How do I kick off marketing for my startup?

No matter what you've heard, marketing is still about people and relationships. So with that cue, here's the "cream" of marketing my contemporaries have applied to their business situations:

1. Network, network, network

Every time you meet someone, they are a potential client, or know someone who is a potential client. Put across your main business idea or proposition in 50 words or less. This person then becomes a living, talking "referee" for your business - they tell two friends and so on. After explaining your business proposition, give them a business card.

Join the marketing association of your country. They will hold seminars and meetings where key business stakeholders can meet and exchange ideas.

2. Don't burn bridges

This is especially important for people who are made redundant or squeezed out of a company. Often the business you leave can be a future source of income. People come and go from companies you leave behind, and bad interpersonal dynamics evaporate as former bosses leave or move on. Improve your skills and keep in touch, even if its just sending them an annual letter letting them know what your business achievements have been over the past year.

3. Find that niche market

Don't try to be all things to everyone. This is important for your business strategy, as well as your marketing strategy. Take any large consumer-goods company as a classic example: their market is the consumer, therefore the market is broad and run through many media channels (TV, radio, newspaper, magazines, internet etc.). This, naturally, is expensive. Target a small part of the market and get your ideas and information directly to "members" of that market.

4. Don't underestimate the power of creativity.

Without naming names, a friend of mine abseiled off a large building and unfurled a huge flag with his company logo clearly visible to the hundreds of onlookers below. He then performed some aerial stunts while hanging from the side of the building. To cut a long story short he was taken away by police, but his actions garnered him a spot on the front page of a major daily metropolitan newspaper coverage - FREE PRESS!

I don't for one second condone illegal activity but the creativity and exposure paid off. He now has more work doing abseil adventures than he and his other two employees can handle.

Finally (and generally) make use of any chance you get to expose the business brand. Put your business logo everywhere and include a toll-free number if you can afford it - breaking the ice and getting that initial contact is the hardest part. If you have someone on the end of the phone, it's your perfect opportunity to network, network, network. It's your business - be passionate about it. Some of that passion will rub off.