Everyone knows startups are a tough slog. You work long hours for little return and if you do it well enough, you might just come out on the other end with a successful company and a swimming pool full of cash.
That’s the dream, but it’s certainly not a reality for most. So what does it take to turn your startup into a licence to print money? For Gold Coast tech startup HiSmile, it’s been clever marketing strategies that got them well ahead, particularly their recent Instagram endorsement by Kylie Jenner.
“Social media has allowed us to push a lot of content for a low cost of entry,” they told Pedestrian.tv.
“Through social media channels we also have the ability to utilise influencer/celebrity endorsements, allowing us to communicate to a whole new like-minded audience.”
Jenner’s post went out to her 76 million followers and attracted 1.6 million likes and more than a quarter of a million comments.
The teeth whitening company was founded by entrepreneurs Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic a little under 2 years ago and has since achieved ridiculous results via this approach. The duo’s strategy, they say, has always been to build a targeted social following, rather than the old shotgun advertising approach.
“We chose to focus heavily on social media as we discovered this is where the attention of our target market is,” they said.
Jenner and other celebrity endorsements from the likes of Australia’s Next Top Model star, Brooke Hogan, and Big Brother contestant, Aisha Jade, have helped to push the company into an absolute shit-tonne of money.
“It is definitely the driving force in our success in such a short amount of time,” they said.
Having started the company with only $20,000, they recently celebrated the staggering milestone of turning over $10 million in only 18 months. While they’re not willing to disclose the amount they paid Jenner for the post, it’s clearly been worth the expense. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to go cry into our empty wallets.
Source: HiSmile.
Photo: Instagram.
