For startups, customer acquisition ain’t what it used to be.

Apple effectively ended ad targeting last year. Google plans to do something similar in 2023.

Without targeting, you could be advertising a US woman’s underwear brand to men in Germany. Those precious marketing dollars go…poof.

But some startups have found a secret weapon. Hint: you’re reading one right now.

Blogging for Customer Acquisition

Every day, your potential customers are searching Google to find solutions to their problems. You can help solve their immediate problem, while subtly directing them toward your service.

Let’s look at a startup with an excellent blog: Capbase. (I’m a small investor in the company.)

Capbase makes software to incorporate, manage your cap table (list of company owners), handle employee stock options and a lot more.

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Capbase’s potential customer may be a new founder who isn’t sure how to get started. How do I incorporate, or pitch investors?

So the company wrote an excellent article on the do’s and don’ts of investor pitches. This helps solve a problem a new founder is likely to have.

At the same time, Capbase subtly introduces them to its software. This platform can solve the problems they’ll have in the near future, like incorporating and issuing stock options.

Keeping it Fresh

Notice that Capbase doesn’t just have a bunch of text posts by a single author. It has a mix of authors with different perspectives, and even includes podcasts to keep things interesting.

So how can you come up with topics?

Think about problems your potential customers might be having. You can even interview current customers to find out.

Or if your startup is solving a problem you’ve had yourself, draw inspiration from your own life!

Evergreen topics are best. Provide content that will be useful years from now, rather than topical commentary that will be outdated in days.

This helps you capture traffic in the long term.

Keeping it Consistent

You should publish articles on the same days, regularly. If every day is too much, try Tuesday and Thursday, for example.

The key is consistent new content.

Readers like it. So do Google search algorithms.

Wrap Up

Online ads are not as well targeted as they once were, and are only likely to get worse. Meanwhile, a search shows user intent.

If I search “how to pitch investors,” I’m probably a startup founder at the early stage. So, I’m an ideal Capbase customer.

If I search “how to meditate,” I’m already interested in meditation. Perfect time for an app like Calm to slide in and give me some tips, while also making me aware of their product.

A company blog can deliver more customers than online ads while costing far less. Master it and stop handing your money to trillion dollar corporations that provide little in return.

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Do you have a company blog?

If so, what have you learned from writing it? If not, why not?

Let me know in the comments at the bottom!

More on tech:

How to Write a Deal Memo

How to Ace a 3 Minute Pitch

The Lean Startup

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Photo: “Kendra” by c.a.s.e.y is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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