
Ask HN: Which were some of your biggest marketing challenges as a startup? - Vagantem
I’m all about ‘Making products users love’ - product market fit should be found before turning on your advertising. But I’ve also learnt the importance of clear communication in a professional manner, both to potential customers and investors. Without marketing experience, we&#x27;ve been struggling to develop a clear brand - lacking the budget to hire an expensive marketing agency.<p>What was&#x2F;are some of your biggest communication challenges and how did you solve them?
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crmd
The transition from 100% product marketing (how does it work, how is it better
than competitive technology), to a blend of Customer storytelling (what are
customers doing with the technology, how is it transforming their businesses
and helping them delight their customers), Corporate branding (who we are, our
vision for the future of our industry), and straight product marketing, with
coherent messaging across PR, social, industry analysts, financial analysts,
etc.

It was a brutal transition, because as a company run by engineers, there was a
belief that anything beyond data sheet speeds-and-feeds was harmful bullshit.
But as we figured this out, revenue growth exploded and we started to be
recognized as a new “leader” in the industry, so the skeptics calmed down.

From what I see, all engineer-led startups without marketing people seem to
start with product marketing, then evolve into more balanced strategies as
they mature. In retrospect, we call this period of our company “marketing
puberty”.

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Vagantem
Interesting! When would you say this puberty hits startups in general? A
round? We might be early with it

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unlinked_dll
I think the first lesson everyone learns is that marketing is less about
knowing your product than knowing your customer. You have to understand what
their problems are to come up with your value prop for them.

It’s also why I think a lot of people’s bootstrapped plays fall flat. If you
don’t have some support already to help guide your tech to a market, you’re
never going to get anywhere. The successes I’ve seen come from people who
transition from being a customer with a problem that isn’t being solved to a
salesperson with the solution.

Also if you do B2B, marketing to people without purchasing approval is a great
way to light money on fire.

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Vagantem
Could you expand on "come from people who transition from being a customer
with a problem that isn’t being solved to a salesperson with the solution."?

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cm2012
Forget about building a brand. An early stage startup is going to change a
lot. Just work on getting customers.

At first, do things that don't scale to hustle and grow:
[http://paulgraham.com/ds.html](http://paulgraham.com/ds.html)

When you have some funding and have found product market fit, then you can use
scalable channels like Facebook ads. Here's my guide on that (for B2B, but
it's broadly applicable): [https://medium.com/rightpercent/guide-to-scaling-
a-b2b-compa...](https://medium.com/rightpercent/guide-to-scaling-
a-b2b-company-with-facebook-ads-bd95dbb9c504)

Investors care a lot more about how many customers/users you have than about
how slick your pitch is.

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ConuntlCooled
Customer acquisition strategy - not knowing anything about social media ads

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Gustomaximus
Social requires honesty first an foremost. E.g. Don't decide 'we're going to
be a cool/fun brand' unless you are. Good marketing needs to come from a
position of truth and find a way to celebrate that. In social this is more
important than other channels. A great example is Guiness dancing man where
they celebrate that their beer takes longer to pour.

Interest, amuse or shock with your ads. You can go for brand recognition with
boring ads but IMO thats better for traditional display buying.

Be upfront with what you want people to do from your ad. It's not an absolute
rule but generally the best format is to 1) Make a claim, 2) Give a reason to
believe said claim 3) Call to action.

Then test and track. Marketing should be an investment not a cost. A dollar
should return a dollar+, if not try something else or don't do ads because you
feel you should.

Obviously more to it but I feel that's the fast 3 core points.

