I need help with marketing and I honestly do not know what to do.
Hey everyone.
My husband is building a web application to help out non profits (we are currently focusing on churches). I want to help him out with marketing but I honestly do not know what to do. We've created business email and I've started sending out cold emails. I wish there was some guideline I could follow on how to attract customers and how to build awareness about a product that doesn't exist yet. Can you share some of your ideas/experience with first steps on attracting customers? What did you do? Any articles I could read to get some idea? Thank you!
Validate your idea with a Landing Page, conduct some usability testing, Google the ‘Mom test’. Those are good places to start. Also, if you audience is the church demographic and you attend church, flex your existing networking/connections. Get their input.
Good luck!
I'd also check out the book Traction. It covers all of the options and how to test them in tandem.
https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer/dp/1591848369
Many churches are on social media. Start following them on Twitter, friend them on Facebook, and connect with them on Linkedin. Create a landing page with an email form to get the newsletter or some document most will want. Share this link with your social media accounts.
Write a blog and post links to articles on the social media channels you are following. In each post, describe a problem you solved and give a real example of how you helped. For example, "Bob is a pastor. He was having trouble with... After the XYZ app, the church found...". Try to get 3 of these. Give it away in exchange for permission to use their name.
Find church-related communities online and become part of them. Look for people discussing the problem you solve and give an example of the solution by pointing them to your blog post.
Cold email can get you in trouble. You want people to reach out to you. These will get you started but are really just the beginning.
Mom Test or Amy Hoy's courses fit the bill here. You guys need to be communicating with your customer set. "Build it and they will come" does not work on the Internet.
Outbound is defs the way I started - start following your niche on IG/Twitter and social. Create relevant content. Some of the churches will follow back once they see you put effort into creating value added posts. Develop relationships, comment on their posts, and reach out to them once you feel like you built a relationship.
Use a service like tweetdeck to filter keywords and conversations around your niche.
you should read neilpatel.com/blog and backlinko.com/blog
thank you!