No matter how revolutionary your business idea is, without a proper marketing strategy your startup will have difficulty surviving in this ever-intensifying competitive landscape. Even if you have great products or services, you still need customers to sell them. But before that, you have to convince your audience as to why you are better than others. Therefore, marketing is the vehicle that builds your brand image and drives messaging to your prospects in a relevant and relatable way.
In this digital age when there are so many opportunities being opened up via internet, you have that many options to include in your marketing campaign. Whether you want to employ traditional tactics or out-of-the-box, innovative strategies, all it takes to succeed is how you are shouting out, and how effectively you are getting the word out to the people.
Having said that, there is no one-size-fits-all marketing strategy that can guarantee you 100% success. You will have to experiment for as long as you are in the game so that you remain relevant and profitable. The secret, however, is do whatever works best for your business.
Image Credit: guildofbloggers.com
Here is how you can create a powerful marketing strategy for your startup:
1. Facebook advertising
Facebook has come a long way since the beginning. Earlier it was only used for people to people interaction, but today it has transformed into a powerful marketing tool. It’s an affordable and effective way to grow your brand. According to Sprout Social, 93% of marketers use Facebook advertising regularly, which translates to about 3 million businesses that use Facebook to market their products or services. In terms of targeting, Facebook ads are really awesome. They allow you to target a specific audience based on location, interests, age, sex, online behaviour, etc. Advertising is relatively easy on Facebook. You simply need to have an eye catching image or video and accompanying header. Make sure your videos are optimized for mobile viewing.
2. Create My Business Listing on Google
As it is known to everyone that Google is the most widely used search engine in the world. Also, 90% of online journeys start with the use of a search engine. So it should come as no surprise to you how important Google My Business (GMB) listing is for your startup. The fact is a significant number of your customers would be local because they must have known something about you and trust you. GMB is simply combines variously Google platforms and puts them in one place, i.e. your business’ Google+ profile, your Google Reviews, Google Maps, mobile search, local search, and gives you access to data like Google Analytics and Google Insights.
3. Content marketing
Content is still the king, and content marketing is at the heart of the most successful digital marketing campaigns today. It is increasingly becoming a necessity for any modern brand. Behind a popular brand, there definitely is an abundance of valuable and relevant content that really connects with the company’s audience. 39% of marketing budget is spent on content marketing by the most effective B2B marketers. 70% consumers prefer to know a company via articles rather than ads. A high quality and informative content improves your brand reputation by building trust among your audience. Video content is even more engaging, which can provide you a great ROI and significantly increase conversions.
4. Attract prospects with custom labels
Good marketing ensures that your product no only exists, but it addresses people’s concerns, too. In view of this, labels can greatly impact your marketing. When you walk into a store and see a bottle with red and white label on it, you unmistakably recognize it is Coke. That’s the power of labels in the world of branding. So creating custom labels for your products can go a long way to differentiate your brand from that of your competitors’ as well as to convince your prospects to make a purchase. The goal of your label’s overall design should be to catch a customer’s attention quickly so they will then look at your product in more detail.
5. Create email marketing funnels
Today’s consumer is very smart, he/she weighs in all the players in the market before making a purchase. In fact, most of the people who visit your site are not going to immediately be convinced by your value proposition. They will need some more persuasion. So you have to get their contact information and send them additional marketing materials. This is an effective way to convince them that investing their hard-earned money on your business is worth their time.
To do this, ask your visitors to give you their email address in exchange for something valuable for them. Once they do that, you can easily display your credibility by giving them valuable content. The main advantages of email marketing are: it is low cost, has global reach, easy to automate, easy to segment, immediate communication, and easy to track and optimize.
Guerrilla marketing
Don’t underestimate the efficacy and effectiveness of guerrilla marketing. It positions your brand pretty well and allows you to engage with your audience in a way they’ll likely be receptive to. All it requires of you is to use creativity and out-of-the box thinking. As a result, it will help your brand stand out in the best possible way. It is probably the best friend of cash-strapped entrepreneurs. The idea behind using guerrilla marketing is to use the knowledge of your audience and captivate them in such a way that they can connect with your brand fascinatingly.