Best Practices for Online Marketing of a Start-up

The most recent statistics say that around 30% of the marketing budget of an organization is allocated to online marketing. There are so many tools and software available that it becomes incredibly easy to spread the word about the made content. Due to the progress of technology, it has become child’s play to promote content without actually having the human element in the picture.

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is very well capable of making an impact with online marketing. But, in reality, How many people do you see not spending a fortune on their online marketing campaign?

Do you think it’s possible for a startup to spend that kind of big buck for just the online marketing aspect? The answer is a big NO!!!

Thankfully, the financial aspect will not keep Startups out of the rat race to be the best.

This blog will give you a brief idea about the digital marketing tips for startups.

Rack your brains to create excitement around your brand

Every start-up company should keep one thing in mind that most of the big names in the industry have much larger budgets that you do, and they definitely would have more experienced marketing employees. More Major companies will also have already established customers. But, the one big asset that you have is the power of your idea and the buzz it can create for your target audience. Cash on this idea to be successful in whatever you aspire to do.

Have a well-thought plan about how you’d want to execute your idea is the key to your success to generate excitement around your product. Tell your customers how you’ll enhance their lives, get them more money, happiness and sharpen their skills. The tone of your communication should engage them right from the start. Think about the fact that if your users get a thought in their heads that yours is a generic brand, your fate will be sealed, and I’m not sure it’ll do any good to your brand.

Social Media has an unparalleled influence on the users

Social media doesn’t have the financial barrier that the other mediums have. That’s a boon for start-ups.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and all other social medias have the power to reach billions of people across the globe. That doesn’t mean marketing using Social Media is any easy. You’ll have to be thoroughly prepared to achieve desired results. Planning, Implementing and Optimizing all your thoughts will be your magic beans in the longer run.

Here’s a brief overview of the things you need to do to crack Social Media:

• Planning: Read, read and read more about each social networking platform that you’d like to explore. Learn about the techniques that work and that don’t for each medium. Know the shortcomings of each of them and create accounts in only those platforms that you think will benefit you. I’d recommend you to start with the social medias that have penetrated deep like Facebook and Twitter. You can get your desired audience from any of these mediums and make a cracker beginning. If your products are visually more attractive, turn towards platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. If your product is something more on the audio side, having a SoundCloud account can work its charm.
• Implementing: To have a professional approach to social media marketing, make sure you create accounts on only those mediums that you’ll regularly be managing. Don’t just excitedly create multiple accounts only to realise that neither do you have the time nor the content to manage all those accounts. Have a theme which should be followed across all the platforms and be careful in implementing your social media marketing strategies. Customers are easily put off with unprofessional looking content or the lack of clarity in the execution.
• Optimizing: For you to taste success with Social Media, you’ll have to get your hands dirty. You’ll have to post as regularly as you possibly can, without investing too much time. Have a conversion with your users through these mediums, especially Twitter. Your tweets can be re-tweeted by the owners of the other accounts, and this can lead to much more publicity. But, to be successful on Social Media, you’ll need to be patient and give your inputs regularly to build up the audience you desire for. These platforms can be defined as effective mediums for online marketing of a start-up as they have no investment regarding money and all that matters is your acumen to please the audiences.

Social media is that platform where you can be unabashedly your true self. This is what the larger companies won’t be able to match up to you in that aspect – your personality. They have too many layers of corporate culture on them!

Schedule a Newsletter Regularly

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the social media marketing will get people hooked on your product, and they’ll be interested to know what else does your company do. Personally, sending Emails has worked wonders. Email has that capability to strike a chord with your target audiences if it’s done correctly. Some people pay massive amounts to database owners to get access to their data, but this data can’t be relied on. Sending Emails to this extensive database will lead to lower CTR and lower open rates, and we all know that’s not good for the reputation of the company. But do you think that you as a start-up have that kind of money to waste? I’m sure you all will agree that it’s better that we come up with something that doesn’t involve such investments.

Also read: How Amazon drives business with email marketing

Start with a newsletter and with each issue tell what are the developments that your product is going through. Let them know the slightest tweak in the product to the major upgrades as the loyal fans will be happy to see you progress.  If you don’t have much time to invest, no problem, introduce a monthly issue of your newsletter. But to get faster results and to generate that list faster, I suggest you release a bi-weekly or a weekly issue. By now you all have the social media accounts, tell your fans through this medium that you have a newsletter too, bribe them to sign up and promise not to spam them! Reduce their hesitations towards sharing their Email Ids with you using Social Media.

Once you’ve built that list, sell your product to them in the most promising fashion. Use the list to tell your fans that you’ve finally released the product and by this time they should have developed enough trust on you for you to insist them on buying your product. That’s sly! But keep the frequency of such Emails in check.

Put to use the Generated Excitement and Increase Reach

This is where you go back to point 1. Expand your reach and put everything you possibly can in this. I would prefer contacting journalists rather than spending money on Ads. Contact reporters and tell them all about your product, the right that the product will do to the society, or just bring a smile on the users’ face. Get a lot of press attention and see how it works wonders to increase your reach without having to invest too much.

Keep your pitch to the journalists exciting, quirky and the point. Getting journalists to hear you out might need a lot of efforts. Once you have some success, there’s no stopping you.

Enhance Engagement by Rewarding Loyal Users

All your social followers are loyal to you and have helped you in increasing your reach. This happens at no particular investment, and the fruits it bears is spectacular. Your content gets shared by these followers with their communities, and the number of people accessing your content keeps increasing. If you’re lucky, your content can get viral, and it shares more than you ever expected without having to spend a fortune for Ads.

After your start-up catches momentum and manages to earn from the launched products, you should plan to reward your loyal followers/visitors. Let them know how grateful you’re for the support they offered throughout your journey. This will not just communicate to your users that you’re a “good guy” but also that you want to retain them for the longer run. They can be your advocates and present your case in front of more and more people to get you the word-of-mouth publicity that you’ve always needed. Stories about a good brand providing excellent service catalyse the decision making of the prospective users. All the above points can get positively impacted with this reward. You can increase your following, in turn, your Newsletter subscribers will increase only to enhance your reach and positive PR. It’s a virtuous cycle.

Summary

These are the five steps you should swear by to make the marketing of your start-up a success. You’ll have to be immensely determined for succeeding in delivering your awesome product. These steps will just provide the starting framework for your product but might not be enough. Ask your seniors, the people who’ve had success with their start-ups about their marketing tactics too and try to mould those thoughts on digital marketing tips for startups.

Also, read about Lead generating ideas using Content Marketing.