90% of all Startups Fail. Eight Marketing Rules to Success!

1) Marketing can be overwhelming, with numerous channels and opportunities. Don’t get distracted by competitors doing something better than you. Stick to what you want to be great at.

2) Quality over quantity: Rather than matching large competitors in content output, produce high-quality content. One great article is far more valuable than 25 generic ones. For SEO efforts, invest time in updating content rather than just publishing and moving on.

3) Try to own at least one marketing channel: While mastering platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Hacker News is valuable, engagement on these platforms heavily depends on their algorithms. You need to build channels that are more directly under your control.

• Community-focused Discord server
• Newsletter
• Subreddit
• Podcast

4) Have a great website: A good and distinctive website can be a powerful source of word-of-mouth marketing, attracting attention and engagement through its design and user experience.

5) Figure out which marketing efforts are leading to sales: Since traditional tracking methods are becoming increasingly difficult due to privacy regulations, you can use some alternative methods:

• Include a free text box in your onboarding process asking customers where they heard about your product.
• Turn off specific channels to see the impact on your sales.
• Track UTMs on paid ads.

6) Don’t be afraid of paid ads: Use Google Search Ads for conversion, Twitter & LinkedIn Ads for content promotion, and newsletter sponsorships to promote your newsletter.

7) SEO efforts come after PMF: Engaging in SEO efforts before achieving PMF can be a waste of time, due to product changes and the challenge of competing against established businesses with a high domain authority.

8) Own your startup’s search presence: Rank first in search results for terms related to your startup, such as "your startup vs. another" or "alternatives to your startup." Make sure the content is genuinely useful (comparison tables, real data, user reviews, and up-to-date screenshots).

Source: Failory