When you first start a business, you’re likely focused on tasks like securing funding and registering it with the government. However, as your company starts to come together, you’ll want to shift gears and develop a killer marketing strategy.
Marketing is especially crucial for startups, as they’re new and unknown to consumers. If you’re the owner of a startup, you’ll want to invest in tactics straight away to get your name out there. Here’s how to market your startup so it might reach its full potential.
Create a Website
Every business needs a website. If you lack a digital presence, you’ll lose credibility and miss out on countless leads. Consumers often conduct research online when searching for brands to solve an issue or fulfill a need. They want to feel like they know the company they’re doing business with; and if your company’s information isn’t readily available online, you won’t even be considered as an option.
The basic steps of creating and launching a website include:
- Choosing a domain name.
- Choosing a hosting provider or website builder.
- Setting up a business email address.
- Choosing a template for your website.
- Choosing your website pages.
- Making your site mobile-friendly.
- Optimizing for SEO.
- Tracking your analytics.
By following these tips, you’ll become more accessible to prospective customers or clients, and build trust with your target audience. For more information, check out our guide to building a business website.
Build Your Brand
Your brand is your business’s identity — it’s how others perceive you. What do you want to convey to consumers? How do you help them? These are crucial points you’ll want to continuously revisit as you build your brand.
Here are some tips to help get you started:
- Know your audience, so you can insight on who you want to target and how you might attract them.
- Focus on the visual aspects of branding, like your logo, typography, color palette and more.
- Find and master your voice, or, in other words, develop your personality.
- Be consistent, as consumers want a business they can rely on.
Your brand will help attract and retain loyal customers, so you’ll want to spend time brainstorming these aspects before settling. However, don’t be afraid to make changes as your business develops. For more advice, check out our guide on business branding.
Master Social Media
Social media is a powerful yet inexpensive marketing tool. According to digital marketing expert Neil Patel, “Social media marketing is the process of creating content that you have tailored to the context of each individual social media platform in order to drive user engagement and sharing.”
Whether it’s through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or any other social platform, connecting with your prospects and customers is critical to building trust and loyalty. Here are a few steps to take when tackling social media:
- Identify your audience by demographics like age, gender, education, ethnicity, business type, interests, etc.
- Set goals that are measurable and relevant.
- Track metrics that actually measure your progress, e.g., “shares” over “likes.”
- Choose the right platforms for the content you plan on sharing.
- Set your budget, and consider pursuing user-generated content to save money.
- Create a content plan and record it on a calendar that specifies what content to post, where to post it and when.
Once you’ve developed and implemented your social media marketing strategy, you’ll want to monitor any references and messages to your business, and listen to improve your brand and customer experience.
For more information on selecting the right platforms, check out our guide to growing your business through social media marketing.
Read: 3 Things You Need to Know About Social Media in 2019
Market Your Content
Creating relevant content for potential customers is a great way to grow your business and earn credibility. Your content should represent your brand and be of interest to your potential buyers. Rather than bombarding consumers with advertisements, let them find you through tailored content with valuable information.
Here are some key ingredients to include in your content marketing strategy:
- Value.
- Relevancy.
- Consistency.
- Attraction and retention.
- Clearly defined audience.
- Driven profitable action.
To get started, you’ll want to define your potential audience, identify what makes you unique and determine your format (e.g., videos, blog posts, etc.). From there, you can focus on supporting the buyer’s journey by cultivating awareness around your brand and earning your consumers’ trust.
For more tips and tricks, check out our guide on content marketing.
Tackle SEO
A good SEO ranking is key to driving traffic to your business’s website and reaching your customer base. However, earning such a ranking can be complex — especially for startups. You’re new to the market and likely don’t have much traction yet; but don’t let this discourage you.
To tackle SEO, you’ll want to create relevant content and use relevant keywords on your website. First, ask yourself:
- What are your customers looking for when they come into your store?
- What problem does your product or service solve for a consumer?
- What questions do your community members ask you all the time?
Your answers to these questions will help you create content that resonates with and attracts your ideal audience. Set up a blog, keep your website updated with company news and sales, and regularly revisit your SEO efforts to ensure you’re maintaining a high rank. For more information on SEO best practices, visit our beginner’s guide to SEO.
Marketing your startup can be an intimidating feat, but it’s crucial to getting your business off the ground. With these steps, you’ll be building valuable relationships with customers in no time.
Read: Low-Cost Marketing Ideas for Growing Businesses
