Recently, we had the pleasure of meeting (via Zoom) with UpWest portfolio founders to give a presentation about how early-stage startups can find marketing success in these unpredictable times. Our presentation covered two types of high-impact campaigns—content curation and data journalism—that we think are particularly well-suited to this moment. We also shared playbooks from Indiewalls, a hospitality-tech startup that was hit hard by COVID-related shutdowns, but has bounced back with new initiatives.
Check out highlights from our presentation in the videos below, as well as some additional resources from our blog if you’d like to go deeper on any of these topics.
Data journalism and hacking PR
In this unpredictable era, audiences across verticals are hungry for certainty—or as close to it as we can get— in the form of data-backed insights and well-informed forecasting. Check out this case study on how one 10-person startup used data analysis to make huge media waves and gain PR wins, without the PR investment.
Building a buyer community with content curation
Curating high-quality content that is relevant to your audience is one of our favorite evergreen marketing tactics. Especially for startups with a lean budget or small team, content curation can be a low-cost, high-ROI way to jumpstart your marketing efforts. Check out this case study to see real-life examples of successful content curation, and the steps you can take to do it yourself.
Hospitality-tech startup winning during COVID
In this case study, we look at Indiewalls, a B2B hospitality-tech startup that was forced to reimagine its business in the face of COVID-19. With grit, creativity, and an eye towards maintaining customer relationships, their team generated three new revenue streams and built new initiatives to give back to their community.
Additional Resources
- Data Journalism: The best marketing channel you don’t know about
- Our guide to effective market research for B2B startups
- The DIY marketing approach: How one founder successfully built an email + content machine
- How to be boring: Our guide to high-performance, low-creativity B2B marketing campaigns
- Leading a B2B Startup in the Time of COVID: An Interview with Gavi Wolf, CEO and co-founder of Indiewalls
