

Ask HN: I have a startup but no marketing budget, how to promote? - tomash

Some time ago together with a friend we've launched musicrage.org, a HumbleBundle-like approach to selling music of independent artists. We got some recognition on the local market, but the press releases sent to sites commenting on startup market (TC, HuffingtonPost, Lifehacker and a few others) got completely ignored. We don't have much of a budget for markeing, so dear fellow hackers: what's the best (free or most cost-effective) way to promote such a site?
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Toph
You're doing it wrong. Please don't take that first sentence the wrong way.
Allow me to elaborate and I hope this helps.

1\. Press helps but they are usually "nice to have" but whatever if you don't
have them. Unless you're a well funded company doing something with a lot of
famous names behind your product, generally speaking, getting techcrunched,
etc... brings a singular traffic spike to your site and many may not even
convert. Although this is not true in all cases, long story short, don't place
bets on press. They're nice if you got them but place your bets in better
medians.

2\. Be creative in how you aim to market your startup. For us, we didn't even
get techcrunched until the day we were acquired and we never got coverage on
any of the other press sites you listed. That didn't change anything. I
believe Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit, Breadpig, and Hipmunk) said
something similar. Their entire marketing budget they ever spent was a
whooping $500 on stickers of the Reddit alien that they use to spread all over
town.

In our case, we were in a very niche market so we spent $400 asking for a
legitimate paid review (with full disclosure and allowing the reviewer to bash
us for any and all negative points if there were some) from a top blogger in
our niche to reach relevant audience (was well spent) and aside from that,
paying for tables and booths twice a year at a targeted conference to exhibit
for our product (also well spent). Some of these things are not as expensive
as they seem. That said, MAJORITY of our users and marketing channels were
100% free, especially in the early stages. We focused heavily on getting the
community to help spread the world. Word of mouth is often beaten to a pulp
and taken out of context. The best thing you could do is get connected to all
your users and do a great job for them and let those with social influence do
their thing. Find out who the top influencers are in your industry and reach
out, you'll be surprise how many of them are willing to give feedback and even
spread the word to their friends. Its the best way to get going in the early
days.

3\. The earlier you are in your startup, the less you should try to blow up in
explosive growth. Getting attention can also have major negative consquences
too. See Color. Being a startup means you have the opportunity to roll out
your product slowly and test and improve constantly before it reaches the
masses. Sometimes its worth getting that explosive growth a year later, etc...
Just something to think about. Right now, if I were you, I would focus 100% on
the community, forget the fancy marketing tactics or press. They're not what
makes your business.

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brandoncordell
In your position I would do a few things.

1\. Become an authority figure in the market. Start writing blog posts about
independent music, comment on music blogs, ask for permission to write some
guest posts on some (small, medium, or large) music blogs.

2\. Reach out to independent musicians and bloggers. Send them an email, be
human, start a conversation. Don't just pitch your startup to them. Define the
problem which you have the solution.

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patio11
Who has the audience you want? Borrow it from them. Start with your musicians
fan bases.

~~~
tomash
These musicians aren't very well known, having 100-1000 fans on facebook each.
But yes, going viral through facebook is something we'll try improving in the
upcoming weekend.

~~~
smartwater
Going viral isn't a marketing strategy.

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badclient
I think your initial target should be people who really dig independent
artists _and_ proactively try to support them. Where do you find these people?
At local shows.

I'd hit up the end of local performances and pass out flyers. You may laugh
but I've found flyers to be very effective _if_ you nail the targeting.

That aside, I'd personally simplify your pricing screen. I've already decided
to buy and then find that you want me to make all these decisions about how
much I want to pay overall, how much I want to pay the artist etc.

~~~
dllthomas
For Humble Bundle, I very much liked the ability to split things up how I
wanted to.

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SuperChihuahua
Look through these: [http://www.ideaoverload.com/Find-ideas/Finished-
ideas/Media-...](http://www.ideaoverload.com/Find-ideas/Finished-ideas/Media-
about-sales-marketing/)

------
ScottWhigham
Asking questions is a good way, but the search box here at HN is probably
faster. HN has been around for years now and there's a huge number of
marketing-related questions that have been asked+answered. You could spend
days reading the replies and following up with each.

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revorad
There's a ton of stuff you could do, but it depends on what you've already
done and who exactly you want to target.

One effective thing I can think of - Ask @pud nicely if he'd put an ad on
fandalism.com

~~~
tomash
My problem with most services that promote music and have good reach is that
they are connected with major labels.

What would be cool is some coverage from sites dealing with independent music
and, dare I say, local scenes. Also, as a geek and programmer, I think I'd
like to read about such service on a well-recognized tech/startup site.

