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No budget for marketing?

I’ve bootstrapped a startup from zero to 7-figures without a marketing budget.

Here are 14 tactics that can get you immediate results:

1/ Write high-intent bottom of the funnel blogs first.

Keywords like: vs, alternatives, competitors, reviews, tools, and software.

These blogs will place you in consideration of customers right NOW.

If you write well, you'll rank immediately on the first page.

2/ Write more in-depth actionable blogs of the topic you solve.

Then, find the right Facebook, Reddit, and other communities to promote it.

Turn them to threads on Twitter.

Promote it with a taste. No link-dropping, please.

3/ Submit your business to the reviews & listing directory.

Early on, we got good traction from G2 and Capterra.

Find where your prospective customers are looking.

4/ Launch on Product Hunt.

Caveat: You need to have the right messaging.

If you fail, launch again.

Keep launching bigger announcements on Product hunt.

5/ Find one advocate/partner with an audience.

You don’t need to run influencer marketing.

One partner who already has your back.

This will make a difference.

6/ Run webinars on the topics your product/service solves.

Be the expert or bring the experts in your category.

Run it as often as possible.

Generate leads and nurture them.

7/ Identify dream 100 customers.

Find out if your service can directly help them.

Then, do audits, teardowns, and give them ideas.

Don’t sell the product, sell the problem.

They’ll come to you one day when they are ready (happened to me 10 times).

8/ Use Facebook groups to your advantage.

Don’t try to sell your solution immediately.

Engage with the niche community and answer thoughtfully.

People will look at your profile and will check you out.

9/ Write insightful guest posts for folks who have an audience & newsletter.

People use guest posting for SEO.

I use it for influence. I am collecting email addresses.

Do that for 10 brands bigger than you.

You’ll have folks giving you their email address.

10/ Make social listening a priority to get leads.

Turn on your & competitors’ keywords on Google alerts, Twitter, Reddit, and Slack.

People who are “looking for a solution right NOW”, immediately offer your product/service.

I closed 10 customers by just doing that.

11/ Double down on Quora & Reddit.

Both are still underrated (both rank on search too).

Many prospects are asking questions related to your business there.

Find the right questions, get upvotes and see the magic happen.

But answer with insights and then lead to your website.

12/ Run a contrarian newsletter on your niche.

Contrarian & counter-intuitive topics do get attention on social media.

You collect the leads and teach them the new way.

In the long run, you’ll get those leads checking you out.

13/ offer a cheap competitive tool, instead of free.

Free tools are great. But think, is there an expensive tool that you can make easily and don't charge them a premium for it?

For example, Copy AI could give a headline generator product for $1 and collect emails.

14/ Offer referrals regardless of B2B & B2C.

Incentivize the referrals with something that your customers really want from your product.

For example, SurferSEO gives some NLP credits for free if folks refer. Works out for them.

My advice:

Do one of these things, but with FOCUS.

Most people try a hundred things, but nothing works out.

Try one thing and with complete focus.

That's all folks.

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I write about growth & marketing. I share my insights every week.