The document discusses zero budget marketing strategies for startups to get their first customers. It recommends starting by making a list of all professional contacts and asking them for introductions to potential customers. The key is converting these leads by focusing on making the first customer happy. Once that first paying customer is acquired, the strategy is to get referrals from them and continue reaching out to contacts to achieve the initial goal of 10-15 paying customers through word-of-mouth and relationship building before exploring other marketing methods that require a budget.

1. ZERO BUDGET MARKETING FOR STARTUPS
12th October, 2014

2. Hi, I’m Vidarth Co-Founder @ Stribr
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Vidarth Jaikrishnan, Stribr

3. 8 Month old Bootstrapped Company Product Paying Customers
Stribr =
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4. 8 Month old Bootstrapped Company Product Paying Customers
Stribr =
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5. 8 Month old Bootstrapped Company Product Paying Customers
Stribr =
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6. 8 Month old Bootstrapped Company Product Paying Customers
Stribr =
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7. 2 Very Broad Terms in this presentation
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8. MARKETING
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9. START-UP
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10. THIS PRESENTATION IS SPECIFICALLY FOR
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11. Tech Product Companies (Leaning B2B)
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12. How to get your first ‘X’ customers.
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13. Based on what I’ve learnt the hard way
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14. Hard way =
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15. Couldn’t get customers Changed our Product after 3 months of trying. Spent another 3 months trying to get our first customer to use the product. Struggled to expand to more customers. Struggling to get payments on time. Co-Founder is broke. Laptop display broke (Rs. 5000 to repair) .
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17. All this while having lunch at Amma-Canteen….almost Every Day
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18. I know a bit about Marketing I know a LOT about Zero Budget
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19. LET’S GET STARTED
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20. TEAM PRODUCT MARKET
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21. TEAM
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22. PRODUCT
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23. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT
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25. GETTING YOUR FIRST ‘X’ CUSTOMERS
X = 10 – 50 for a B2B Startup
X = 1000 – 10,000 for a B2C Startup
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26. How to calculate ‘X’
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27. START-UP MARKETING 101
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28. MARKETING ≠ SOCIAL MEDIA
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30. MARKETING = Everything you do communicate your value proposition to your potential customer
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31. The difference between a great marketer and a lousy one is the ability to understand WHO to market to.
-Anonymous
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32. WHO is my customer?
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33. How do I reach him/her ?
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34. How to acquire customer #1
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35. Make a list of all the working professionals you know.
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36. Talk to all of them about your idea/product. Ask them for intros to potential customers.
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37. You’ll be surprised at how many leads you get.
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38. Go Out and Convert One of these Leads
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39. This is the hard bit. There is a lot of luck involved
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41. MAKE IT HAPPEN
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43. Get this first customer to use your product - consistently
STEP 2
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44. THIS IS EVEN HARDER. Trust me
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45. Your Customer
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46. YOU
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47. Once again…you’ve gotta make it happen.
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48. If they are not using your product regularly you have to find out why. This is the true test of your value proposition.
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49. YOUR #1 Priority
MAKE CUSTOMER #1 HAPPY
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51. STEP 3
GET CUSTOMER #1 TO PAY
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52. Okay! Sure…
Next week
Then.
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53. Go back to your old list of contacts.
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54. Try to convert as many leads as possible.
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55. Photo Credits: Adarsh Balak on Facebook
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56. Get referrals from customer #1 .
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57. These are the easiest leads to convert IF Customer #1 is happy
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58. Target 10-15 paying customers
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59. On the way to target 15
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60. Start Blogging
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61. Open Social Media Pages to promote your blog.
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62. Choose the right Social Networks. You are NOT going to advertise.
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64. Inbound Marketing + SEO Takes time. Start now. Be Patient.
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65. On the way to target 15…here’s what the non tech founder does every day. All day.
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67. Write Blog Post
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68. Write Blog Post Talk To Customer
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69. Write Blog Post Talk To Customer Product Feedback
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70. Write Blog Post Talk To Customer Product Feedback Get Money
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71. Write Blog Post Talk To Customer Product Feedback Register the company Get Money
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72. Write Blog Post Talk To Customer Product Feedback Get Money Register the company Acquire New Customer
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73. When you finally get to #15
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74. This method of acquiring customers will not scale beyond this.
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75. Your Company
Continue to bootstrap.
Move from Zero budget to Other Marketing Methods.
Raise $$$
Try to Scale Rapidly. Hire team. Invest $ in advertising.
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76. This is where most startups are
Image Credit : @stinsondesign on Twitter
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77. This is where we are
Image Credit : @stinsondesign on Twitter
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78. This Deck Is Uploaded on Slideshare
@vidarth91
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www.stribr.com/blog

79. My Co-Founders are more interesting than I am…
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80. On Twitter
@rohitp
@chingucha
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81. Questions
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