This section is right near the end for a reason. You should only ever pay for traffic when you know that you have the highest likelihood that the traffic will convert and not just disappear like most traffic does.
It is time to talk about paid marketing.
I recommend that startups do their paid marketing in three steps, that must be done in this order:
1. Paid Search Ads - bottom of the funnel, get them where it matters
This is first because it's the easiest. You need to capture anyone that is searching for your exact service or product.
You will find the exact right people AND find them at the exact time they are looking for a solution that you offer.
You are shooting to get people at the bottom of the funnel here. They are literally typing in what your service does into Google or Bing - you just make sure you show up for it.
On top of being in the right place - make sure you have the most efficient spend here as well. Every paid search tool has an AI based bidding option that uses conversions.
It can be a bit of a pain to set these up, but the reality is that once it's working properly, you simply pick a cost per conversion and the campaign can run on autopilot from there.
Some things to keep in mind:
Don't go too broad with keywords or targeting, start specific and get more broad with time. Broad match can be a trap.
In Google and Bing ads, look at the search terms report, not just the keyword report. See if there are irrelevant terms, which is a common issue.
Here are some keywords to put in your universal exclude lists, these work for most companies, but don't just blindly copy and paste: free, job, career, school, degree, used, class, guide, salary.
Make sure to use ALL the available assets or extensions, they massively improve CTR.
If you include a phone number, set it to a schedule to only show when someone can actually answer it - this gets overlooked often.
One thing I would recommend is getting your Google Ads certification. You can find out about it here.
It's really not that hard of a certification, and it makes sure you fully understand all the concepts and best practices.
2. Paid social ads - middle of the funnel
For some reason, most startups begin their paid journey here. Facebook/Instagram has become the darling for startup marketing, but the reality is this should only happen once you have maxed out the bottom of funnel marketing.
Social media is fantastic for finding the right people. What it can't do is find them at the right time. That's why you need to max out search for.
Once you do, though: social media gives you tools to really get results from the right people.
Make sure to take your time and make some important decisions on the right platform. You should focus on a single platform at a time. Splitting your time up will lead to lower quality ads. Remember that you need to be A/B testing constantly.
3. Branded display advertising
The last two focused on performance - they should generally measured against conversions, whatever that means to you. This part though, is about brand.
Notice this marketing book hardly talks about brand at all - that's because in the early days you need to have performance before you can spend on brand.
Brand takes years to build and requires a lot of money. The biggest issue is the return on investment is hard to properly measure and know.
Not to say it isn't important - just to say that you shouldn't expect direct conversions from it and that it might feel like a money sink in the short term.
This is the area where Youtube has become a king. They can get branded content in front of the exact demographic you are going for. It wont get many clicks or conversions but it'll get into people's minds.
The best way to think of branded advertising is that the better known your brand is, the lower the cost per conversion will be for al other forms of marketing.
People who trust or like a brand, or even just remember it exists, are far more likely to convert - vastly improving all forms of traffic acquisition.
It's fantastic when it works, but it takes a TON of time and money to get there.