Startup guide: practical marketing moves you can use today

Want to get traction without burning cash or time? Most startups waste weeks guessing which channel will work. Use this short, hands-on checklist to pick the right tests, get real users, and scale what actually converts.

Start with one clear goal: signups, paid trials, or revenue. Pick the metric and reverse-engineer what moves that metric up. That keeps you from scattering effort across vanity metrics like social likes.

Quick channel playbook

Choose two channels and test hard for two weeks. Here are simple, cheap experiments that work for early-stage startups:

- Organic search (SEO): write one helpful blog post answering a concrete user question. Optimize the title for intent, not cleverness. Aim to rank for a problem your product solves.

- Paid ads: run a $5/day test on Facebook or Google with a clear offer—free trial or checklist. Create two variations: different headline and different image. Measure cost per signup, not clicks.

- Community and partnerships: join one niche Slack, Reddit, or Discord where your users hang out. Offer real help first, then mention your product in context. One genuine post can beat a month of cold outreach.

- Email: build a tiny welcome sequence of 3 emails—value, social proof, call to action. Even 5–10% lift in conversion here compounds fast.

Using AI (ChatGPT) without losing your voice

AI can cut your workload by half, but only if you use it for tasks, not replacements. Use ChatGPT to:

- Generate 10 headline ideas in 30 seconds. Pick and test the top two.

- Draft short landing copy. Then edit for your tone and simplify language.

- Create user support templates for common questions; personalize before sending.

Don’t publish AI copy verbatim. Read it out loud, remove fluff, and add one real example or customer quote so it sounds human.

Measure, iterate, repeat. Track three metrics: activation conversion (first value delivered), cost per acquisition (CPA), and churn in the first 30 days. If CPA is higher than your first-month revenue, stop and change the channel or message.

Examples you can copy: run a 7-day Facebook trial at $5/day with a landing page headline that says exactly what the product does and who it’s for. Or write a how-to blog that answers a single question your users search for, then include a CTA that solves that problem faster with your product.

Final tip: prioritize feedback over features. Talk to five new users this week. Ask what they tried before your product and what confused them. That one conversation will guide your next marketing test better than any spreadsheet.