The Shift in Startup Marketing Strategies
Digital advertising costs have surged, pushing customer acquisition expenses beyond what many startups can sustain through platforms like Google and Meta. Artificial intelligence adds complexity: while enhancing targeting and attribution, it also saturates digital spaces with noise, making it tougher for brands to stand out.
Startups need to move beyond a solely performance-driven mindset and adopt a multi-channel marketing approach. Simply targeting a potential customer once online might yield a click, but it won’t build lasting brand recall. Combining digital efforts with traditional media—such as television, digital out-of-home, and influencer campaigns—creates repeated impressions that stick. When customers are ready to buy, the brand they recognize from multiple touchpoints wins.
Working with startups, some media-for-equity funds emphasize creativity paired with measurability, ensuring every channel contributes to both immediate sales and long-term brand strength.
The Case for Traditional Media
Television still commands about 17% of the U.S. advertising market and offers advantages digital can’t fully replace. Traditional media provides share of voice, market saturation, and trust. For example, reaching 35 people multiple times via a multi-channel campaign can be more effective than reaching 100 people just once digitally.
In industries where impulse buys are rare, brand recall becomes crucial. Consumers remember brands they see consistently across different channels, which embeds the brand in their subconscious more effectively than isolated digital ads.
Marketing in a Funding Winter
The venture capital market has corrected sharply. Valuations have dropped, funding is tighter, and founders face tough choices like down rounds or pulling back on growth. Marketing budgets are often the first to be cut—but that’s a mistake. Silence lets competitors gain ground.
Some media-for-equity models offer startups access to large-scale media inventory—including TV, traditional, and digital out-of-home—along with brand strategy expertise. This approach helps companies continue acquiring customers and building brand equity even when cash is limited.
Filling the CMO Gap
Many startups are scaling back marketing teams or dropping the CMO role altogether. Yet, effective marketing remains critical because every dollar must count. To address this, some funds provide internal brand strategy teams acting as outsourced CMOs.
These teams help founders plan campaigns optimized for their audience, geography, and growth goals, maximizing the efficiency of media spend. Even startups without in-house marketing expertise gain access to both capital and strategic guidance to deploy funds wisely.
Building Brands That Last
Marketing can’t be an afterthought in today's crowded startup environment. A strong multi-channel presence is essential for survival. By combining access to premium media inventory with the know-how to execute smartly, startups can maintain momentum and build lasting brand equity—even when budgets are tight.
Your membership also unlocks:
