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How to Stop Wasting Your Marketing Spend đď¸
Welcome to EH Weekly, the new newsletter from the team behind Mediumâs biggest entrepreneur-focused publication.
You can look forward to insightful lessons and practical takeaways delivered to your inbox every week.
In this weekâs edition, we discuss:
How to actually market your startup (and stop wasting money)
Twitter X, one year on
How to actually price your startupâs offering (and start making money)
Marketing 101 for entrepreneurs
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/545cc8b0-a536-4b4b-90b6-68e4e0880a62/stephenmoore_finding_a_needle_in_a_haystack_22f2fcac-5664-49be-8a71-c03e3235d165.png)
âThat ability to drive enormous amounts of traffic seems great until you discover youâve spent lots of money and gotten very few customers.â
Most entrepreneurs mess up their first attempts at marketing because they think their core metric is to get in front of as many people as possible. Aaron Dinin calls this needle-in-the-haystack marketing, and itâs time you switched up your tactics to get far more specific.
Itâs a fundamental of advertising that every entrepreneur should learn.
â Needle in the haystack marketing â Itâs easy to buy ads that get people to your website. But that doesnât mean you should immediately spend thousands of dollars buying ads. Thatâs advertising backward. The goal of your ad campaigns shouldnât be to get as many people as possible to your website. Your goal should be to only attract the right people.
â Create ads that filter potential customers â Be hyper-specific in your ads so that people who see them know whether theyâre the right potential customers before they ever click. The result? A lower number of higher-quality potential sales leads. A.K.A. â cheaper advertising with better conversions.
In the news: X marks the drop
Itâs been a year since Elon Musk purchased Twitter X. Itâs going⌠well?
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/fd838162-2eea-4319-89ec-6a7290a3bbf7/Screenshot_2023-10-31_at_10.14.18.png)
It will be interesting to see how this plays out as Musk pivots to becoming an âeverythingâ app.
Remember the golden rule â when you try to do everything, you often end up doing nothing.
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8d145cce-e1d9-41e9-a429-989642a14e21/c1a3c5d2-9d88-4908-b1c6-892110d85a6f_950x898.jpg)
Pricing 101 for entrepreneurs
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5c57b5a-ab2c-4e30-8057-73a1b9bfba8a/stephenmoore_a_stressed_woman_working_in_a_modern_office_with_p_531f6c73-2252-4857-861e-b1b0608acef4.png)
Letâs face it: pricing isnât sexy.
But with 50â60+% of businesses falling over within their first three years, this is the part of the marketing equation thatâs absolutely critical. If your business isnât making money, it is certainly not sustaining you or itself over the longer term.
Approaching pricing is hard, especially for women, who form a stronger tie between pricing and their self-worth and self-esteem. If youâre struggling, Kristin Austin has 5 pillars to help you figure it out:
Ask yourself, is your self-doubt true? â Will people laugh? Probably not â especially if youâve done your research and know what others are pricing similar items/services at. And even if someone does laugh, keep going.
Are you worth that much? The answer is yes â If youâve already helped someone with the problems your business solves, reach out and ask them how they felt after you sorted their problem. You might be amazed at their feedback.
Do your research â Look at where others are pricing themselves. You donât have to place yourself at the top or bottom or even in the middle. BUTâŚknowing whatâs out there will give you a sense of the market range.
Keep to the facts and figures â Determine how much it costs to produce your product/service. Think about your overheads â 401K, taxes, utilities, computers, stationery, websites/hosting, marketing, phone calls, rent, bank fees, registrations, vehicles, insurances, accounting, legal advice). List everything you can think of. Then, work out how much you want to earn during the year.
If youâre still stuck, work with someone else â Having an objective party challenge your thinking can take any emotional baggage out of your decision-making and ensure that youâre pricing appropriately for your businessâs long-term sustainability and your clients/market.
đď¸ Learn more about Getting Your Business Pricing Right