Using language and community to boost engagement with early-stage startup support

With the tried-and-true routes like social media becoming ever more crowded, it can be tricky to know how to get your startup programme in front of engaged early-stage entrepreneurs. 

Having been running The Pitch since 2017, we’ve come to understand that marketing your startup programme is about presenting an inclusive image of entrepreneurship – one that founders see themselves in.

Here’s how to use language they will relate to and harness the power of community to build your brand and drive more applications.

Know who you’re talking to

Starting with the basics – you can only engage an audience when you know who they are.

For support programmes targeting specific industries, locations or demographics, your target audience is already largely decided. But if not, you can reap the benefits of running multiple campaigns targeted at different audiences over a period of time.

Demographics are really useful here. Segmenting by these factors means you can use your understanding of being an early-stage founder, plus research about the experiences of these more specific groups, to create effective messaging.

At a recent event hosted by Inkwell, Giulia Saletto from Tide agreed that there’s significant value in taking the time to refine your marketing when talking to pre-start founders:

“Tide pledged to support 300,000 female entrepreneurs, and the messaging needs to be very different, but reducing your niche allows you to target better,” she said.

Regional targeting is super effective

Programmes and marketing campaigns developed for specific regions resonate especially well with pre-start founders because entrepreneurial activity and support isn’t evenly distributed across the UK.

Any startup programme hoping to be inclusive and boost diversity needs to address this issue in its marketing to assure the founders you’re talking to that your programme is for them.

At our event, Dawn O’Connor shared how this has worked for The Prince’s Trust: 

“In celebrating the Enterprise Programme's 40th anniversary, we asked some of our volunteers to film and share their experience, and tips, with the programme and entrepreneurship on TikTok. We want to showcase relatable role models, who young people identify with, so that they feel confident when reaching out to The Prince's Trust.

"Young people should have the chance to succeed, no matter the background or the struggles faced. We help those from disadvantaged communities, and those facing the greatest adversity, by supporting them to build the confidence and skills through this Enterprise Programme, celebrating regional voices as we do so."

Running events in different parts of the country means more people have the opportunity to engage with face-to-face support – it’s why we host the finals for The Pitch across the UK. 

Use relatable language to get high-quality leads

Once you understand how your audience thinks and feels, you can use inclusive language that will resonate with them.

The basic rule of tone of voice applies here: use the language your audience uses. If you’re not confident your team is doing this effectively, read our article on creating tone of voice guidelines. 

You can research the content your targets engage with to get an idea of what resonates with them. Tools like Google Trends let you explore what people in different regions are searching for, and you can use social listening tools or other methods to do more qualitative research. 

The people delivering the support also have a great understanding of applicants’ challenges, so speaking to programme mentors and other front-line team members can help inform campaign messaging. 

For example, The Prince’s Trust targets 18-30 year olds with support for starting a business. The Trust’s goal is to target young people who most need additional support – but the language they use externally is very different:

“We know young people don’t relate to language like ‘disadvantaged’ – nobody likes to think of themselves in that way. So instead we try to be supportive and inspirational in our tone, and don’t specifically advertise who the programmes are for,” Dawn explained.

Your choice of language is also powerful in getting across what your programme is about and encouraging the right applicants. 

If you offer financial support as part of the package, leading with that messaging risks generating low-quality leads from people who are just in it for the money. Focusing on the business growth benefits of your programme makes sure it appeals to engaged founders with real business ambition.

Prioritise social media

Social media is hugely effective for lead generation, especially for the pre-start business audience who really value relating to the content they’re seeing. 

Use encouraging copy that follows your identified tone of voice, and complement it with optimistic colours and inspiring imagery that reflects your audience.

If you’re struggling to find time to be consistent with your content and beat the algorithm, your employees are a great resource to add a face to the brand. It can also be helpful to use social creators to make videos for platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

We’ve had real success with micro-influencers from our community like Talk Twenties founder Gaby Mendes to create Instagram Reels, for example. By using programme alumni, we know the videos will resonate with people thinking of taking part.

Ultimately, nothing informs your marketing better than your own evidence, so pay attention to what content has been performing best on your channels – then do more of it. 

Get creative with lead generation

Social media is a lead generation go-to for good reason. But platforms like Facebook and Instagram are saturated, and the cost per lead for paid content is off-puttingly high for most organisations.  

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get your content in front of an already-engaged audience – removing the guesswork, making your content work harder, and helping to establish your brand as a trusted voice in the right spaces.

Partnerships with highly-engaged communities that serve your target audience are a great opportunity to drive interest. Running competitions offers a strong incentive for members to engage with your programme through these partnerships.

Giulia discussed how this has worked for Tide at our event:

“We partnered with a community which has a big female audience, to sponsor a female entrepreneur award – and it did so much better than expected.”

Our partnership model for The Pitch aims to facilitate this kind of outreach. By working with partners who share our passion for helping startups succeed, we connect those with help to offer with an engaged community of entrepreneurs.

At Inkwell, we’re experts in creating content that engages startup founders. Get in touch with the team to discuss how we can help drive engagement for your programme.