Hooray! You have invented an innovative new product, but with little to no marketing budget, how can you start driving sales? The answer is the same as how you probably got this far: stay scrappy.
Understand Marketing Channels
Before you start, it’s helpful to understand the different types of marketing channels. Each type offers different reach, control, and cost.
- Owned Channels are platforms you control directly. Think of your website, email list, or social media profiles. These channels cost nothing to use but usually have little initial reach.
- Earned Channels involve exposure you do not pay for directly. This includes press, partnerships, word-of-mouth, and user-generated content. These can be incredibly powerful when used creatively.
- Paid Channels are where you spend money to advertise. For budget-conscious teams, focus here only after you have built a digital foundation with a conversion-driving website and good reviews or comments on the internet.
Content: Your Marketing Foundation
Strong content is an effective way to fuel growth. If you or your team can create it in-house, content becomes one of your most valuable free tools. You will use it to grow your owned channels and you will use it to get into earned channels. When you are ready for paid channels, this content will likely become your advertising too.
Start by creating content for your primary audience. First, identify who they are and what they care about. What questions do they need answered? If you can provide insight or information they can’t get elsewhere, they will pay attention.
Look for areas in your industry where information is unclear or missing. Create content that fills that gap. Research keyword trends to find out what people are already searching for. Then speak to those topics in a way only your company can. Don’t sell your product per se, but provide valuable information for the target audience that positions you as an authority. Choose topics that are close to what you sell where your product could be the best solution.
For example, perhaps you sell a wearable that tracks your brain’s reaction time. It can tell people whether your brain is currently able to make quick decisions on complex issues. That is essential for taking a test. Content that summarizes scientific research on how to make your brain function at its best for a test—such as hydration, caffeine, sleep—would be valuable for students. And hey, by the way, our band tracks that for you so it’s easy to determine what factors impact your brain the most.
If your content is helpful, educational, or entertaining, people will share it. That’s the key to growing awareness organically. If it is focused around keywords your target audience searches, it will show up in AI summaries or on Google search results that bring people to your website.
Let Other People Market for You
Influencer marketing is not just for celebrities. Micro-influencers—people with between one and 5,000 followers—often have loyal audiences and are open to sharing a product they genuinely like. Many will do it just for a free product.
Start with your network. Do you have friends or family who are ideal customers? Ask them to try your product and share their experience on social media. It may feel awkward at first, but early traction often starts close to home.
Next, identify people online who already engage with your type of product or lifestyle. Engage with their content, comment thoughtfully, and build a relationship. Then ask if they would be open to trying your product. Many will post about it without being prompted, simply because they’re excited to be included.
Avoid paying people to try and post about your product. You want people who genuinely need it and love it first. Just because someone has one million followers does not mean their one post about you will have more impact than someone with 5,000 followers who posts about you multiple times because they love your product so much.
Get Attention with PR
If your story is compelling, you may be able to get press coverage. Maybe your founding story is unusual, or your product solves a problem in an unusual way. Journalists love a fresh angle.
It takes time, but you can pitch yourself. Start by identifying journalists who cover similar topics. Follow them. Read their work. Engage with their posts. Once you understand what they write about, reach out with a personalized pitch. Share what makes your story interesting to their audience. Leverage current trending topics and show how your product fits into that story.
Don’t just focus on big publications. Look to podcasters, people who post a lot on LinkedIn or bloggers. They all have reach and often their audiences are more loyal.
Build Owned Channels Early
Your website, email list, and social media profiles may not drive much traffic in the beginning, but over time they become your most valuable assets. Start growing them now.
Focus on just one or two social platforms where your target audience already spends time. Every channel has a different vibe, so do not copy-paste content across platforms. Choose your strongest medium (video, photos, writing) and match it to the platform where it performs best.
Make your social presence known for something specific. One high-end beauty brand built its social media presence around beautiful bathrooms featuring their products. It became the go-to account for bathroom inspiration. People planning a remodel followed, and many became buyers of the company’s luxury beauty products.
Use email capture tools on your website. Offer a discount or something valuable in exchange for an email address. If you have helpful resources or educational guides, these are great lead magnets. For instance, a dog outdoor company created a downloadable pet first aid guide. There was nothing like it on the market and it drove thousands of email signups.
Test Pay-for-Performance
Channels
If you can carve out a small budget, consider affiliate marketing. In this model, you only pay a commission when someone buys through a partner’s link.
Many “Top 10” or review sites are already part of affiliate networks. Reach out to them. If you’re not featured on a key list that customers use to research products, offer to send your product and set them up in your affiliate program. This gives them an incentive to add you to their content.
You can also identify key search terms related to your product. Look at the websites ranking on the first page. Many of the sites ranking well are affiliates. Reach out to them and invite them to join your affiliate program or offer to develop customized content for their site. This is an easy way to get sales without a large upfront investment.
Scrappy marketing is not about doing less. It’s about doing the right things with limited resources. Focus on what you can control, create something valuable, be consistent, use your network, and show up with a clear message. Eventually, momentum builds. n
Jennifer Kean is a chief growth officer and advisor for consumer brands. She is also a member of the NH Tech Alliance’s Startup Committee. Connect with her at linkedin.com/in/jenniferjoycekean
