As a founder of a startup, and in my day job, a consultant to other local startups aiming for growth, I’ve seen plenty of ways to promote your startup. I’m sure you’re already across many of them in your growth hacking travels, however here are eight of my favourites from local (Perth and Australian) sources.
Before we get into this, though, remember that unless you’re targeting other startups as your customers, none of these things will get you customers. It might bring partners, investors or useful feedback, but you will ALSO need to promote your startup in media publications read by your target market.
Get out and network!
I know, this isn’t online, and may be uncomfortable to introverts, however getting away you’re your desk and speaking to people is scientifically known to work. There are a plethora of events happening across Perth every month for local founders. Get along to them and say hello to a few people. You’ll find the local community friendly, and often willing to answer your questions or help each other out.
A few places to find events, include Startup News’ own Events Calendar, as well as this page on Meetup.com
Get your Techboard profile
Another local resource, founded by Peter van Bruchem, and recently joined by Raf Kimberley-Bowen, is Techboard. They say they are “a community engagement & discovery platform for the Western Australian Startup and Grownup Technology company scene”. They run a popular fortnightly ranking leaderboard, as well as video interviews, and a very comprehensive list of WA grown start-ups. See the
See their Add a company page for information on how to list your start-up. (Disclaimer: I am on their ‘Expert Panel’.)
Get noticed by Business News
Local weekly business magazine, Business News, has been a longtime supporter of the startup community, from their ‘App of the Week’ column, to general news coverage of the scene and the startups within.
Their list of journalists is here – read their biographies to determine who to pitch to, and please don’t ‘mass pitch’ all of them!
Get the attention of Startup News
Yes, this very site. You wouldn’t have overlooked Startup News, would you? The trick here is to have something newsworthy to start with (launches, new releases, investment announcements, etc), and once you do, head over and read the Contact Us page, and follow the instructions. Tricky, I know.
I’m told if you offer Marcus a beer and good yarn at one of the events he attends, this may also work. Oh, and I wasn’t told to say this.
Get your content shared with @StartupPerth
The @StartupPerth Twitter account has over 1,000 followers, and shares content a few times a day from local Perth startups. It does this in two ways; automated grabbing of blog posts, and occasional retweeting. To get included, ensure you have an RSS feed, and tweet @StartupPerth with info.
(Disclaimer: this is my own contribution to promoting local start-ups. More about my reasoning over here.)
Three more slightly further afield (but still Australian) online destinations for founders of Perth startups, are;
Get listed on Product Hoist
Think of Product Hoist as the local version of Product Hunt. Run by Steven Speldewinde from The Social Deck, it’s a small but active community, which is growing quickly. You can list your own start-up as soon as you’ve registered.
Better still, ask your friends in the community to upvote you as well, so you appear higher up on the home page. Make sure you keep an eye out for comments about your submission as well.
List yourself on Startup Australia
Startup Australia, in their own words, is “an open wiki listing many resources useful for IT/web/technology entrepreneurs in Australia.” They have a page listing Australian startups, so jump in and add your startup alphabetically. The standard format is Description, Timeline and Funding. Check out a few other profiles first to get a sense of what to add.
See the page at http://www.startup-australia.org/startups
Get interviewed on Ideas Hoist
Also run by the team from Product Hoist, Ideas Hoist started in 2012, and is an ever expanding list of more than 200 interesting interviews from Australian founders.
To be included, complete their ‘Get Interviewed’ form. It is worth reading a few other interviews first, so you get a sense of the answers and what they will ask you.
BONUS: Two not so free methods
Two more ‘not free’ methods, include hiring a PR person, or hiring a growth hacker.
Hire someone in Public Relations
I can assure you, PR still works. Make sure you find a PR professional that understands the start-up space though; you want to find someone who already has a few connections out there. A good way to achieve this is to ask fellow founders, or take a look at a few other local start-ups websites, and try to find who is doing their PR.
Hire someone in Growth Hacking
You need to either dedicate time to hack your own growth, or find someone to reach out to for help. Ideally, a combination between DIY and outsourced is my suggestion; whilst you can get much of it happening yourself, bouncing it off someone who does it for a living is also a valuable way to ensure you spend your energy wisely.
