Startups live and die by their ability to drive customer acquisition growth.  Under extreme resource constraints they need to figure out how to break through the existing noise to let their target customers know they have a superior solution for a critical problem. This can be difficult when well-entrenched companies have the resources to dominate traditional channels.

Young companies don’t have the budget (or need) for a senior marketing hire but they do need an individual that is execution-oriented–someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves and go figure out Google AdWords, Google Analytics, search engine optimization, etc.

At Swarm we follow our 5 steps of engagement and create a marketing plan which is tightly integrated to your business plan. In the early stages, we focus on the essentials, putting in place the programs that will launch your business and make you fit to trade (See phase 1).

Once you have your first customer, you might have a little more budget to spend on marketing and although budget may still be frugal in this early stage of growth, this is when you can really start to proactively target relevant prospects. Swarm would create a plan for Phase 2.

Depending on the rate at which you want to grow and how the business is performing against expectation, you may wish to move to Phase 3, executing a marketing mix of programs which reinforce your brand and encourage consistent lead generation.