What’s the best startup marketing strategy? Need your advice…

I just started my business here in South India, and I’m trying to figure out my marketing strategy. Would love to get your input:

  • Should I spend more on paid ads to get quick attention or focus on SEO for steady growth?
  • What’s a good way to keep costs low while still getting new customers?
  • How do I balance immediate visibility with long-term planning?

Looking forward to hearing from people who’ve been through this!

Don’t go all-in on spending early on. Focus first on getting your product or service ready for the audience.

Once you’re ready to launch, split your budget into monthly chunks based on your goals. In the first two or three months, aim for organic traffic and building brand awareness.

Study your competitors and pick the right social media platforms that fit your brand and industry. Then make a solid plan!

For a startup, you want a mix. Paid ads give you quick visibility and help test your market, but SEO is important for long-term results. A good plan is to use ads at first while building your SEO strategy. That way, you get both short-term wins and sustainable growth.

That makes sense. Thanks for the tip!

I’d say start with a mix. Ads give you quick attention, and SEO helps you grow steadily. For saving costs, try organic social media and work with local influencers. Wishing you success!

Appreciate it. Thanks for the advice!

Good question! It depends on how fast you need results. Paid ads are great if your product is strong and converts leads well. On the other hand, SEO is more of a steady, long-term approach.

For cost-per-customer, think about factors like your product’s average value. Best wishes for your new venture—since you’re in South India, let’s connect sometime!

Thanks! I’m considering starting with ads but will focus on SEO too. Let’s catch up soon!

Sounds good—best of luck!

Congrats on your new business! Starting out, I’d go for a mix—ads to get quick attention and SEO for long-term stability. To save money, focus on great content people want to share. Small experiments with influencers or referral programs can also work really well!

Make sure your idea is solid before diving in. Test your ads on a small scale and increase spending gradually.

Focus on SEO from the beginning with a clear plan for slow but steady results. Use content distribution and repurposing to get more visibility. You can also try referral programs and social media engagement to keep customer costs low.

There’s a lot you can do organically with social media and SEO. Pair that with a small ad budget, and you’ll see progress. Just be careful setting up ads if you’re new—they can get expensive fast.

Starting out can be tricky. I’ve seen startups succeed by focusing on SEO for a strong foundation and then adding ads for a boost. Ads are quick but expensive, while SEO grows steadily over time. To keep costs low, tell your brand story and create content your audience loves. Social media and influencers help too.

Depends on your budget.

If you have money, invest in paid ads. Done right, they can be a game changer and let you scale quickly. Your focus will shift to operations, not finding customers.

If money is tight, start with cold calls and emails to test what works. Then automate it.

SEO takes time. Unless you already have a steady system for getting clients, I wouldn’t prioritize it early on.

Your main goal should be getting customers and improving your service. SEO is a slow build.

Get a website if you don’t have one already. The best strategy depends on your product type.

For startups, here’s what to focus on first:

  1. Make your website fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to use.
  2. Clearly show what makes your product stand out—it’ll help both ads and SEO.
  3. Set up tools like Google Analytics to see what’s working.

Start with small ad campaigns to test your audience while working on SEO. For example, write about how your product solves common problems. Are you targeting local customers or a wider market? That could help decide your approach.