Five scrappy ways to build awareness at a tech start-up [part 1]
If you build it, they will come, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case for B2B technology startups. After you’ve poured your blood, sweat and tears (hopefully not literally!) into building a fantastic, ground-breaking technology, how do you shout it from the rooftops - on a responsible budget?
A quick Google search for “how to build awareness on a budget” will probably yield common B2C strategies (influencer marketing, Instagram, street artwork, etc). However, these tactics don’t always work for B2B tech marketing.
I’m not going to sugar coat it - building awareness from scratch will be a grind. But if you’re a founder, chances are you’re comfortable being gritty and doing what it takes! The good news is, there are numerous creative, practical ways to start building awareness for your technology offering. And you don’t need to spend crazy amounts of money on sponsorships or flashy events (although these tactics do work when the time is right!).
I’m going to share with you five practical strategies that you can employ today, along with ways to adjust the tactic based on the stage of business you’re in and resourcing you have available to you. But first, a quick pulse check on your foundations…
Mastering the foundations
Imagine your company is a beautiful new house that you just built from scratch and want to sell for a profit. How would you build awareness for your house? You would likely post a listing on Zillow, with professional photos and a virtual tour. You might write a paragraph touting how amazing your house is - the new appliances, the heated pool, the proximity to the train. But before you write this, you would need to think about the benefits your house offers, and what will resonate most with your audience. The brass hardware might show well in photos, but it isn’t something you would call attention to in the description.
This is a similar exercise you need to go through for your company before you can properly build awareness. You need to be VERY organized about your go-to-market strategy and positioning. This homework is critical, and often a pitfall that founders overlook.
As part of your positioning framework, you should get clear on who your target audience is, a competitive technology and packaging comparison, what your unique selling proposition is, and how your company helps your target audience solve problems.
Once this foundational work is done, you need to ensure this messaging is strategically leveraged on your website, social media, and other external accounts. If you don’t have the time or skills to execute this yourself, it might be worth hiring a fractional marketing leader, or boutique agency to help you.
Assuming you’ve done this important foundational homework and feel confident about your go-to-market strategy and positioning, you can then efficiently and effectively start to build awareness.
Allright, cue the drumroll…Here is the first of five cost-friendly, scrappy ways to start building awareness at your B2B technology start-up:
#1 - Share disruptive insights on LinkedIn
Ever heard the saying “people buy people, not products?” This strategy is all about building your (or your CEO/ Founder’s) brand on social media, and funneling that momentum to drive eyeballs to your company’s page.
The strategic way to do this is to identify a few core topics that your audience cares about, share disruptive insights that gets them to think, and guide them to your page out of pure interest in who you are. The key here - and stay with me - is to NOT talk about your product or technology directly in the content you share. To do so would clip the wings on this approach before it takes flight. Resist the temptation to add something at the end of your post like “If you want to learn more about how to solve this issue, reach out to XYZ to learn more!” It’s okay if you talk about a challenge your company helps to solve - the trick is to share valuable insights without mentioning your exact offering. B2B buyers want to buy, but they don’t want to be sold to. In this case, they are buying into YOU, the founder, before they buy the product.
The first step? Take out a pad of paper, and outline five topics that you can provide valuable insights on. These topics should be top of mind for your target audience. What are critical issues and buzz-worthy topics happening in your industry? Is there a key challenge your audience is facing right now? Is there a niche audience that you can relate to on a personal level (i.e. women founders)? Next, list your unique point of view (the more disruptive, the better!), and whittle the list down to 2-3 topics that feel the strongest.
The next step is to determine how much content you can commit to, and what type of content. Create a realistic goal for the first 30 days, with a scaled approach. Start small by commenting on LinkedIn posts with insightful responses (search for hashtags and follow industry influencers to source posts). Re-share articles about the topics you’ve chosen and add a quick point of view. Once you get into a flow, start to create your own posts, LinkedIn articles, or even video content.
When you are writing the content, it’s critical to take a step back and think about what you are sharing with your network. Will it add value to the conversation? Is there a disruptive point of view you can share? What are people missing as part of the narrative? This is what will set you apart and draw attention to your page.
Remember, the goal of this strategy is to build up your presence as a founder and authentic thought leader (not talk about your product). Once you capture attention, your page and website will do the talking about your offering (assuming your foundational work has been done!).
To maximize this strategy, conduct research on reporters who often write about similar topics and request to be in their network on LinkedIn, or comment on their posts if they share articles. You never know -your commentary could catch their eye, and turn into an organic press opportunity!
There you have it - a cost effective strategy to gain traction for your brand. While this can be done with zero dollars invested, if writing doesn’t come easily to you and budget allows, I would suggest hiring a ghost writer or even an intern to help keep track of trending news, reporters, influencers to monitor, and your posting schedule.
Social media not your thing? Stay tuned for part two with another cost-effective, scrappy strategy to build awareness for your B2B tech brand.
