#6- Four growth hacking strategies for bootstrapped startups
How can bootstrapped startups scale without emptying the founder's pockets
What is Growth Hacking?
Let’s face it! Growth Hacking is one of the biggest buzz-words in this age! Growth hacking is a way of growing a business using marketing psychology, experimentation, and automation tools!
The reason why its called a ‘hack’ is because it means finding quick, and cost-effective means to a solution- i.e. growth!
I’ve been told that growth hackers follow a formula: Product x Growth = Impact
This essentially means that growth hacking is finding ways for your product to make an impact!
Let’s dig a bit deeper on growth hacking strategies that bootstrapped founders can follow which do not require an extensive media budget.
Four growth hacking strategies for bootstrapped startups-
Pre-Launch Mailing list
This is vital, and it works for both B2B & B2C startups! Email marketing to this day remains a key element in finding leads and turning them into conversions.
Why is it so important? Startups can build an email list, reach the audience without spending a dime, and yet deliver the message effectively! It also helps create a hype or buzz around your product.
Additionally, it also helps in acquiring customers before you even launch!
Get featured on launch pads like Beta List or Product Hunt
Bonus points if you’re on Beta List first and Product Hunt next - it helps create an unmissable hype, helps find customers without you have to reach them, and also allows you to deliver your message to an audience you would never have had in the first place!
Build a community around your brand
I am a big fan of founders who blog their startup journey. And by them, I don’t mean founders who got a unicorn exit. I mean founders who are starting out, working towards a seed or an angel or Series A round! These blogs are so important to understand the psyche of a founder - and are also an unmatched source of wisdom for fellow founders. Let’s face it, every founder is in (almost) the same shoes.
By blogging regularly, founders can develop a community surrounding their brand, get known in the right circles, be recognized as a thought leader, get noticed by customers and investors alike. This organic brand creation is a killer growth hack!
Go big on content!
Yawn! Content marketing is key, you’ve heard it a million times! But it really is. Have you ever thought some ideas are too dumb to be successful? Yes, content marketing is one of those.
Why? It helps get customer feedback, resolve complaints, helps build trust around your product/service, make customers feel they’re a part of your journey.
Founders feel content marketing is a very difficult task - but every team member can take half an hour a day to brainstorm, collectively you can find a lot of time. You just need to resonate with the users. The users will do the rest! You can also add guest posting, guest blogging, user stories in your content. Get creative!
Final take
Growth is a challenge for many startups. But the real issue is not growth, it is the lack of customers knowing about your existence!
And for a bootstrapped startup, the challenge becomes tougher.
Startups can deploy tried & tested growth hacks to scale up quickly. But also remember there is no single hack that will help you all the time - it is a collaborative combination, not an isolated exercise!
Additional reads
If you have some smashing growth hacks, please feel free to share in comments!
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