Platform: Instagram Why it worked: As a new entrepreneur, Instagram gave us visual storytelling + direct engagement all in one place--perfect for building brand awareness and trust fast. Strategy highlights: Micro-Influencer Collabs: We partnered with niche creators (2k-10k followers) who genuinely used our product. Instead of paying fees, we offered free products and affiliate codes. Their audience trusted them, and it felt organic--not salesy. Story Polls & Q&As: Weekly engagement through polls, quizzes, and Q&A stickers helped us learn what our audience wanted, while boosting our visibility with the algorithm. Behind-the-Scenes Reels: We documented our journey--packaging orders, designing products, launch countdowns. It built a loyal, invested audience who wanted us to win. Link-in-Bio Tools (like Linktree): We used it to drive traffic to our site, newsletter, and promo pages--all trackable via UTM links. Bonus tip: Posting consistently (3-4x/week) and responding to every DM/comment in the early stages helped us grow faster than any paid ad.
One platform that has been incredibly effective for marketing as a new entrepreneur is LinkedIn. Unlike other social platforms, LinkedIn allows for highly targeted B2B networking and organic reach, making it an ideal space to establish authority and connect with decision-makers. At Saifee Creations, we leveraged LinkedIn by focusing on thought leadership and relationship-building rather than just direct promotion. We consistently shared insights on branding, digital marketing trends, and case studies showcasing our expertise. This helped position us as industry experts while naturally attracting inbound leads. Another key strategy was personalized outreach. Instead of generic cold messages, we engaged with potential clients by commenting on their posts, adding value to discussions, and only then initiating conversations. This non-salesy approach made our connections more receptive. To amplify reach, we also used LinkedIn's native content features, such as articles and polls, which boosted engagement and visibility. Over time, this organic strategy built credibility and trust, leading to business opportunities without heavy ad spending. For any new entrepreneur, LinkedIn isn't just a platform--it's a strategic tool to grow authority, build relationships, and generate high-quality leads.
I'm Brendan Aw, Founder of brendanaw.com (https://brendanaw.com) and Nimbflow, an AI automation agency that builds hands-off, no-code growth systems for B2B service businesses. With nearly a decade of managerial marketing experience across diverse 7 to 8-figure high-growth SMEs, I've been featured in Entrepreneur, Buffer, Hackernoon, and other popular publications. When I was marketing my agency services, I found the combination of AI tools and no-code automation platforms to be extraordinarily effective, particularly when implemented with a strategic approach focused on hyper-personalization at scale. My most effective tool was leveraging Make (previously Integromat) alongside other software tools and a variety of Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4o, Claude 3.7, and Perplexity to scan their top highlights across the web and create personalized cold email outreach campaigns at scale that were borderline creepy but hard to ignore. This approach roughly gave me an average of 8-10% response rates compared to traditional cold outreach. The specific implementation involved: - Apify to scrape leads on various B2B sales platforms - EmailValidation to verify emails by ensuring deliverability - PhantomBuster to enrich leads with their LinkedIn data - Perplexity to analyze prospect websites and LinkedIn profiles to generate hyper-personalized outreach messages that referenced specific details about their business challenges - GPT-4o or Claude to write personalized Icebreakers - Instantly to manage multiple inboxes for the email campaign This entire process was glued together by building an automation workflow in Make. What made this approach particularly valuable for me as a new entrepreneur was the ability to execute enterprise-level marketing strategies without the enterprise-level team or budget. My small operation could compete with established agencies by delivering personalization at a scale that was previously impossible for solopreneurs. I'd be happy to share more details about this system, including specific conversion metrics and implementation steps. Once the article is published, I'd love to share it with my network and explore opportunities for future collaboration.
As a new entrepreneur in the luxury beauty space, choosing the right platform to market our brand was crucial. After experimenting with different channels, Instagram proved to be the most effective tool for reaching and engaging our ideal audience. Instagram isn't just a social media platform--it's a visual storytelling powerhouse, perfect for brands that thrive on aesthetics, luxury, and lifestyle-driven marketing. With a product line rooted in pure silk hair accessories that offer real beauty benefits, we needed a space where we could showcase both the elegance and functionality of our products while also communicating our eco-friendly values. At HoneyLux, we believe that luxury should be both beautiful and beneficial. To position ourselves as a premium brand, we focused on high-quality, editorial-style content. Every post, Reel, and Story was meticulously curated to reflect the sophistication of our products. Soft lighting, elegant compositions, and close-up shots of our silk pillowcases, scrunchies, and sleep masks conveyed the luxury feel we wanted to establish. Rather than just showing our products, we made sure to tell their story. We leveraged Reels and Instagram Stories to educate our audience on the unique benefits of our pure silk products--from reducing hair breakage to maintaining moisture. Short, engaging videos demonstrated how our accessories weren't just stylish but actually improved hair health over time. To build credibility and social proof, we collaborated with micro-influencers and luxury beauty enthusiasts who genuinely loved HoneyLux products. We encouraged customers to share their experiences with our silk accessories, reposting their content to reinforce trust and community engagement. Seeing real people enjoy our products elevated our brand's desirability. At HoneyLux, we believe that luxury and sustainability can coexist beautifully. Instagram has been the perfect platform to share our story, and if you're an entrepreneur in the luxury e-commerce space, your audience is waiting to fall in love with your brand too.
One tool that made a real difference early on was Ahrefs. Instead of just tracking rankings, I used it to reverse-engineer competitor strategies and find low-competition keywords with high conversion potential. A big win came when I spotted cleaning businesses ranking for "near me" searches with almost no backlinks--meaning Google was prioritizing proximity and relevance over authority. I created hyper-local landing pages, optimized them for those overlooked keywords, and within months, we were outranking older agencies. Another tactic was stealing competitors' broken backlinks--I'd find dead links pointing to their sites, recreate better content, and reach out to those site owners to replace the broken link with ours. It worked like a charm and built instant authority.
One of the most effective and surprisingly overlooked strategies we used to grow Delka Talents was placing our business email in the bios of the YouTube creators we manage, like Magnus (www.youtube.com/@magmidt) and Browney (www.youtube.com/@Browney). These channels are generating billions of views every month, and having Delka Talents emails in their bios became our most powerful marketing tool. We didn't need flashy ads or complex outbound campaigns. Just by being visible in the right places, we made it easy for both brands and creators to find us. The volume of organic interest it generated was a game changer. Simple, but incredibly effective.
One tool I found surprisingly effective as a new entrepreneur was Google NotebookLM -- not in the way it's typically used, but as a way to turn blog posts into podcast content. I was already writing long-form articles about coding interviews and learning to code, but I wanted to reach people who prefer listening over reading -- especially commuters, gym-goers, or just folks who are burned out on screens. So I started feeding those blog posts into NotebookLM, and it helped me restructure the content in a more conversational tone. I'd tweak it further, add personal stories or analogies, and then either record a voiceover myself or use AI narration. What made this work well was how easy it was to repurpose one piece of content into multiple formats. The blog post still helped with SEO, but the podcast version reached a different audience -- people on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or even YouTube. I also noticed that listeners were more likely to reach out or reply to my emails. There's something about hearing someone's voice that builds trust in a way text doesn't always do. This approach gave me a consistent content pipeline without burning out, and it helped position me as more of a real person rather than just another website. It wasn't flashy or expensive, but it worked -- and as a solo founder, that's all I could ask for.
Google Business Profile - A Game Changer for Local Marketing One platform that worked wonders for us was Google Business Profile. As a new entrepreneur, I focused on optimizing our profile with real client photos, detailed service descriptions, and regular updates. We encouraged happy clients to leave reviews, which boosted credibility fast. The biggest win? Answering questions directly on the profile--this built trust and brought in leads without spending a dime on ads. If you're in a service-based business, this should be your first move.
Organic LinkedIn marketing transformed my approach to business. I constructed an organized approach for LinkedIn by developing value-adding content and personal interactions with targets. I established authority status by sharing useful insights about my industry with relevant knowledge and practical advice for my audience. I engaged with my target audience one step further by responding to their posts, joining meaningful discussions, and sending individual connection requests. The relational method enabled me to earn leads without using any advertising budget. As my professional network expanded, my content began to attract more attention, which resulted in both client deals and partnership agreements. The key? Consistency, authenticity, and strategic engagement. The new method redefined how I conducted my marketing activities.
As a new entrepreneur building both a business and a reputation from scratch, one of the most underrated platforms to accelerate early traction is real-world events. When you have no track record, no meaningful social following, and limited reach through digital channels, getting people to engage with your message can be a slow uphill climb. Emails go unanswered, social posts get little traction, and it becomes difficult to test, refine, or validate your proposition, let alone sharpen the way you communicate it. Attending our first industry fair fundamentally shifted that dynamic. For the first time, we were speaking directly to our target audience, face-to-face. And in person, it's a different game: people can't scroll past you or ignore the message as easily. Every conversation becomes an opportunity to test core assumptions. Are we talking to the right stakeholders? Is our message landing? Does the proposition resonate? The feedback is immediate, and it's in the details of how people react and respond. Equally important, events are a powerful training ground for a skill that's often overlooked: the ability to approach people cold and start meaningful conversations. It's uncomfortable at first, but the environment helps because people are there to connect. You learn to navigate the awkward moments, deal with rejection, and build resilience which are all critical competencies in the early stages of business development. And the barrier to entry is low. Many fairs and expos are free to attend, especially for startups. If you're just getting started, find one that aligns with your market and show up. The worst that can happen? You walk away with practice. The best? You gain insight, traction, and connections that would've taken months to build online.
Entrepreneurs do not exist today if they cannot be found online. Being invisible online is a terrible strategy so making sure your site is keyword rich/mobile friendly/loads quickly/produces meaningful content is the price of entry/great foundation for effective SEO. Social media and technology are 24/7 so it is easy to get sucked into it but don't let them drive you crazy, you do not need to be everywhere, it does not matter which platform you choose just pick one or 2 that are authentic to you. In my experience, people need to be on LinkedIn so that they can be found. It adds credibility and transparency when you know the people you are meeting or working with know people in common. LinkedIn has become more than an online resume or rolodex, it is the foundation for building trusted relationships in the digital economy. You do not need to blog or be on all social media platforms but make sure you are active on the ones where you are. If your customers do not use Facebook, Twitter/X or Instagram to find you then you do not need to make them a priority. For many professional service businesses like mine, LinkedIn matters the most. With LinkedIn, you don't have to wait for a networking event to make meaningful business connections. You get one chance to make a great first impression so make sure every section of your LinkedIn profile is complete, with no blank spaces or gaps. Include a professional head shot and powerful headline followed by a summary with highlights of your personal brand, what you do well and how you can benefit potential clients/customers. Keep this section brief and easy to skim for best results. Keywords are a great way to help professionals in your industry find your profile and strategic keywords in your profile give you an advantage in networking too. To present yourself as an expert in your industry post interesting and educational content by sharing a great article you've read recently or if you truly want to make valuable connections and represent yourself as a talented thought leader in your industry, you should be crafting your own articles on LinkedIn.
As a new entrepreneur, one platform that proved especially effective for marketing was Google Ads. For SecureSpace, it helped us reach customers at the exact moment they were searching for storage solutions in their area. The strategy we used focused on local intent--targeting keywords tied to specific neighborhoods or cities where we had facilities. We also made sure our landing pages matched the ad copy and included clear calls to action, like "Reserve Now" or "Find a Unit Near You." Pairing this with location extensions and optimized mobile experiences made a noticeable impact in driving qualified traffic and immediate conversions. The key is to start small, test often, and let the data guide your next move. Google Ads gave us that flexibility and visibility when we needed it most.
For us, Instagram has been the most effective social media platform in marketing our small business. We have found that the visual nature of the platform allows us to showcase our products and services in a more engaging way compared to other platforms. One strategy that has worked well for us is collaborating with influencers within our niche. We reach out to individuals with a strong following who align with our brand values and offer them free products or services in exchange for promoting our business. This has not only increased our reach but also helped establish credibility and trust among potential customers. Additionally, we regularly use Instagram's sponsored posts feature to target specific demographics and locations that are most likely to be interested in our products.
Commonwealth Chess Player and Founder of ChessEasy Academy at ChessEasy Academy
Answered a year ago
One platform that significantly boosted marketing efforts for ChessEasy Academy when I first started was Facebook Lead Ads. Initially, I tried various methods from flyers to email campaigns but it was Facebook's targeted ad platform that delivered tangible, measurable results. I created short, engaging video ads featuring snippets of our chess classes, clearly highlighting the fun, educational environment students could expect. Instead of broadly targeting, I specifically focused on parents in my local area, interested in activities like "kids' education," "family-friendly events," and "extracurricular activities." I paired these ads with a simple lead form asking only essential details--like the child's age, chess experience, and preferred class timings. This straightforward strategy worked exceptionally well: we saw immediate increases in high-quality leads, achieving around a 35% enrollment rate from those leads. My advice to new entrepreneurs is to invest in platforms that allow precise targeting and quick feedback loops, enabling you to adapt swiftly based on what's working.
Managing Partner - Protection and Intelligence Solutions at LeMareschal LLC
Answered a year ago
LinkedIn has genuinely transformed how I market my business, especially as a woman working in the male-dominated private security industry. When I first started in Greece in 2002, female representation in security was practically unheard of, making it difficult to connect with peers or potential clients locally. LinkedIn opened the doors for me, allowing me to expand my professional network internationally and establish credibility with colleagues and clients worldwide. Today, about 25% of my clientele comes directly from LinkedIn. But my approach isn't simply, "Here's what I offer, please buy it." Instead, I focus more on creating educational content, openly sharing my knowledge, insights, and experiences. I also intentionally broaden my outreach beyond just the security industry, aiming to connect with professionals who closely influence my potential clients, like those in health management, family offices, and executive assistance roles. This authentic and strategic approach positions me as a trusted expert, attracting clients who value my expertise without ever needing a hard sell.
As the CEO of a UI/UX and growth marketing company, I've tested dozens of marketing platforms, but LinkedIn has consistently delivered the highest ROI for us - particularly through a strategic approach I rarely see others using effectively. Most entrepreneurs treat LinkedIn as a resume platform or spray random content hoping something sticks. We instead built a systematic "content ladder" strategy that transformed it into our primary lead generation engine. The approach is simple but requires discipline: We create one comprehensive, data-driven case study monthly showing specific results we've achieved for clients. This becomes our "pillar content." We then break this into 8-10 smaller insights, each focusing on a specific learning or metric from the case study. The key is what happens next. Rather than posting these insights from our company page (where organic reach is abysmal), our entire team shares them from their personal accounts with slightly different perspectives. This multiplies reach by 15-20x compared to company posts. For targeting, we use Sales Navigator to identify and engage with prospects who match our ideal client profile before they see our content. This pre-engagement boosts our content visibility among the right audience when they're later exposed to it. The results speak for themselves: This approach generates 3-4 qualified leads weekly without spending a dime on ads. What's more, these leads convert at 2.5x the rate of our other channels because they've already been exposed to our thinking and results. The most counterintuitive finding? The posts that perform best aren't vague inspirational stories - they're deeply specific, data-driven insights that demonstrate our expertise. Specificity signals competence in a way that generic content never can.
One of the most effective platforms I found as a new entrepreneur is Google Ads, particularly through leveraging PPC campaigns. Managing accounts with budgets ranging from $20,000 to $5 million has taught me the power of precise targeting. For instance, using specific keywords in PPC, I helped an e-commerce client increase their website traffic by 41% within three months. A crucial strategy was employing Google Tag Manager for advanced data tracking and accuracy. By implementing custom tags, I ensured we captured valuable metrics at a granular level, which directly informed our campaign adjustments for a healthcare client. This led to a 35% improvement in conversion rates, proving the importance of refined data analysis. I also emphasize using SMART goals for every campaign. Clearly defined objectives allow for streamlined strategies. For a non-profit, setting a precise goal of increasing newsletter sign-ups by 25% through paid social media campaigns led us to exceed our target by 15%, showcasing the effectiveness when goals align with strategy.
One platform that has been particularly effective for marketing is Facebook Messenger. As the fastest growing channel with over 1.3 billion users, it provides a unique opportunity for engagement. I used chatbots on Messenger to streamline customer interactions, answer questions, and overcome objections quickly. One campaign shortened our sales cycle dramatically, boosting one client's sales by 10x. I routinely pair Messenger with a strategic retargeting approach. For instance, one of my projects involved using run dynamic product ads in combination with lifestyle images, targeting specific segments at various funnel stages. The result? We significantly increased conversion rates while reducing the cost per lead by 115% for Brotman Law. Staying ahead requires using innovative tools. I highly recommend businesses become early adopters of Messenger to achieve notable sales and customer engagement improvements. My technique involves using data-driven insights to customize each interaction, ensuring the messaging resonates well with the audience's emotions and needs.
As the founder of Rocket Alumni Solutions, one key platform that proved effective for marketing our product was our own interactive touchscreen software. We used personalized donor recognition displays as a unique marketing tool, showcasing donor testimonials and real-time progress to boost engagement and retention. This approach increased our repeat donations by over 25%, turning our product into a marketing engine. Another key strategy was leveraging our interactive displays to foster community storytelling. By highlighting the stories of our donors and the impact of their contributions, we created an emotional connection that served as powerful word-of-mouth marketing. Approximately 40% of new donors at one of our partner schools learned about us from existing supporters, making community advocacy a critical factor in our growth to over $3M ARR.
When we were just getting off the ground, one of the most effective and unexpected marketing tools we used was... Reddit. Yeah, not the first thing most founders think of. But if you treat it with respect (and don't just drop links and bounce), Reddit can act like a distributed network of ultra-targeted focus groups and a marketing channel rolled into one. Here's what we did: We found subreddits where our ideal users hung out--students, lifelong learners, ADHD communities, even productivity nerds. But instead of promoting our product directly, we joined the conversations. Answered questions. Gave honest feedback. Then, only when it made sense, we'd mention Listening.com as a tool that could help. And we made sure to follow up--"Hey, if you try it, let me know how it worked for you." But the real game-changer? We built a Notion database of high-performing Reddit threads--ones that got a lot of engagement--and then reverse engineered the questions those posts were answering. That became the basis for some of our best-performing content and email subject lines. It's basically keyword research, but with tone, pain points, and real user language baked in. Reddit didn't just give us users--it gave us language we could steal. Which meant better emails, better copy, and better onboarding flows. It's not the sexiest tool, but if you approach it with curiosity instead of extraction, it can quietly become one of your most powerful marketing platforms.