Permission Marketing
http://www.sethgodin.com/permission/
Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
11–20 of 22 posts
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#12Make your product stand out so that it spreads via word-of-mouth. I know it's an overused catch phrase, but if you're good enough that people want to tell others about what you've done unbidden, then you've got it made.
Just keep focusing your efforts on your product. Make it shine. Make every single part of it wonderful. People will talk about it. That's what happened with Facebook: I remember getting an account when high schoolers were first allowed, and feeling the need to tell all my friends. It had such a wonderful interface. Most of my friends did the same.
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#13would techies have any interest in your startup? what's nice about this segment is that they are relatively easy to reach and are very interested in seeing what's out there. in most product lifecycle, you're going to have innovators and early adopters before you have a large audience. the trick is to figure out who your initial audience is going to be, engage them, and provide methods for them to spread the word.
if you are willing to post more about your startup, i might be able to give you some more targeted ideas.
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#14Send a basic press release to the local newspapers and TV stations in your city (and surrounding cities). These people actually need material. We got a write-up/picture in the local paper once and I was shocked at how many people recognized us over the next several months.
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#15Get it noticed by techies. Non-geeks find out about technical stuff via their geeky friends and relatives. Firefox is the perfect example. The only counter examples I can think of are things like Facebook. However, even here, there is no harm in going after techies, unless your product is one of the few that they won't like.
This is not exactly bad advice, but it's not a good solution either.
Techies live in a bubble. Let's be frank - most people don't have a clue what IE is, let alone Firefox. Using early adopters as a gateway to a larger market only makes sense if those early adopters are a subset of such a market.
What if you're selling to say: law offices? Doctors? Accountants? HR Directors? None of these markets fit the geek->masses model. You'll fail miserably if you don't target these niches where they already live.
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#16Setup a Google BLog Alert with the keywords/phrases that relate to your product. Every time someone talks about it,contact that person and tell them what you think of their article (be honest) and shamelessly plugin your application. They expect that and they need the stories.
Affiliate marketing. I can never promote this enough. Sign up for PepperJam, Commission Juntion or Sharesale and pay only when you make a sale. Or pay for sign ups.
If your product may interest businesses, then cold call. Or warm call (email then call). Even if your product is free, you can find a few enterprises that may benefit from using it. Call the top dogs, decision makers and tell them how your "new blog/app" is the ISHT and they oughta to stop working and check it out.
Be agressive. Passively.Luck is a "myth" for most people. If someone says no that means "not right now". Keep pushing every other week.
Repeat. If something works, repeat it. Exhaust it.
Try and try more. There is no set way to market or sell. Try everything you can. The beauty of emails or phone calls is that you can be anything you want and anything the other guy/gal wants. "Be water", Be a chameleon.
EDIT: IF you could be more specific about what you do, you could get better advices from readers.
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#17What worked for us was to get in their face as content, not as advertising. If possible, develop an API that puts your content or functionality in and on the outlets your non-techies frequent.
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#18Get it noticed by techies. Non-geeks find out about technical stuff via their geeky friends and relatives. Firefox is the perfect example. The only counter examples I can think of are things like Facebook. However, even here, there is no harm in going after techies, unless your product is one of the few that they won't like.
This is great advice. To share a data point, I first became aware of Weebly because of a mention on HN. Some months later my wife, wanted to create a website for her business, and asked me for a recommendation. As you can guess, she is a happy Weebly user now.
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#19Permission Marketing http://www.sethgodin.com/permission/
Seth is that you?
Re: Ask YC: How to get your startup noticed by non-techies
#20A good Google ranking can't be understated. That is driven partially by blog exposure. I am #1 on "Free Intranet" and "Free Extranet". That probably drives half the signups each day. The rest comes from a low budget Google Adwords campaign and a low budget Adbrite.com campaign. As for other search engines it is like they don't exist.