Startup marketing for your first 100 customers
Early-stage startups don't need a brand agency or a six-month retainer. They need a clear message, a website that explains it in five seconds, and cheap ways to find out who actually wants the product. That's the stage I help with.
What you need depends on where you are
The biggest startup marketing mistake is buying what a later-stage company needs. Here's an honest map, including where I'm the wrong fit.
| Stage | What matters most | What can wait | Am I a fit? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idea / pre-launch | A one-page site with a clear promise and a waitlist or "book a demo" button | Logo perfection, blog, paid ads | Yes |
| Just launched, first customers | A clear site, one or two channels tested cheaply, talking to every customer | Multiple channels, big brand campaigns | Yes |
| Early traction, small team | Landing pages per audience, ad tests, a sharper message from customer feedback | Full-time agency retainers | Often |
| Funded, scaling | Growth team, analytics, product marketing, larger web builds | - | Probably not alone; you need a team |
Five seconds to make sense
Most early startup websites fail the same test: a stranger can't say what the product does after five seconds. Before design, I work on these four lines with you.
Who it's for
One specific customer, not "businesses" or "everyone". You can widen later.
The problem
In their words, ideally copied from real customer conversations, not yours.
The outcome
What changes for them after using it. Concrete beats clever.
The next step
One button: join the waitlist, start a trial or book a demo. Not three.
A launch site, not a product
My $397 website is a fast, clean marketing site. To be clear about what that does and doesn't cover:
Included
- Home, features, pricing, about and contact sections
- Waitlist, demo booking or signup link
- Mobile-first, fast, SEO basics
- Your domain connected
Not included
- Your app, dashboard or login
- Payments or subscriptions logic
- Complex animations or 3D
- Ongoing growth retainers
Extra pages are $49 each, and a landing page for a specific audience or ad is $149.
Cheap experiments before big budgets
Early marketing is research. The goal is to learn who buys and why, as cheaply as possible, and to write down what you learn so the next test is smarter than the last.
- Talk to people directlyFounder-led outreach, communities your customers already use and personal networks usually find first customers faster than any ad.
- One landing page per audienceIf you're unsure whether dentists or gyms want your product more, build two landing pages and send a little traffic to each.
- Small, focused ad testsA modest Facebook and Instagram budget tested against one clear offer tells you more than a big campaign with five messages. See Facebook & Instagram ads.
- Measure signups, not likesTrack waitlist joins, demo bookings or trials per channel, and stop what doesn't produce them.
Search ads and SEO are compared in SEO vs SEM vs PPC. For a new product nobody searches for yet, search usually isn't the first channel.
A launch checklist for founders
Small things that are easy to miss in the rush to ship, and annoying to fix after people start arriving.
On the site
- Headline passes the five-second test with someone outside your team
- One primary button, repeated down the page
- Pricing shown, or a clear reason it isn't yet
- Privacy policy and terms linked if you collect emails or signups
- Works and loads quickly on a mid-range phone
Around the site
- Analytics recording signups or demo bookings, not just visits
- A real email address on your own domain
- Social profiles claimed with the same name, even if you don't post yet
- A short list of people to tell personally on launch day
- A way to collect and save every piece of early customer feedback
Startup marketing questions
How much should an early-stage startup spend on marketing?
As little as possible until you know who buys and why. A simple launch site and small, measured tests are enough at first. Increase spend on a channel only after it reliably brings signups or customers.
When should a startup start paid ads?
When you can describe your customer clearly, your landing page converts visitors from personal outreach, and you know roughly what a customer is worth. Before that, ads mostly buy expensive lessons. Start small, test one offer at a time and measure signups, not clicks.
Do startups need a marketing agency?
Usually not at the very start. Founders should do the early customer conversations themselves. Outside help is most useful for focused jobs like a launch website, landing pages or a first ad test.
Can you build my app or SaaS product?
No. I build the marketing website and landing pages around your product, not the product itself. I can link to your app, signup or demo booking.
Should a startup do SEO first?
If people already search for the problem you solve, helpful content can pay off over time. If your product is new and nobody searches for it yet, direct outreach, communities and small ad tests usually come first.
What is in the free marketing audit?
A 5–10 minute screen-recorded video reviewing your website, Google Business Profile if you have one, and any ads, showing what is likely costing you signups and what I would fix first. It is free and you keep it whether or not you hire me.
Related pages
Get a free marketing audit
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