We are small bootup startup.
We recently launched a MVP website. Marketing is generally, 'not our bag' and we would like to seek the help of someone/an entity that specializes in this field, to help the site gain traction etc. The technical aspects of the website have been sorted out (i.e. SEO etc), so the help needed goes beyond mere SEO.
The key areas we will need help with (in order of decreasing urgency) are:
Inbound messaging (i.e. how to use social media, Adwords and anything else - we especially like the idea of free Press interviews - but don't know how to go about getting one). Namely, to drive traffic to the website and convert that traffic to people who actually sign up (i.e. register on the website). Registration is free. We are using a variant of the freemium model.
How to maximize revenue from our products and services once we have registered members
At a later stage, further down the line (when we have sufficient traffic to warrant it), we would want to replace our Google Adsense program with an inhouse Advertising program, where we sell adspace directly.
My (slight) reservation (from past experience) is that marketing/sales types tend to be quite 'wooly i.e. 'touchy/feely' and can charge 'bizarre numbers' for something that cannot be quantified (or maybe I am just talking about 'designer type').
Being a bootup startup, we have very little resources (especially, since the MVP turned out to be over 1 year behind schedule). We have managed to last this long because our costs are pretty negligible, as we have done pretty much everything by ourselves. We are very careful about costs as our business model is a variant of the freemium, and only generates revenue beyond a certain 'critical mass' point of traffic/registered members/subscribers.
Mindful of all of the above, if we are to work with a company, costs is definitely a factor in selecting them (though not the only factor obviously). However costs is an important factor during this 'lean period', and therefore we would like to work with a company on a kind of 'commission only' basis or maybe even giving up a little bit of equity. It is imperative that the company only gets paid when they have delivered results as I am not at all interested in 'lining up' someone else's pockets for the sake of it.
Having said all that, are there companies/individuals out there that can help with the three things I mentioned above?. If yes, can anyone recommend it/them?
