Marketing a Startup

When I was in middle school, my principal used to say:

“The hardest part about any project is starting it.”

I had this in mind when starting GapScout, my second foray into the world of software, but first as a traditional SaaS. I learned a lot during my time building (and selling) LearnDash, and I can't wait to apply those learnings to this new venture.

One of those lessons learned was building an audience before and during the build process. For that project, I started content marketing 10 months before the product was built. I built an email list, got a good solid footing in Google, and was able to build buzz. This made the launch a success.

For GapScout, I am using this same formula (except we won't have to wait 10 months for launch this time)! 🙂

The content marketing strategy will be taking place at the same time as product development. I tapped my network and was introduced to a couple of content marketers who will be helping me in this area. As always, I like to start out with a few trial articles to see how things go. So far, so good for the both of them!

Smart content creation is just the first step.

I’d like to first build a solid footing in Google (seeing as this is a brand-new site), at which point I will begin the outreach process to start building relations with bloggers and websites in the same niche.

When you start a business, it's not always about the “big milestones”, it's nice to recognize the smaller achievements along the way.

Recently, the GapScout website celebrated one month. While developer conversations are happening in the background, the content marketing has started to make progress. There is no “hack” for content creation. It's a slow, long process. But it pays off!

In 30 days, the GapScout website has seen 2,083 unique visitors.

No secrets, just keyword research, writing quality articles, and sharing the content on the normal social channels.

I do intend to use paid ads as well, but not quite yet, as I'd prefer to do that when there is a product ready to use. So for now, the content marketing approach will continue, it definitely is paying off.

Want early access to GapScout? Get on the early adopter list!

#entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.