What 2024 Taught Me About Startup Marketing: 5 Learnings For Growth
What a tough year, ain’t it?
I never thought I’d say this, but 2024 has been really tough. Tough in a way where the challenges that came were unprecedented, untested, and completely evergreen to me. I started my journey in a startup close to 9 years ago, and the last 2 years have been the most challenging yet fulfilling part of my experience thus far. When I was taking my university degree in Communications & New Media, I told myself, I’m not going to use these skills anyway because I’ve already decided that Design was going to be my niche (I took a minor in Interactive Media Development which was basically UI/UX back in the day). Which it was for the greater part of my career from the time I started.
But, I got curious. I wanted to know more each and every day. And there’s a unique trait that I acknowledge and possess (whether it is for good or bad), that I like to do multiple things at once (another topic for another time). And naturally, curiosity got the better of me, and with a little bit of luck, I landed into expansion roles, from Design, to Marketing Operations, to Content Marketing, and now, Marketing. Being a designer by trade and eventually transiting into a Marketing lead role has been the most interesting yet challenging experience, but I’ve accepted the challenge. Side note, I still do design which is the best part of this experience, one could almost call it the best of both worlds. And here I am, writing my heart out!
So, as 2024 is coming to an end, here are my top learnings about startups and marketing from scratch:
Content is still queen and king and beyond
Everyone thinks making content is easy. Do a post about this, why don’t you talk about that? And naturally, the assumption that content can be created ‘easily’ comes. But after delving into the content space for coming to 4 years now, I can safely say that content is FAR from easy. Especially at an age of digital technology peaking with platforms like Instagram, Tiktok, Threads, X, Youtube…and many more where people consume content on a daily basis. And what actually matters? Quality. High-quality content remains the backbone of building up a brand and talking to potential consumers — educational, engaging, and valuable content will drive traffic and builds trust. And to throw in a nugget? It doesn’t have to that serious all the time. In my time of experimentation, I’ve thrown in memes, short videos, creative messaging, etc, just to see how people resonate with it. And don’t beat yourself up when something doesn’t work, what matters is that you tried.
I can go on about content houses, messaging frameworks, content pillars etc, but here’s the real deal. We’ve got to be smart when we create. Diversification of a piece of content is crucial to be efficient, because face it, there are loads of noise out there in this time and age. Along with finding the right platform to reach them, and here’s an anecdote of my own learning: We started Jetpac heavily on Instagram which has grown decently well, but I then realised that Youtube was where a lot of our target audience was still consuming content from, and we have not dedicated focused time on it yet. So yes, we’re not perfect either, but we need to learn and adapt through opening up our minds and ears to what’s going on, and keep creating content that ties in with timely trends.
Without data, we are nothing (well, almost)
Have you ever been in a situation where you’re like, “I don’t know if this will work, I don’t have data to back it up, but I have a gut feeling we should do it anyway”? Me too. Several times. And I’m not disputing that as a way to quickly test things out, I actually believe that gut feeling is a real psychological effect and we should not be too quick to diminish our gut feeling (especially females with our six senses!). But what I’ve also learned throughout the year, was that gut feeling coupled with actual data backing is a much more powerful combination. And why? Data isn’t just numbers; it’s the foundation for understanding what resonates with your audience and what doesn’t.
Here’s a very recent real example — we had a hypothesis about a certain metric being correlated to one of our key value propositions of Jetpac. We had a healthy debate over it, and in the end, turned to data to validate if our hypothesis was right or wrong. It turned out that we were right, statistics and customer data proved that there was a correlation. And our key takeaway about data? We can use analytics smartly to refine our campaigns, monitor and validate hypotheses, and spot trends early to stay ahead of competitors. Prediction models, AI etc are just a part of it, but the bigger picture is using our gut with data = Impactful marketing.
Be real about how you talk to your customers, it matters
What I’ve learnt is that customers value brands that show both personality and vulnerability, making marketing as real as it can get. We all know, so many brands are trying to get our attention online, but we only react to some. Why is that so? That’s simply because we resonate with what the brand is saying, what they are trying to solve for. Similarly, from a brand’s perspective, in this modern age, we need to stay as human as we can. And this is because people are reacting to emotion, relatability, and compassion.
Gone are the days where brands can simply jack prices down for the sake of it, consumers these days are smarter than that. They look for authenticity, honesty and yes, vulnerability. That mean how we acknowledge our mistakes, what we’re doing, and stay as human as possible. We need to avoid over-promising or using jargon — clear, honest communication builds lasting relationships with customers deeper than we think. Yes, we can always be as witty, as funky, or as snarky, but at the end of it all, there needs to be a layer of purpose to why a brand is doing what they’re doing, to actually stand out from the rest. Anyone can sell, but how and why they’re selling and who they are talking to makes a whole lot of difference. I can definitely attest to that, just by the way I’m writing publicly, no filter here.
Don’t act like you know everything to grow, you don’t
Here’s the real tip: Be open to admitting if something didn’t work. It’s a very normal process to go through in a phase like this, where you’re literally trying to figure it out. Nothing makes sense, whatever you thought you knew was utterly wrong, and trends pop up like its 2012. We need to be able to embrace unpredictability as a chance for creative problem-solving. When we first expanded our services globally for Jetpac from just Singapore to a global reach, we had no idea how that’s going to be pen out. We were attempting a few things that we had no clue on, but we tried anyway. I vividly remember a campaign that we did that apparently did not sit well with some of the key markets we were trying to target. But do we regret doing the campaign? No, because we did that to learn and to push the spectrum. Now that we’ve done that, we know where the boundaries are and where to push and how far. And we would have never known if we never even tried.
Another instance was when we had to quickly strategize a plan because of the Olympics. Original plans shifted and we had to devise a new original plan to amplify Jetpac along with the Olympics trend. We didn’t realise that these events could have such a huge impact on travel, until it happened.
So, here’s what I’ve taken away: Build flexible enough strategies that you can pivot when surprises arise, such as global events, or taking a bet on something that may be an unknown unknown.
People are the most important asset to a startup
One of the biggest learnings in 2024 is actually this point. This exact point about people. We’ve no idea how important and integral people are to impacting a business. Whether you’re an associate, a manager, or a leader. Every single person plays a part in making it work. And its more than crucial to be able to be as open as you can to your team mates in this environment, because it’s 10x more challenging than a usual boring corporate 9–5 job. The level of tenacity, focus and perseverance is not for everyone and finding the right mix to get the job done is the most difficult part of all. Not everyone will be able to survive the challenging circumstances of the job, and sometimes, it also stems from the types of leadership we have in the team that impacts the morale and results.
I have been fortunate enough in my Jetpac journey to have been working with people with the same hustle, the same tenacity and the same purpose so far. When you have the right people working on the same vision, it makes work alot easier versus trying to fit people into this mould of startup hustle.
Summary
Here you go, 2024. It has been interesting with great learnings, whether is it through emphasizing on content, staying real with customers, or finding the right people to work and vibe with, all these are pivotal in shaping up not just the brand we’re working to grow, but also a personal growth moment for me as I continue exploring my journey through each and every try.