Solved: How to Properly Promote a Startup?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance on how to properly promote your software agency. It's a question I see a lot, and you're right to be sceptical about just "boosting posts". That's generally a surefire way to waste money, especially for a B2B service like yours.

You asked how to find customers and how to actually do the promotion. The truth is, there's a more structured way to think about it than just cold emailing or randomly approaching people. It's less about a single "method" and more about building a proper system to attract the right kind of clients. I'll walk you through how I'd approach it, based on my experience running these sorts of campaigns.

We'll need to look at who your ideal customer is...

Before you even think about placing an ad or sending an email, this is the absolute first step. Your questions "How do I find them?" and "Where do I look?" can only be answered once you know exactly who "they" are. Just saying you're a "software agency" is too broad. You'll end up trying to talk to everyone, and connecting with no one.

You need to get really specific and build what's called an Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP. Think about it, who are the companies that would get the most value from your services? Who are the companies you actually want to work with? Throwing methods at the wall is pointless if you're aiming at the wrong target.

Ask yourself these questions:

-> What industries do you serve best? Are you specialists in building software for fintech? Healthcare? E-commerce businesses? Manufacturing? Be honest about where your strengths are. It's much easier to market yourself as "the software agency for mid-size logistics companies" than "a software agency for everyone".

-> What size of company is the right fit? Are you building for solo founders and startups, small-to-medium businesses (SMEs) with 50-200 employees, or large enterprises? The budget, sales cycle, and decision-making process is completly different for each.

-> What specific problem are you solving? Businesses don't buy "software development". They buy a solution to a problem. Are you helping them automate a manual process, integrate two seperate systems, build a customer-facing mobile app, or rescue a failing project? Your messaging needs to speak to their pain point.

Once you know the company profile, you need to identify the person inside that company who actually makes the decision. It's rarely just one person. You need to know who feels the pain you solve, and who holds the purse strings.

For instance, if you're selling a solution that improves sales data accuracy, you'd want to get in front of a Head of Sales or a Chief Sales Officer (CSO). If it's about marketing automation, you're looking for a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). If its a core bit of infratructure, maybe it's the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). These are the people you need to target with your ads and your messaging.

Just to give you a concrete example, we worked on a campaign for a B2B data company. Their ICP looked something like this:

See how specific that is? Once you have this level of clarity, choosing a platform and crafting a message becomes a hundred times easier. You're no longer guessing "where" to find them; you're going to the places where Heads of Marketing in UK tech companies hang out online.

I'd say you need to figure out if they're searching for you...

Once you know who you're targeting, the next question is about their mindset. This is what determines the best advertising platform to use. Broadly, your potential customers are in one of two states: they're either actively looking for a solution like yours, or they aren't.

Scenario A: They ARE actively searching for a solution.

This is what we call "high intent" traffic. These people have a problem, they're aware they have it, and they're actively typing things into Google to find someone to fix it. This is the lowest hanging fruit and, for a service business, often the most profitable place to start.

The ad platform for this is, without a doubt, Google Search Ads.

Instead of "boosting a post" and hoping the right person sees it, you're placing your agency directly in front of someone at the exact moment they need you. You do this by bidding on the keywords they are searching for. You don't pay unless they click on your ad.

So, what would they be searching for? Based on what a typical software agency does, you could target keywords like:

• "custom software development company"
• "software agency near me"
• "hire a software developer uk"
• "ai implementation service"
• "outsource software project"
• "saas development agency"

The key is to think about the language your ideal customer would use when they're trying to solve their problem. Google Search ads are brilliant because the intent is already there. You don't have to convince them they have a problem; you just have to convince them that you are the right solution.

Scenario B: They are NOT actively searching.

This is a much larger pool of potential customers. They might be a perfect fit for your services, but they aren't looking for a solution right now. Maybe they're dealing with an inefficient process but haven't considered custom software yet, or maybe they just don't know agencies like yours exist.

Here, your goal is to interrupt their day with a compelling message that makes them aware of the problem you solve and positions you as the expert. This is where social media ads come in, but not "boosting". You need to run proper conversion-focused campaigns.

For a B2B software agency, your best bet is almost always LinkedIn Ads.

Why? Because of its targeting capabilities. Remember that ICP we talked about? On LinkedIn, you can target users by:

• Job Title (e.g., "Chief Technology Officer")
• Industry (e.g., "Financial Services")
• Company Size (e.g., "51-200 employees")
• Specific Company Names (You can even upload a list of target companies!)
• Skills, Group memberships, and more.

This allows you to be incredibly precise and ensure your ad budget is being spent showing your ads to the exact decision-makers you identified in your ICP. It's more expensive than other platforms, but the quality of the audience is unmatched for B2B. We've run campaigns for B2B software clients on LinkedIn and seen costs per lead around the $22 mark, which for high-ticket services is very effective.

What about other social platforms? Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads can sometimes work, especially if your agency serves smaller businesses. Meta has targeting options like "small business owners" or "Facebook business page admins". It's less precise than LinkedIn, but it's a lot cheaper. It could be worth a test if your ideal client is a small, local business rather than a larger corporate entity.

You probably should build a proper funnel, not just boost posts...

This is the bit that connects your ads to actual sales. "Boosting a post" just sends people to your social media page. A proper advertising funnel guides a potential client from the ad to becoming a lead in a structured way. For B2B services, especially something high-ticket like custom software, a "buy now" approach almost never works. People need to trust you first.

The goal isn't an immediate sale; it's to start a conversation. The funnel usually looks something like this: Ad -> Landing Page -> Conversion (Lead).

1. The Ad & The Offer

Your ad shouldn't say "Hire Us!". It needs to offer something of value for free in exchange for their contact details. This is often called a "lead magnet". For a software agency, this could be:

• A free, no-obligation "strategy session" or "consultation".
• A "free system audit" where you review their existing tech stack.
• A detailed case study of how you helped a similar company.
• An industry-specific guide (e.g., "The 2024 Guide to Automating Logistics for SMEs").

The ad's job is to promote this valuable offer, not your company. You can test different formats. An image ad is quick and gets the message across fast. A video ad can work well to build more trust and explain a complex offer, which often leads to more qualified leads who've taken the time to watch it.

2. The Landing Page

When someone clicks your ad, they must not be sent to your website's homepage. A homepage has dozens of distractions – links to 'About Us', 'Services', 'Blog', etc. You want to send them to a dedicated landing page that has one single goal: to get them to take you up on your free offer.

This page needs to be persuasive. It should reiterate the benefits of your offer, build trust with testimonials or logos of past clients, and have a very clear Call To Action (CTA), which is the form to fill out or the button to book a call. The copy on this page is incredably important. We almost always use a professional copywriter for our clients, especially for SaaS and B2B, because they know how to write in a way that converts visitors into leads.

3. The Conversion

This is where you capture the lead. You have a couple of options. You can use a simple contact form on your landing page. Or, on a platform like LinkedIn, you can use their built-in Lead Gen Forms. These pop up directly on LinkedIn and pre-fill the user's information (name, email, company, job title), which makes it very easy for them to submit.

There's a trade-off here. Lead Gen Forms usually give you a lower cost per lead because they are so easy to fill out. However, leads from a landing page are often higher quality because that person has shown more intent by leaving the social media platform and visiting your page. It's something you'd want to test to see what works best for your specific offer and sales process.

Once you have their details, your sales process begins. This is where you follow up, schedule the consultation, and eventually provide a custom proposal. The advertising has done its job: it's delivered a warm, qualified lead to your doorstep.

You'll need a solid website before you spend a penny...

This is a bit of brutally honest advice. You can have the best ads and the perfect targeting in the world, but if they click through to a website that looks unprofessional, is slow, or is confusing, you've wasted your money. Your website is your digital storefront, and for a B2B tech company, it needs to instill confidence.

I haven't seen your site, of course, but I see the same mistakes over and over. Before you spend a single pound on ads, make sure your house is in order. Your website is the foundation of everything.

-> Does it look trustworthy? B2B sales cycles are long. A business is making a big decision when they hire a software agency. Your website needs to look the part. Professional design, no broken links, clear navigation. Does it have trust signals like testimonials from past clients, detailed case studies, your address, maybe some photos of your team?

-> Is your offer clear? A common issue I see on agency websites is a failure to offer a clear next step. A potential client is not going to spend hours trying to figure out how to work with you. You need a big, obvious button that invites them to "Book a Free Consultation" or "Get a Project Estimate". I saw a B2B software client once who was trying to sell an accounting system without offering a free trial or even a proper demo. Their competition offered months-long trials. Unsuprisingly, their ads didn't work. You have to reduce the friction and risk for the client.

-> Is the copy persuasive? Your website copy should be focused on the client, their problems, and the results you can deliver. It shouldn't just be a list of the programming languages you know. It needs to sell the outcome, not the process. Again, this is where a good copywriter can be worth their weight in gold.

Think of your ad spend as paying for guests to come to a party. If the house is a mess, they're not going to stay very long, no matter how good the invitation was. Fix the house first.

This is the main advice I have for you:

Okay, that's a lot to take in, I know. It's a big shift from just "boosting posts". To make it more manageable, I've broken down the whole process into a series of actionable steps. This is the strategic framework I would use if I were in your shoes.

As you can probably tell, this is a fair bit more involved than just boosting a few posts. It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best; it’s about understanding your audience, optimising your targeting, creating compelling ads, and fine-tuning your landing page and offer. It's a continuous process of testing and refinement.

Getting this right can be the difference between burning through cash and building a predictable pipeline of new clients for your agency. With years of experience doing exactly this for B2B and software companies, we've learned the pitfalls and the shortcuts to finding what works.

If you'd like to have a proper chat and go through this in more detail for your specific situation, we offer a free initial consultation. We can take a look at what you're doing and give you some clear, actionable advice on the best way forward. No obligation at all, of course.

Hope this detailed breakdown has been helpful for you!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh