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For the FoundersFor the EntrepreneursFor the NorthFor the CreatorsFor the InnovatorsFor the DreamersFor the Disruptors

I want to see:

Bootstrapped Marketing

Get Customers, Build Revenue, and Save £££

If you’re a founder without a marketing background, figuring out where to start can feel overwhelming.

There’s no shortage of subjective (and often bad) advice out there.

Over the last five years supporting startups, I’ve seen far too many waste precious time and money on “marketing” efforts that simply don’t deliver.

Here’s what to focus on—and what to avoid—to build traction without draining your resources.

1. Always Start With Your Customers🔗

The first question I always ask a founder is: Who are your customers? The next: Where are they?

Spend time creating your ideal customer profile (ICP). Map out everything you know about them—their pain points, preferred channels, even the smallest details. From there, you’ll identify the best channels and methods to focus on.

What You’ll Need:🔗

  • An empty room, Post-it notes, Sharpies, and a few hours.
  • Cost: £5 (generous estimate based on Sharpie Inflation)

2. Define Your Channel Strategy🔗

Once you know your audience, you can figure out where to reach them—saving time, money, and effort. For instance, if you’re building a SaaS product for CTOs, you likely don’t need Instagram. Similarly, if you’ve created haircare products for teenagers, LinkedIn won’t be your priority.

What You’ll Need:🔗

  • A Miro Board account (you can create up to 5 for free).
  • Cost: £0.

3. Workout What You’re Good At🔗

There’s no shame in outsourcing, but only if it aligns with what your business actually needs. Now you know who you’re targeting and the channels you need you can decide if you need some additional help, channels like Instagram need a lot of UGC (user generated content) so that takes time. Equally, if you’re targeting B2B leaders, you might need to think about events, email outreach or whitepapers.

This is a good time to create a marketing strategy, or ask someone to help you with one, and workout where your current gaps are.

What You’ll Need:🔗

  • A day of your time.
  • Cost: £0.

4. Create Your Assets/Brand🔗

Here’s where a lot of founders fall into a black hole of briefing agencies and come out thousands of pounds lighter – with little to show for it!

Of course you want your assets to look good, and represent who you are, but you don’t need an expensive marketing project for that. Canva is a great tool for creating your own social templates, documents and even logos. You can create your brand kit on here and share it with your team.

Trust me when I say no one is going to buy or not buy based on your logo (anyone who says that will be trying to sell you their design services). Most logos are terrible in isolation, so create something in Canva, or find a freelance designer to do you some editable templates and crack on with finding those customers

Remember: People buy into the value you bring, not your logo.

What You’ll Need:🔗

  • Canva Pro (£10.99/month and worth every penny!)
  • Optionally, a freelance designer for editable templates costs will vary (I’d budget £350-450 a day for a designer)

5. Use Technology Wisely🔗

Tech platforms are invaluable, but your biggest marketing asset is you. In the early stages, focus on building personal relationships and leveraging your network.

Don’t over rely on technology here, but use it where it’s necessary for example

  • ChatGPT 4.0 for supporting content creation ($25/month).
  • A free HubSpot account for CRM.
  • Apollo.io for email outreach (free version).

5 Things to Avoid🔗

It’s very easy to get derailed when it comes to marketing, you can spend a huge amount of money and time (which you don’t have) with very little to show for it. So here’s a checklist of five things to avoid….

  1. A fancy brand No start up needs a fancy brand (or expensive marketing/branding agency) so save your £££ and focus on the basics – a good logo, colour palette and some functional templates are enough at this stage. The fun brand project can come much later when you’ve got the money (and time) to commit to it!
  2. An all singing website At this stage your website is there to do a couple of things – tell people who you are and what you do as well as providing a way for clients contacting you (via inbound enquiries). Websites can be really expensive and by the time you’ve invested in this you’ve probably pivoted at least twice, so use something like Wix or Webflow to get a basic site up and running.
  3. Ignoring Feedback Your early customers are your best source of insights, so make sure a portion of your week is spent engaging with current clients and prospects. Build these relationships and listen to what they’re telling you - fundamentally this is how your business will survive or die.
  4. Not utilising your network Most people will want to help you, so whether that’s asking a favour, or borrowing resources, your network can be hugely powerful in terms of helping you get traction. Engage with and support your network, and they’ll do the same for you
  5. Neglecting partnerships Partnerships can be a great source of revenue and a quick go-to-market strategy but they’re often overlooked by founders. When you’re looking at your ideal customer profile look at partnerships too and see if you can generate any interest there, which could quickly turbo charge your startup

Stay Laser-Focused and Consistent🔗

Bootstrapped marketing is about simplicity, consistency, and prioritising engagement over perfection. Stay scrappy, learn quickly, and remember that 60% is often good enough to get started.

Pull-Out Quotes:🔗

  • “Chase customers, not investors. Customer cash builds better businesses.”
  • “You don’t need a fancy brand or website to get customers—focus on value, not flash.”
  • “Tech should help, not replace. Keep your customer relationships personal.”

Nyree Trimbel

Co-Founder 

@ Chimera Startups

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