Startup with no money for marketing (advice?)

**JL541** · 10-26-2011 02:22 PM

So I am writing here to see if anyone had any advice for me regarding some marketing I am helping a local guy out with. Here is a little back story: He started this business without any knowledge of how to start a business other than he thought he had a product people would buy. When I met him he had been working on it for about a year, quit his job and thought he was ready to sell the product right away. He had posted an ad on craigslist for a marketing intern, and so I responded. He couldnt pay me, but I thought oh well it will help me gain some experience. The first thing I did was some market research (surveys, questionares, online studies, etc.) and quickly found that while people thought the idea was good, there was going to have to be big changes if he wanted to sell these. After going over this with him he also realized that if he was going to sell his product it would take a lot more work and time. Now I didnt want to just leave him hanging so I set up a facebook, twitter, blog account and was able to get some buzz going, but now that we have no idea when the product will be available people no longer seem interested. The company has no money to use for marketing, which is dissapointing, as I have had some great ideas for giveaways, contests, etc that I know would help bring in traffic. My question is what kind of marketing should I pursure or just leave it stagnant, until we know if or when we are going to start selling? Thanks

**ConceptAndPrototype** · 10-26-2011 05:41 PM

I read a really good book on this topic. It is called Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. It is focused on marketing with a very small budget. I think there are different editions that I am sure say the same things. The one I read was the third edition.

**Parvaze** · 10-27-2011 01:22 PM

What's the point of marketing if you don't know when the product will be available? It would be a mistake to get people interested in the product only to tell them that they can't buy it yet - as you've already experienced.

Better bet is to wait until you have an idea when the product is ready and then use all the free tools/methods that are available to you to market it. Good luck with your venture

Best

**daveb1** · 10-27-2011 06:28 PM

There is really no point in marketing something that does not exist. What is the product? When will it be ready? Why has it taken over a year + to get it to market? If we know what you are trying to sell it will probably be easier to give some solid marketing advice. Also you certainly should not be working for free. There are so many paid online marketing jobs out there to be had right now it is ridiculous. Now that you have some experience you should be looking elsewhere and quick. Don't feel like your leaving him hanging. Hes leaving you hanging if anything by not paying you to work.