Marketing Priorities by Stage: Phase I
Where to start - building an audience you can activate
Hi cuties - Me again đ never letting you forget I exist đ¤ŁÂ
We covered some marketing fundamentals last week. This week, weâll build on that and cover where you should start.
Then in the weeks that follow, weâll go through how to build from here, step-by-step, with plenty of âhowâ.
Legoooo.
Marketing Priorities by Stage
Where to start
Youâre a startup founder, and you canât do everything at once. Youâve got a small budget, a small team, and 5,000 hats to wear.
So where should you start when it comes to marketing?
The first thing you should do is build an audience of your target customers.
Why? BecauseâŚ
No one knows you yet, youâre not Salesforce or Nike
No one trusts you yet
Your product is probably duct-taped together or a meer dream in a Figma file
You need their attention so you can start a conversation and get a feedback loop going
You canât build a product for ICP/persona X without talking to a lot of them. You canât sell to them without knowing them.
Knowing them literally (the actual people) and figurativelyâŚknowing how they think, what they care about, what keeps them up at night.
Building an audience, you can activate
The most effective way to build an audience is through thought leadership.Â
You can build thought leadership through -
Social Media (click for how)
Podcast guest appearances (click for how)
Other speaking opportunities
A newsletter
So picture thisâŚ
You start posting every week on social media, you get booked on a few notable podcasts, youâre authentic and consistentâŚ
Over 6 months or so, you build an audience of 5,000+ real people who are your ICP/personaâŚ
Over time, they get to know youâŚthey like youâŚthey start to trust youâŚwhen they think of your industry or nicheâŚyour name is one of the first things they think about next.
Kind of like I hope when you think of âgo-to-marketâ or âsalesâ or âmarketingâ you naturally thinkâŚJESS SCHULTZ. đÂ
Go-To-Market Hypewoman
Then you have 5,000+ people who like and trust you, ready to -
Give you product feedback
Give you insights into their challenges
And eventually - to buy from you
At the earliest stages, your product probably canât even support that many users or clients yet. This allows you to build that pipeline organically while you build the product. Then when youâre ready to scale, you can GO GO GO.
Attracting people to you vs chasing them. Doesnât that sound better than spamming a bunch of people with cold outreach?
YOU are the golden ticket
YOU, my founder friend, are the golden ticket.
You had the guts and the courage to start a company. One of the hardest things to do. You are risking it all - your reputation, your finances, your personal life.
You signed up to climb Mount Everest.
And I know you wouldnât do that unless you were super uber passionate about solving whatever problem youâre solving. Not unless you were super uber knowledgeable about your industry and niche.
That expertise, that passion, that storyâŚTHAT is what will get you customers and revenue.
All you have to do is share it. And in turn, you will build an audience that you can ACTIVATE into real $$.
That is step 1 - Build an audience.
And even if youâre already at $1-2mm in ARR, itâs never too late. Start now.
See ya next week for step 2! Adios amigos
With love and gratitude -
If you want to learn more about working with me directlyâŚ
For B2B startups I serve as a Fractional GTM executive or advisor. Learn more about-
When youâre ready, letâs connect to discuss your specific growth goals and challenges.
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