Things have changed since the introduction of "digital marketing".  Not so much the technology, but the way people buy.

All of us have just too much "noise" and so we learn to filter it out.  I realise that you have an amazing proposition, you are really excited to tell people about it.  But, to be honest, nobody cares.  Until you realise this, you are just another startup, with just another value proposition, things are going to be difficult.

Nobody likes being pitched to and the issue is that everybody is pitching too.  You become, just another supplier.

First thing you need to understand is that while websites were really important 5 to 10 years ago, they are not really important anymore.  Yes you need one, but buyers see them as "corporate brochures".  We spent two days creating ours.

As for email lists, with GDPR, we deleted ours.  GDPR means you are responsible and accountable for email lists and to be honest, nobody reads the newsletters your write anyway.  Best to delete the email list and avoid the fines.

The next thing that people will tell you to do is to get into paid media.  Problem is, advertising is advertising, we filter it out as part of the noise.  It is also seen as the last resort of a desperate company.

Cold calling, nobody likes being cold called and it's unlikely you are going to make any friends by calling.

So where do you go?  Social Media.

Social allows you to reach a global audience, it allows you to reach them in an authentic way.  Two ways I recommend.

1.  Is through proactive outreach.  You need a personal brand, otherwise you look like a spammer, but you can get to people higher, faster over the old legacy methods.

2. Inbound - Through the use of content, you will see that people will find you, want to engage with you and want to buy from you.

We put out a new blog every single day.  Our blogs are where we invest our passion and experience.  We want to be insightful and educational.  Again not pitching. (Have I told you anything about DLA in this blog, no, not at all.)  What do we get back?  We get inbound, every single day.

Of course, all of the above takes effort, you will find the social will enable you to get further with less effort.  And if like us, you are a startup and want to grow and be global quick.  Social gives you that opportunity.  We became a global company in two years with no funding injection and you can too.