Startups who don't have the budgets for branding, here's what you can do

Get your leadership to be vocal on social - this is non-negotiable.

People want to work with smart people.
(Add a performance marketing layer to increase reach.)

Showcase interesting features, initiatives you're undertaking - underscore challenges in what you're building.

Have a blog that becomes the bedrock of your proposition.

Highlight employee-friendly policies.

When you're small, you have the liberty to do a lot more - this is a major competitive advantage against the biggies. Flex.

Have one session for all new joinees to help pitch your org:

- What is the vision/mission?
- What are the differentiators from competition?
- What's the industry landscape?
- Key milestones worthy of mention

The more folks bat for you, the larger visibility

Nurture ambassadors within the team - get more folks to help you brand, pitch.

Activate PR for product announcements - get wide reach from digital publications. (start here)

Speak to micro-influencers (5k+ followers) to get the word out for your brand.

Do this earnestly with full disclosures.
Else, a slippery-slope.

If you're in dire need for visibility, crunch your budgets, follow blitzkrieg marketing.

Detailed understanding of 'why', & 'how' to go about this https://twitter.com/adadithya/status/1346047865315946498?s=20&t=YukURGinfQiLPhWCgXSzcA

Memes are not branding.
This is being done to death now.

At best, this an attention grab.

Your core base has to be long-form, deeply researched, well edited/reported posts on how a Founder/leader thinks about challenges, problems your org is trying to solve.

Closely monitor every Job Description (easier to do when you're small) - it's an advertisement for your org.

Avoid copy+paste sentences like, 'looking for strong communication skills'. Instead, talk about the fun things the team is doing, throw in colour about people.