferred by my audience?
    • How can I adapt my content strategy to their preferences?

How to do Keyword Research

Once you’re done deciding what kind of content to product, you’ll have to do some keyword research (yes, even if you’re going for video content).

Here are three main ways to start generating keywords:

  • Brainstorm: Use your intuition to brainstorm potential search terms.
  • Value Propositions: Identify keywords based on the problems your product solves.
  • Google Autocomplete: Type your product into Google and note the autocomplete suggestions.

Tip: Always note down variations of keywords that pop up during your brainstorm.

The keywords generated here are a good starting point for what users might search, but without any quantitative data, they’re only guesses at best for what users are actively searching.

Copy each group of keywords, one at a time, and paste them into Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

In the Magic Tool, we start the same way and look at the broad matched and related keywords and categories and phrase matches. This way, we now have a comprehensive understanding of the keyword environment around our topic.

The whole point of this is to just extract relevant keywords and group them in thematic clusters. Export them from Semrush and copy them in Google Sheets.

Bellow is how we actually evaluate which relevant keywords we use.

Keyword Metrics

Here are the metrics for each keyword:

  • Volume – The average number of monthly searches for a given keyword over a 12-month period.
  • KD – Keyword Difficulty shows you how hard it would be for a website to rank organically in the Google top 10 for the analyzed keyword. The higher the percentage, the harder it will be to achieve high rankings.
  • CPC – Average price in USD advertisers pay for a user’s click on an ad triggered by a given keyword (Google Ads). Use sort icon to display results in ascending or descending order..
  • Competitive Density — The level of competition between advertisers bidding on a given keyword within their PPC campaigns. Competitive Density is shown on a scale from 0 to 1.00 with 1.00 being the most difficult to rank for.

With this we evaluate each keyword and filter out the ones we don’t need. The way to do it is by what I call the Cross Green Method. You’ll can see it in action on Google Sheets.

It’s very simple. First you put your chosen keywords with these metrics in Google Sheets. Then you do color coding:

  • Volume
    • Red: 100 - 2000
    • Yellow: 2000 - 5000
    • Green: 5000 +
  • KD
    • Green: 0% - 50%
    • Yellow: 50% - 70%
    • Red: 70% - 100%
  • Competitive Density
    • Green: 0 - 0.3
    • Yellow: 0.3 - 0.7
    • Red: 0.7 - 1
  • CPC (Irrelevant and incorrect since the keyword landscape is so poor for this project)
    • Green: 0.1$ - $0.3
    • Yellow: 0.3$ - 0.6$
    • Red: 0.6$ +

After this we just sort the Volume column descending and we see in which keywords the green colors overlap. Those are the best ones, but some with a couple of yellows and reds might also be acceptable.

Here’s an example:

Now take these clusters and create content around them.

Content Clustering

Think of them as the backbone of killer SEO. They're not just about throwing keywords around; it's a real strategy. By linking broader topics (pillars) to specific deep dives (clusters), you're telling Google, "Hey, I've got authority here." And the bonus? Users love it. 

Dive deep, link smart, and rank high. Simple, right?

Three main types of pillar content are:

  • The “Guide” Pillar Page - The guide pillar page gives a comprehensive overview of a topic that makes it an authoritative destination for those interested in the subject. It also links to related cluster pages that expand knowledge on particular aspects of the topic, often related to a specific keyword.
  • The “What Is” Pillar Page - A pillar page can serve as a definitive examination of a subject — a highly useful stand-alone resource that links to related cluster pages and develops aspects of the subject in greater detail. In many ways, it is authoritative, like a guide page.
  • The “How-To” Pillar Page - If you have a solution or tool to fix a problem, it can be worked in discretely and embraced if you have successfully addressed your customers’ pain points and offer a lot of good, useful information. Well-illustrated, step-by-step tutorials are often used in these kinds of pillar pages.

Writing Articles

Every author will have their own writing style, voice, and tone, but there needs to be some level of consistency, so you don’t publish anything that doesn’t position you in the right way.

Consistency adds authenticity. Here is a standard blog article structure for reference..

About Introduction and Conclusion

Each element in the article has its purpose, starting from Header 1 and ending with the conclusion, but the end and the beginning of the article are the two most important parts.

People are more likely to pay attention at the beginning, and the end of the information presented, so those are more likely to be remembered.

There are a few effects at work here.

The first one is the primacy effect. The primacy effect refers to the tendency to recall information presented at the start of a list better than information at the middle or end.

In contrast to the primacy effect, the recency effect refers to the tendency for people to more easily recall items that are presented last. For example, if you are trying to memorize a list of items, the recency effect means you are more likely to recall the items from the list that you studied last.

The truth is that people don't actually have short Attention spans for content: They finish three-hour movies, and they binge fourteen-hour Netflix shows. What they have is short consideration spans: they must be hooked quickly. 

To do so, ensure your first minute is incredible.

Ai Articles

Now I would definitely encourage you to put out human-written articles, but if you insist on mass creating articles, here’s my small playbook for that.

There’s a lot of hate for AI-generated content out there. Most of it is valid, because most of AI-generated content sucks but I can attest that if done right - it works. Here’s to give you an example of what’s possible. 

You can:

  • Export the competitor’s sitemap.
  • Add the URLs from the sitemap into Byword’s “Write from URLs” feature and scrape the URLs.
  • Byword will generate article titles and outlines based on the competitor URLs. Edit if necessary.
  • Once ready, generate AI content (including images).
  • Use Byword’s interlinking feature to interlink these articles.
  • Publish content straight onto your website using CMS integrations.
  • Submit to Google for indexing at scale using tools like Tag Parrot.
  • Polish, optimize, and repeat.

Use this process to build relevant & authoritative SEO backlinks. Show Google that people trust you online. The key ingredients: processes, consistency, and relationships.

  • Build a partner network: Partner with 100+ companies in your niche. Swap content, backlinks, and promotions on a quarterly basis. Great way to get relevant backlinks.
  • Write guest articles: Find authority websites in your niche and write high-value articles for them. Get a dofollow backlink & build trust w/ their readers.
  • Run an affiliate program: Offer your customers and followers the ability to promote you. Provide them with content to link back to from their site. Keep them updated monthly.
  • Interview on podcasts: Get interviewed on niche podcasts. Builds awareness, gets backlinks, and creates new relationships. Use it to get on other podcasts and PR opps as well.
  • Answer q's on HARO & Featured: Use HARO & Terkel (new Featured.com) to answer q's from journalists & bloggers. Gain backlinks as they select your content.
  • Get included in existing articles: Find 1st page articles and reach out. Offer them your own content to link to that will enhance their article. Or simply ask if they'll include you.
  • Build influencer relationships: Team up with influencers in your niche to benefit them and get exposure to their audience. Offer them extra affiliate commissions.
  • Publish videos regularly: Create high-value, how-to videos that are shareable. Publish and promote to your audience. Use them to enhance blog content & publish on Y T.
  • Publish a free eBook: Put everything you know on a topic into a free eBook. Promote it and watch as others link back to it. Make it easy to download & high, high value.

P.S. - YouTube is the second largest search engine, right after Google, and with the AI tools out there to quickly repurpose videos into blogs, blogs into videos, and long-form videos into shorts - there really is no excuse to not do it.

Part 4: Lifecycle, Brand & Growth “Hacking” (oh, and some tools)

For the last part of the handbook, let’s cover three topics I think most startups misunderstand:

  • How to do lifecycle marketing? Aka, how to do follow-up communication.
  • How to do brand marketing and PR on a startup budget?
  • Why there is no such thing as “growth hacking” and what you should do instead.

And in the end, I’ll recommend some tools (with free credits and/or massive discounts).

Lifecycle Marketing: It Doesn’t End at Sign Up

Got a sign-up? Great, but hold the celebrations. The journey's just begun. 

You see, lifecycle marketing isn't a sprint; it's a marathon. Many startups trip up by thinking that once a user signs up, they're all set. 

Big mistake.

The moment someone signs up is just a single touchpoint in their journey with your brand. From here, the real work begins. It's about nurturing, engagement, upselling, and building lasting loyalty. 

Think of it like dating: signing up is like getting a first date. Sure, they're interested, but now you've got to build that relationship.

Lifecycle marketing is about recognizing which stage they're at—whether they're just discovering your features, becoming regular users, or at risk of churning—and then serving them exactly what they need.

Remember, retention is where the gold's at. Acquiring a new customer can be 5x more expensive than retaining an existing one. 

So, don't drop the ball post sign-up. Instead, have a solid game plan to make every user feel valued, engaged, and eager for more.

Alright, now for the meaty stuff. How should startups get their hands dirty with lifecycle marketing? Let’s dive in.

  1. Segment Your Audience: First things first, know your users. Group them based on behavior, engagement, purchase history, or other metrics. For example:
  • New users
  • Active users
  • Dormant users
  • At-risk of churning
  1. Automated Email Campaigns: Invest in an email automation tool. They're not just for newsletters. Set up automated email sequences for:
  • Welcome series for new users (introduce features, share tips, etc.)
  • Product usage tips for active users
  • Re-engagement campaigns for dormant users
  • Special offers or surveys for those at risk of churning 
  1. Personalize Everything: Generic messages are blah. Personalization increases conversion. Use names, recommend based on behavior, and make your users feel seen.
  2. Use In-App Messaging: Especially for SaaS startups. Guide new users with feature prompts, celebrate milestones, or nudge them to try features they haven’t yet.
  3. Reward Loyalty: Introduce loyalty programs or special deals for long-term users. Make them feel special for sticking around.
  4. Monitor and Adapt: Tools like Mixpanel or Amplitude can provide insights on user behavior. Keep an eye on how users move through your lifecycle stages, and adapt your strategies based on actual data.
  5. Diversify Your Channels: Email is king, but don’t forget about SMS, push notifications, or even retargeting ads. Different strokes for different folks.
  6. Upsell and Cross-Sell: But do it smartly. If a user loves one of your features, introduce them to a premium one. If they bought product A, maybe they'd be interested in product B.
  7. Get Feedback: Always be in the know. Use surveys, feedback forms, or direct outreach to understand why users might be losing interest.
  8. Educate: Webinars, tutorials, or blog posts can add value. If users understand and derive more value from your product, they're more likely to stick around.

Brand & PR for Startups

Press releases and nice but unless you have existing relationships in major publications, you probably can’t afford a major press release and that’s fine. You don’t need it.

What you do need is – personal branding.

Here's a thing: the most important brand ambassadors for your startup aren't celebrities or influencers but the team itself. Especially the founders.

I can’t stress enough just how much of a difference it makes when founders and team members are actively creating content on LinkedIn.

You're not just the brains behind the operations; you're the heartbeat of the brand. This is why building a personal brand that aligns and complements your startup is so important.

It's not about ego or self-promotion; it's about creating a narrative that resonates with your audience, partners, and investors.

Don’t do LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn ads generally perform terribly.

LinkedIn organic, however, has a surprisingly high ROI. Many marketers don’t realize that LinkedIn posts attract enough engagement to single-handedly drive top-of-funnel strategies.

Today, LinkedIn remains a content-deficient platform: there is more content demand than supply. Of all the major social channels, it remains easiest to become a top influencer on LinkedIn.

Here’s my brief LinkedIn playbook:

  • Optimize Your Profile: Approach it as you would a landing page. Ensure it's compelling and clearly represents your expertise, and product and provides a relevant CTA.
  • Define Your Content Strategy:
    • Primary Topic: Select one main area of focus.
    • Supporting Themes: Augment with three related sub-topics.
    • Consistency: Create content at least thrice weekly.
  • Community Engagement:
    • Identify Influencers: Zero in on 10-15 budding content creators aligned with your topics.
    • Daily Interactions: Engage with their content regularly to stay visible and relevant.
  • Build Meaningful Connections:
    • Strategic Outreach: Initiate connections with pivotal individuals in your industry.
    • Casual Conversations: Schedule 2-3 informal chats weekly to foster genuine relationships.

All these things might seem small, but they compound. Believe me, building a personal brand does marvels.

If you want something more comprehensive. Here you go (Zoom In):

Growth Hacking Is Not a Real Thing, Growth Discipline Is

Let's talk about "growth hacking." I don’t even care to count how many times I’ve had founders ask me for some growth hacks.

Two common perceptions float around:

  • The Life Hack Comparison: Many visualize growth hacking like their favorite life hacks. Turn grapes into wine ice cubes? Sounds fun. Turn a few tricks into sudden startup success? Not so much.
  • The Dark Alley Perspective: Then there's this notion that it's all about sneaky maneuvers, much like hackers navigating the dark web.

Read my lips: there are no hacks. Stop looking for them. You’ll hack yourself to procrastination.

There are tactics and growth is a discipline.

Imagine this: a lumberjack, diligently working, hacking away at a tree. Each strike is methodical, aiming for maximum impact. That's what real growth hacking is about - not short-term tricks, but dedicated efforts aimed at growth.

However, even this visualization is flawed. Unlike trees, business growth doesn’t have an endpoint. It's an ongoing journey.

If we are to cultivate sustainable growth, we must shift our mindset from hacking to discipline. Growth discipline isn't about guesswork; it's a systematic endeavor. It’s about:

  • Pinpointing impactful opportunities.
  • Testing hypotheses.
  • Drawing actionable insights.
  • Iteratively applying those insights.

The objective? To transcend the boundaries of conventional marketing and infuse growth strategies into product development. This calls for an approach that’s both strategic and scientific - a lifeline for small businesses and budding startups with tight budgets.

To better understand, let’s soak in the wisdom of some of the brightest minds in the startup world:

  • “Growth is now a system. It’s a process. It’s a philosophy. Growth is a discipline that can be studied and applied if you have access to the right people and frameworks.” - Hiten Shah
  • “The essence of growth lies in looking beyond just marketing; it’s about seizing new product development avenues based on customer behavior or technological advancements.” - Hiten Shah, again.
  • “The new-age marketer isn’t just a marketer. They’re part coder, part scientist, part artist. They’re growth hackers who approach the age-old question – ‘How do I attract customers?’ – with tools like A/B tests, viral factors, and a deep understanding of digital ecosystems.” - Andy Chen

To boil it down:

  • Growth is more science than luck.
  • To truly grow, dive deep into user desires and behaviors.
  • Growth is an intersection of marketing and product.

And the heart of all this? Your product. Its value. The growth journey begins and ends there. 

You can find some good tactics here - Growth Tactics - Demand Curve

Mostly Free Marketing Toolstack

And lastly. We all love good tools.

The good news is that you don’t need to spend ANYTHING on your marketing toolstack when you’re just starting up, most of the tools have free versions (which are enough for the early-stage startup scale) and many others offer startup programs (basically giving you free credits to use their apps for free for 6 months to 2 years).

Analytics Tools

  • Google Analytics 4: The OG of web analytics. Best part? It’s free. It’s like that trusty compass every marketer needs.
  • Amplitude: With up to $40K in credits - Link here, this product analytics tool is kind of a big deal. It helps you get under the hood of your product.
  • Rudderstack: Ever heard of CDPs? Customer Data Platforms. These bad boys are revolutionizing how we see integrations, conversion tracking, and more. Rudderstack is a free CDP you shouldn’t miss. Or if you're feeling a bit fancy, try out Segment - Link here - with up to 2 years free.
  • Hotjar: Now. This is not free but if you’re a SaaS, trust me, you'll want to put some money into this. Think of it like a camera that lets you see exactly how people navigate your software.
  • Semrush: Absolute gem. I swear by Semrush but it’s pricey. So, early on, tools like Ubersuggest and Google Keyword Planner could be good alternatives.

Credits & Discounts

And honestly, just use Google Workspace, because, who uses MS Office anymore? Google Workscape is free, it’s cloud-based, and it’s multi-functional.

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