Successful Startups Do No Marketing

It’s Not For Boring Founders

Luis Barcala
14 min readMar 6, 2024

Today’s marketing revolves around platforms, tricks, manipulation, and noise. If you believe that this is marketing, then successful startups do no marketing.

The kind of marketing that successful startups engage in involves avoiding competition and evolving into market-leading companies (micro-monopolies) through in-depth market research, messaging, positioning, storytelling, and profitable customer acquisition advertising campaigns. A micro-monopoly benefits from low cost per acquisition, market leader status, profitability, high prices, and no competition. A micro-monopoly is a one-of-a-kind company that naturally draws in customers and investors.

#NoMarketing principles are followed by now-established leading companies that were once startups themselves, such as Apple, Airbnb, Uber, Snapchat, Tesla, and also by new startups that are making an impact, such as Nothing, reMarkable, Notion, Figma, or BeReal.

The Compounding Effect of Sameness

Here’s what I find kind of creepy:

The more you look at what your neighbor is doing, the more you start to look like them. Even if you start with something small like purchasing the same pants they purchased, over time you will end up copying them more and more, and end up looking like their semi-clone.

Look at how people shop in big cities. Usually following the same clothing trends, wanting the same cars, applying for the same universities, etc.

According to René Girard’s mimetic theory:

“Man is the creature who doesn’t know what to desire, and he turns to others to make up his mind. We imitate others’ desires.”

The problem with even looking at your competitors for a quick second and trying to emulate them in any way, shape, or form is that it starts off with one small thing before compounding itself and making you look increasingly like them over time, turning your company into a clone.

I call this the compounding effect of sameness.

You Win by Not Competing at All

I often get on calls with founders because their marketing just isn’t working. Their ad CPMs are crazy high and aren’t leading to conversions. They’re hardly making any sales. This is normal and extremely solvable, but I see founders make a lot of mistakes at this stage.

They become convinced that they just need to run their ads on a different platform. Or they think the solution lies in some magical set of optimization techniques that will turn things around overnight.

These things may have worked in the past, yielding huge benefits for the founders who took advantage of them. But things have changed. Today’s marketing landscape is oversaturated with startups and has become hyper-competitive. There’s no longer as much to be gained by growth hacking or ad-optimization techniques.

Chasing these tricks is a losing battle that will at best help you gain small percentage points here and there. Instead, the best way you can spend your time is by learning how to build a micro-monopoly: A business that’s playing by its own rules so it doesn’t have to compete.

#NoMarketing is all about turning a startup into a market-leading company: A micro-monopoly

I Have Never Seen Any Growth-Hacking Tricks Transform a Startup into a Larger Business

Everyone else is reading the same things you are. Once someone figures out that Tuesday is the “best” day for launching campaigns, everyone else starts doing it. Suddenly your audience’s feeds and inboxes are overflowing with campaign launches on Tuesdays, and your company gets lost in the sea of noise.

Platform-specific optimizations will at best yield a 1–30% Gain. My goal is to help you aim for 20x+ wins. Down the line, you can think about small tweaks or optimization techniques. But, as a startup, you need to focus on the big picture.

That’s What #NoMarketing Is All About

You’ll still be running ads, but your focus will be on developing what makes your company truly unique (a micro-monopoly) — Not on tweaking the time of day you post or adding extra options on your landing page. The core of this philosophy is contrarian thinking: You don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. In fact, you want to do the exact opposite.

You Need A Big Idea

How you communicate your product is important. Very important. Communicating your product goes way beyond features and benefits. You need a big idea.

“But, I don’t buy ideas. I buy solutions to my problems.”

Are you sure? Different companies will sell you various solutions to your problem… and you will end up buying the product that tells the most compelling story. We buy stories, which is the way ideas are conveyed (We also buy based on price, but that’s a risky path to take because the winner ends up losing).

That’s why you need what I like to call Layer Three Communication or L3C.

  • L1C = Features
  • L2C = Benefits
  • L3C = Big idea

Big ideas open up new markets. Every successful startup owns a big message or idea. Here are seven examples of successful software and tech companies and the ideas that propelled them:

  • 13-month year (usemotion.com).
  • Employee success (atomicwork.com).
  • Authentic social media (BeReal.com).
  • Digital paper (reMarkable.com)
  • Ephemeral messaging (Snapchat)
  • Spatial computing (Apple’s VisionPro)
  • Tech that feels humane (Hu.ma.ne)

A Big Idea Is Based On A Worldview

I imagine the Snapchat founders coming up with their big idea like this:

*Two college students at a party*

— “Dude, Facebook is like, the mainstream, but I’m not vibing with it, you know?”

— “Totally get you! I wanna share hilarious pics, but I don’t want them haunting me on Facebook forever, lol.”

— “Exactly! Imagine future employers scrolling through our college party shenanigans. Not cool!”

— “Hmm, what if we create an app where messages vanish? Like, share funny pics without the permanent evidence.”

— “Brilliant! No more worrying about job interviews judging our wild side. Let’s call it… TikTok?”

— “Nah… Too stupid bro. That will never work. It sounds like a platform for goofy dances. What about Snapchat?”

— “Yes!”

Every big idea is based on a worldview.

Take a look at Webflow’s big idea. It is literally a conversation based on someone’s worldview:

webflow.com

Worldview = Secret

I’m sure you have read Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. Well, this is what Thiel would call a ‘secret’. Big ideas are based on secrets. What’s your secret?

Transforming A Big Idea Into a High-Converting Landing Page and Profitable Ads

Paid ads are by far the best, most scalable, and predictable way to acquire new customers for a startup company. Period.

The problem is that it has become SUPER expensive. For me, when a startup company manages to run profitable advertising at scale, I call it CAS (Customer Acquisition Success).

CAS = CASH

  • Reduces burn rate
  • Increases profit margin
  • Attracts funding

But there’s a 99% chance that you’ll end up doing it wrong and wasting your money.

44% of VC Money Goes into Paid Ads

I once read somewhere that 44% of VC money goes into paid ads.

To be honest, I don’t believe that’s true. It seems too high for me. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. Based on what I’ve seen, startups tend to spend a massive amount of money on paid ads without a clear strategy in mind other than…

“Let’s burn some money!”

…hoping and praying that someday it will come back.

That’s crazy! And I don’t blame them. As I said, I consider paid ads the best way to acquire customers and scale, as long as you manage to make it profitable. In most cases, their money doesn’t come back and the startup fails. Paid ads can be your salvation or your death sentence. Let me teach you how to run profitable ads for your startup.

If You Want Profitable Ads, You Need an Ugly Landing Page

Here’s the key to make your ads profitable:

You can’t really make ads cheaper, but you can 10x your landing page conversion rate.

You need a NEW landing page.

— “But I already have a page.”

— You need a second page.

— “But my page was designed by…”

— You need a new page.

— “But my page is beautiful, what’s the problem?”

— You need a new page.

— “But my page cost me a lot of money.”

— You. Need. A. New. Page.

Got it. You already have a beautiful website with some call-to-action buttons, a bar menu, an about us page, a pricing page, etc. But it converts ad traffic at a 2.64% rate.

Let’s face it: That’s not a sales page… That’s your home page. If you want to run profitable paid ads, you need an exclusive page designed for one thing: CONVERSION.

When running ads, forget about landing pages. You need a SALES PAGE. At the end of the day, your real ad is your sales page. Your ads aren’t that important. Most of your ads’ results will depend on everything except your ads. So leave your beautiful landing / home page aside for branding purposes, and build a new sales page to drive paid traffic to.

A High-Converting Landing Page Doesn’t Necessarily Have to Be Ugly

I’m not saying that a high-converting landing page necessarily has to be ugly. What I’m saying is that it needs to be designed for conversion, not beauty.

At my company, Ratio, we consistently build sales pages that convert cold ad traffic at a rate of 10% or higher for our clients, whereas the average landing page converts only at 2%. Now, I want to share with you how you can do it too, following three simple rules.

Three Rules For Creating a High-Converting Sales Page

Conversion Rule #1: One Big Idea

I’ve built 10%, 25% and even 40% conversion rate landing pages for startup companies. And if I’m able to build such above-average conversion rate landing pages, it’s because I understand what drives conversion. Let me explain.

Do you know why they say that the money is in the follow-up? Because the difference between someone who doesn’t know about your product and a buyer is… FREQUENCY. Frequency drives conversion.

Why are retargeting ads so powerful? Because what they really are is a frequency campaign. Constant exposure to THE SAME ONE THING again and again and again. Here’s where your big idea comes into play.

Sales pages with a conversion rate of 10%+ convey ONE (and only ONE) big idea / big message. And they do it repeatedly — again and again and again and again and again and again.

  • My headlines refer to my big idea.
  • The body text talks about my big idea.
  • My visuals depict my big idea.
  • My Q&A centers around my big idea.
  • The testimonials I include are the ones that mention my big idea.
  • etc.

A big idea / big message is easy to remember and gets stuck more easily in our brain through repetition. Which one is easier to remember?

“A state of distraction-free concentration when your brain works at its maximum potential.”

Or…

“Deep work.”

Conversion Rule #2: No options, No Distractions

That means ONE BUTTON — ONE OFFER.

No pricing plans, no bar menu, no about us page, no links, no “join our email list,” etc. Only one page, where the only way of getting out is by clicking a CTA button that takes you to the sign-up or a demo call.

When it comes to your offer, there are numerous variables to consider:

  • Free trial or no free trial?
  • 7-day or 30-day trial?
  • Pricing?
  • Plans?
  • Features?
  • Cc required or not required?
  • Etc.

I would really love to advise you on exactly what to offer… But I don’t know your product, your industry, your competitors, etc. You know better.

Each option has its pros and cons.

For example, free trials without a credit card requirement tend to convert better, but they also attract less committed users. Most of those people won’t even try your product.

I’m not stating that one is definitively better than the other. What I’m trying to convey is that you need to test different variables. What works for another company might not work for you, and vice versa.

Repeat after me:

“I will only offer one and only ONE thing on my landing page.”

What did you say? That you are going to offer three pricing plans with different features each? Come on! Again…

“I will only offer one and only ONE thing on my landing page.”

Options kill conversion. So forget about pricing plans (no pricing plans if possible!). Create ONE compelling offer designed for customer acquisition with an incentive to avoid delaying the decision.

Do you want to target another group of people with different messaging, price points, or sets of features? Go ahead. But don’t offer three plans that will generate friction and create confusion when your call-to-action is a free trial, because people will choose the most basic plan in 99% of cases.

Conversion Rule #3: Easy to Read

Headlines, headlines, headlines.

The rest of the copy doesn’t really matter. Convey your big idea through your headlines. Literally. I should be able to understand your product solely by reading your headlines. The rest of the copy should sell your big idea again and again and again.

People are lazy and will scan your page (via headlines) for 10 seconds, before deciding if they understand what your product is about. If they like it, they will keep reading. So, don’t use typical, vague marketing headlines.

Headlines you don’t want:

“Powered by AI”

Headlines you want (specific):

“Save 300 hours per month thanks to our customizable AI.”

Look at how these landing pages I built for Motion and Nimbus (YC W20) effectively convey their big ideas through specific headlines:

  • Easy to read (headlines).
  • No distractions (no options).
  • Easy to remember (big idea).
  • Frequency (what drives conversion).

Those are the building blocks of a high-converting landing page. A landing page with the ability to turn your ads into a predictable, scalable AND PROFITABLE acquisition channel.

This sh*t works

I receive email messages like this from people buying my own and my clients’ products almost every week:

Download My High-Converting Sales Page Layout For Free

Here’s a Figma file with the exact layout I use to build my (and my clients’) sales pages. The magic lies in its simplicity.

Note that this layout, coupled with the psychology behind it, was taught to me by a top 0.1% copywriter who charges 20k per page. This individual is the head of copywriting at a billion-dollar marketing company. And I’m offering it to you for free. Come on, make use of it.

With it, I’ve built landing pages with conversion rates of 10%, 25%, and even 40%!

Retargeting Is Powerful, But Expensive

For most companies running ad campaigns, retargeting ads account for 90% of their sales. Retargeting is effective but can be costly. Let me show you how to run free retargeting campaigns.

You should partner with a sales intelligence tool to maximize your budget. We have a partnership in place with LeadPipe because it’s the most powerful tool in the market and is a client of ours (we have been achieving a minimum of 2.5x return on ad spend for them from the first month of our partnership).

What LeadPipe does is provide us with the names and emails of interested landing page visitors who don’t take action. We then use these leads to convert them into customers through automated email campaigns.

We call this approach ‘Midbound Marketing’ because it combines inbound (ads) and outbound (email), leveraging the scalability of ads and the cost efficiency of email.

Putting Everything Together

Paid ads are by far the best way to acquire new customers for a startup. But it has become SUPER expensive. At Ratio, to make paid ads profitable, we build high-converting landing pages and use LeadPipe to turn interested visitors into leads and leads into customers.

The goal is to go from this:

To this:

It’s Not For Boring Founders

Secrets unleash big ideas. Big ideas open up new markets. #NoMarketing is for founders bold enough to be disruptive, aspiring not only to build a startup but to lead a new market.

The Marketing Agency Model for Startups Is Broken

The marketing agency model for startups is broken because their services usually revolve around growth-hacking tricks. While some agencies may help you discover your big idea or message, they may struggle to translate that into high-converting landing pages and profitable ads.

On the other hand, you have the typical “Facebook ads agency”, but these agencies are often overly focused on platform-specific optimizations.

That’s why Ratio and the #NoMarketing philosophy exist. We are a marketing company that offers in-depth market research, messaging (big idea), and profitable ad campaigns with the goal of turning your startup into a micro-monopoly.

A micro-monopoly benefits from low cost per acquisition, market leader status, profitability, high prices, and no competition. It’s a one-of-a-kind company that naturally draws in customers, investors and growth.

Test, Test, Test…

Obviously, there’s a period of testing during which you need to evaluate different ideas, ads, headlines, emails, etc. The individuals who execute this process are crucial to achieving fast results.

At Ratio, experts like Rowan, founder of Remap, have joined the team to develop a method for uncovering secrets and generating ideas. Additionally, Peter, formerly at Facebook, is part of Ratio leveraging his expertise in managing $100 million in ad spend to optimize our clients’ campaigns. When it comes to creative work, the more experienced and creative minds involved, the better the outcomes.

By hiring Ratio, you gain access to a proven methodology and an experienced A-class team obsessed with one thing: delivering the best results. All for the cost of a single hire.

If you are interested in implementing #NoMarketing into your startup, check if we are currently accepting applications for Ratio here.

About The Author

Hi there! My name is Luis Barcala founder of Ratio, a growth marketing agency that specializes in helping startups achieve growth through profitable customer acquisition ad campaigns.

To accomplish this, we identify the right message for your startup (your big idea) and transform it into a high-converting landing page. Although advertising costs have increased and cannot be reduced, you can increase your landing page conversion rate by up to 10x.

At Ratio, we have developed landing pages with conversion rates as high as 40%, invested over $15 million in profitable ad campaigns, and helped over 100 tech giants and startups in achieving their growth objectives.

Check if we are currently accepting applications for Ratio here.

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