I scaled my last SaaS startup to $2M/yr in <18 months with …

Many startups over-rely on paid advertising.

I can tell you 1st hand, this is risky.

• Platform policies change
• Costs increase overnight
• Your audience gets ad fatigue

Which is why, you should consider organic marketing…

Organic marketing attracts customers...

But in a different way.

Paid ads = lead generation
Organic marketing = lead nurturing

You nurture people from social media followers,

Into community leaders, brand ambassadors, and loyal customers.

These 6 steps will show you how:

1) Create consistently

Organic marketing starts with consistency.

• Post daily
• Test ideas

Do your best to provide content your audience finds valuable.

And make sure it feels native to each platform.

At this point, your focus is daily action, not performance.

2) Leverage analytics

Leverage analytics to see what’s working.

Recommended metrics to measure:

• Likes
• Shares
• Profile visits
• Followers/ subs

Here’s what each will tell you…

Likes = content is relevant
Shares = content elicits emotion
Profile visits = content generates buzz
Followers/ subs = you have permission to nurture

Lastly, engage with all comments and DMs to build community.

A manual process that will pay high dividends.

3) Optimize

Curate 70-80% of your content around what your audience likes.

Test new ideas with the other 20%.

Remember, to optimize content for your end goal…

The 3 different styles of content:

Growth →
Popular topics, trends.

Community →
Personal stories, strong opinions, questions.

Sales (authority) →
Case studies, testimonials, actionable advice.

Find a mix to hit your specific goals.

4) Add a CTA

At the end of all your content.

• Ask readers to follow after threads
• Ask viewers to subscribe after videos

Can also plug offers to products or services if you have any.

Just remember…

Your primary goal is to nurture leads.
(Generate goodwill).

Imagine a teeter-totter.

Pitches ↔ Value

Value builds goodwill.
Pitches extract it.

The longer you wait to pitch, the bigger your ask can be.

5) Scale with specialists

Partner with organic growth specialists for each platform.
(Twitter, TikTok, YouTube)

They’ll assist with

• quantity of content
• quality of content
• speed of growth

If you have the capital it’s a worthwhile expense.

The average monthly cost of organic marketing specialists:

• $3,000+ for freelancers
• $10,000+ for small teams
• $30,000+ for large teams

They’re expensive but a good one will save you 100s of hours per month.

3 questions to qualify social media specialists:

• What monthly results can your guarantee?

• What results have you gotten for clients in the past 3 months?

• What are the recent platform changes that have affected your results?

Screen for a pro who can guarantee results.

6) Organic marketing savings

Depends on the quality of your content.

From 1st hand experience, I’ve seen:

$1,000,000 / mo ad spend reduced to:
$35,000 / mo

This requires great organic content with consistent virality.

With savings this good, why don’t more startups leverage organic marketing?

• It’s difficult to capture attention
• Requires 6 to 18 months of time
• Requires capital to scale

Not all startups can keep the lights on long enough to do it.

Not without excess capital.

TLDR

1) Create consistently
2) Leverage analytics
3) Optimize
4) Add a CTA
5) Scale with specialists
6) Reap massive savings

Thanks for reading.

Organic marketing and community building has been a fun personal challenge for me.

If you found this valuable, RT to share with a friend.

Follow me @jspeiser for more.