How to Choose Marketing Channels for Early-stage Startups

Change is the only constant. Very synonymous with how algorithms evolve every other fortnight and new trends keep emerging faster than acting on them. 

‍

"Should we start with Meta ads?" "Is SEO the right channel for me?"

"My competitor is getting good traction on Twitter; should I also start posting there?"

‍

A lot of founding teams at early-stage startups do feel that marketing is a moving target. 

‍

The dilemma is real, and there's no one-size-fits-all answer. So how can they keep pace?

‍

At an early-stage startup, teams are already juggling a million things. The challenge is further elevated by limited resources, smaller teams, and a lack of brand recognition.

Choosing the right marketing channels for startups is critical because it can make or break a business, in its critical growth phase. To get a bang for your buck, as founders, you must be strategic about taking that call. 

Here is a structure that can help founders shortlist from a sea of options. We will look at 4 factors to determine the best channel for a founder to start marketing on:

• Audience for their Product/Service
• Founder/Founding team skill set & bandwidth
• Startup stage: Pre-PMF vs. Growth
• Marketing Budget

‍

‍

To begin with, a no-brainer: 

Know Thy Audience 

Knowing your customer is a non-negotiable for any organization, especially for an early-stage startup. The more time you spend on understanding your customer the better your product and marketing will be.

‍

Audience = Potential Customer. 

‍

Building an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) will help you narrow down your options.

Create ICPs or buyer personas and match them with the channels. It should comprise demographics (age, location, job title), challenges, goals, aspirations, etc. 

‍

‍

You need to know your target audience better than they know themselves. :)

‍

Here’s a quick example: Are you selling beauty products or B2B SaaS? 

Customer acquisition for startups depends on selecting the right channel, as your audience determines your channel. For example, Instagram is gold for brands with strong visual identities, while LinkedIn is ideal for B2B products or services.

But there’s a caveat here. Just because your audience spends more time on LinkedIn does not mean that it is the only channel you should focus on.

Also, it’s not about only one channel. You can choose one primary channel and two secondary channels. Or so. 

For marketing the B2B products, you can choose LinkedIn as the primary channel and Twitter as the secondary channel. You can also tap into email marketing if you have customer data. If you choose to opt for paid advertising, remember it is equally important to keep the organic content going. 

A SaaS company selling to developers will likely find success on channels like GitHub, Medium, product forums, etc. where technical discussions happen, and communities are built.

Similarly, a lot of young organizations jump the gun and try meme marketing. There’s no harm in trying, but you should know where to draw the line.

‍

But don’t stretch yourself too thin. You don’t need to be everywhere. Focus on where you can shine and make the most of the platform.

‍

See our KMYC approach.

‍

Know Thy Team (and their comfort level)

Take a good hard look at your founding team, and evaluate their social media presence. Are they good at short content on Twitter? Or are they confident enough to create video content? Or do they write and explain concepts flawlessly?

‍

Quick Exercise: List out the top three skills of each member of your founding team. Do you see any patterns emerge?

‍

In today’s world of founder-led communications and branding, you cannot not bank upon their online presence. Leveraging founder-driven marketing and your founding team’s expertise is key in choosing the channels that’ll amplify your message.

What this means is - if your founding team members are comfortable on a particular platform, your marketing will come off as more genuine, authentic and less forced.

Along with this, you should do a quick network audit to understand the industry connections of each founding team member. 

‍

Let’s say - if you're building a B2B SaaS product and your co-founder has 10 years of experience in the industry, their LinkedIn network could be a valuable starting point for your marketing efforts.

Also, did you know a lot of founders hire from Twitter? 

If you still feel apprehensive, remember the following:

• Bad product + Bad marketing = Null
• Bad product + Good marketing = $$
• Good product + Bad marketing = $
• Good product + Good marketing = $$$$

‍

But what if your skills and what the audience needs don’t match at all?

‍

Read on to know more.

‍

Startup Stage: Pre-PMF vs. Growth

Every founder dreams of being everywhere, maximizing reach, and conquering all possible channels. But let's be real; time, money, and skills are finite. So, how do you tackle this?

‍

The answer is: Explore all channels – whether you're in the Pre-Product Market Fit (Pre-PMF) stage or growth mode. But there's a twist to this strategy.

‍

Pre-PMF:

• Experiment, don’t commit. Try different channels without going all-in on any single one.
• Allocate resources wisely. Set a fixed amount of time, money, and effort to test each channel.
• Look for signs. Notice which channels show promise. That’s where you start investing more.

‍

Growth:

• Expand strategically. Still, explore various channels, but this time, with a focus.
• Go deep, not wide. Pick one channel for each customer journey stage—Awareness, Intent, Conversion—and dive deep into it.
• Apply the 80:20 rule. Find that 20% of channels that bring 80% of your business. This is your gold mine.
• Build a solid funnel. Once you nail one channel, start experimenting with others to strengthen your customer journey.

The idea is simple: test, learn, and refine. No need to spread yourself too thin. It's about finding what works, doubling down on it, and making smart, data-driven decisions to grow.

‍

Marketing Budget

Money makes the man and marketing goals. 

Your funding status plays a significant role in your marketing channel selection. You can allocate budgets and have more options at your disposal. 

You can hire specialists to manage different channels, experiment with paid advertising (including retargeting), invest in high-quality content creation (videos, podcasts, etc.) and umpteen. 

‍

‍

The amount of money you can invest in marketing efforts will vary and it should.

It depends on your product, market, investor expectations and your own growth ambitions.

For early-stage startups, money should be viewed as an accelerator of the above process, not a guide to do/not do marketing.

‍

Here’s how I would recommend prioritizing marketing spending:

• On team skills and bandwidth (especially if there is no synergy in step 2)
• Deeper consumer research
• Experimenting with more channels
• Going deeper & scaling channels on channels that show positive results

However, remember that more money doesn't always equal better results. It's still crucial to define your marketing objectives clearly, choose channels strategically and measure your ROI accordingly.

‍

For bootstrapped startup marketing, the focus should be on cost-effective marketing channels, such as blogs, newsletters, case studies, and POVs alongside consistent organic social media content creation, community building, etc. They can also experiment with low-cost, high-impact guerrilla marketing tactics.

‍

Case studies: 

1. The most used email marketing tool  - MailChimp bootstrapped its way to success by focusing on content marketing and word-of-mouth referrals. They basically created useful resources for small businesses. It helped them build a loyal following without spending big on advertising.

2. Plum (Insurance), based in India nailed guerrilla marketing with its city guide campaign. Targeting founders, startup enthusiasts and tech professionals, they crafted free, comprehensive guides for Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR and Chennai—India's startup hotspots. These were startup survival manuals, packed with intel on local VCs, incubators, etc for anyone new to the city, as well as start-up enthusiasts who are looking to build their network. This smart, low-cost move cemented Plum's status as the startup community's best friend and created crazy awareness about its offerings. 

What Works Best? 

• Content marketing strategies help to build your brand over time.  This is a slow burn, so don’t expect instant results.
  • Best for: Startups with strong writing skills, expertise to share, or complex products that require education.
  • Examples: Blogs, long-form articles, whitepapers, e-books, gated case studies, and more.

• Email Marketing is not dead. It definitely works if executed well.
  • Best for Startups looking to build direct relationships with customers, especially if you have a product with a longer sales cycle.
  • Use cases: Newsletters, drip campaigns, product updates, company announcements, etc.

• Social Media
  • Instagram: Best for visual brands, lifestyle products, or startups targeting younger demographics.
  • Twitter: Great for founder-driven engagement, tech startups, or businesses with frequent updates.
  • LinkedIn: Ideal for B2B startups, professional services, or thought leadership in your industry.
  • Facebook: Facebook still has a strong presence among older demographics. It’s ideal for building niche, loyal communities and leveraging Facebook Groups for engagement around specific interests or causes.

• YouTube & Video Content is effort and cost-intensive.
  • Best for Startups with visual products, those offering tutorials or demonstrations, or brands with a strong storytelling component.
  • When brand is your differentiator, i.e. highly commoditized product/service, invest in videos and storytelling.

• Podcasts - everyone is doing it doesn’t mean you have to!‍
  • Best for Building thought leadership and brand awareness.
  • While lead generation might be slower, podcasts can help establish deep connections with your audience. Just like content podcasts also take 3-6 months to start showing needle-moving results.

In a nutshell 

The marketing landscape is definitely constantly evolving, but the basics remain the same: know your product, know your team and know your audience. 

‍

Remember:

1. Deep dive into understanding your target audience
2. Start with your team's skills and expertise
3. Evaluate your funding status and allocate resources accordingly
4. Choose channels that align - you don’t need to be everywhere
5. Be prepared to pivot if needed

Choosing the right marketing channels for your early-stage startup is all about staying adaptable, setting clear goals, experimenting, measuring your results and most importantly— learning from peers, competitors, bigger brands, social listening and often, following market trends.

‍