How I marketed a Startup

[feint]

Thought I would share with you how I have been, successfully, marketing my startup and what methods I used.

Emailed Bloggers - my app, Task.fm, was featured on Mashable, Lifehacker, bNet etc. This sent through 10 of thousands of visitors. Getting featured on these sites involved personally emailing the blog authors. Whenever you pitch to journalists (esp tech savvy ones) never use hype words like web 2.0, revolutionary or unique. Tell them what your app does and make sure your emails are personal. I spent months researching which blogs to contact and how to contact them

Blog - I created a child brand for Task.fm - Task Blog. This isn't an ordinary business blog which talks about our product - in fact we rarely do talk about us. We do however post tips on productivity and technology. Our blog delivers more leads than any other form of marketing (its ranks well in the Search engines)

Google Adwords - Im just starting to play around with this. I need to do more a/b tests to really home in on generating more sales.

Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook - I have accounts on all three. Just like the blog I try not to talk too much about our product. I have also have setup special rooms in FriendFeed which catch every mention of Task.fm on the internet (blogd claim I know). I respond to every question about the product.

I have found task.fm to be fairly easy to sell. A combination of technology and smart networking has resulted in the "buzz"

[veikoh]

And what the results you got besides visitors? How much sales, profit, etc?

[sk24iam]

That sounds very interesting. I am currently in the process of mass marketing my site. I will take some of your suggestions. How much traffic have you gained in how much time?

[Ergo1]

Since when was web 2.0 considered a hype word? I use this all the time to convey an idea, I never really figured it carried much emotion.

[feint]

Since when was web 2.0 considered a hype word? I use this all the time to convey an idea, I never really figured it carried much emotion.

Trust me - if you contact the people at Mashable and Lifehacker using that language they will probably ignore you. The reason being - what does web 2.0 mean? Its an empty word.

[feint]

That sounds very interesting. I am currently in the process of mass marketing my site. I will take some of your suggestions. How much traffic have you gained in how much time?

Well the site was launched in April and we now have a few thousand active users everyday using the site. Traffic numbers don't really matter - its the amount we can convert into active users and then into paid users.

[Ergo1]

Trust me - if you contact the people at Mashable and Lifehacker using that language they will probably ignore you. The reason being - what does web 2.0 mean? Its an empty word.

Whenever I say web 2.0 I am talking about user interactivity and feedback. It is what Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums etc. are all based upon.

I think those people at mashable and lifehacker are just arrogant but thank you for bringing it up. Better not to burn bridges even if I don't agree with them.

[SendBlast]

I was mentioned front page on Mashable, was great

[feint]

I was mentioned front page on Mashable, was great

Good work! what site was it for? Mashable is now more popular than Techcrunch so its really worth networking with the journalists there.

[SendBlast]

Just a social network i eventually sold. i wouldnt mind trading links with task.fm though, we could compliment each other's services

[feint]

Just a social network i eventually sold. i wouldnt mind trading links with task.fm though, we could compliment each other's services

sure thing! I can add a link to the Task Blog. send an email to info@task.fm

[singaboy]

Nice work, Feint. I am reading something interesting here in YE after a long time..

[feint]

Nice work, Feint. I am reading something interesting here in YE after a long time..

thanks, i'll try and keep posting some interesting tid bits

[valeri]

Hi Feint,

I read your article in mashable, very nice job. I hope you become very successful with the application.

Cheers

[bmiles]

How are you,

Great job on Task.fm. I saw the article and it was very inspiring. I am bootstrapping a web company as well, so never mind the naysayers. Continue to innovate and you will get to where you want to be.