Initiating a startup is a daunting and challenging feat. There is barely a 50% success rate for small businesses, and you need to survive in a brutally competitive business world.
Therefore, if you want your entrepreneurial venture to thrive, you need to have a cutting-edge product or service to offer, and an innovative marketing strategy to promote it.
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Marketing Lessons for Startups
The vast majority of startups are perilously low on funds and cannot mimic the marketing tactics of large establishments to fuel their growth.
They need visibility on various marketing platforms to introduce their product or service to the masses and procure as many leads as possible, without using a sizeable chunk on their investment.
Therefore, to ensure sustainable growth for the viability of your business, you need to get creative about your marketing endeavors, build affluent customer relations, and acquire the best possible results within a limited budget. Here is how you can do that:
Use social media
Social media has become a dynamic tool to expedite your marketing efforts. With millions of users from across the world, it has massive potential to promote your business. According to statistics, 71% of the customers who experienced an excellent social media service with a business are likely to recommend it within their social circle.
Therefore, use social media to interact with your consumer base on an interpersonal level to gauge their involvement in your brand and scale your efforts accordingly. Strive to cultivate a relationship with your audience rather than just posting promotional content.
Make sure that your posts are in-sync with your brand image, and not jargon that can immediately turn-off a visitor. Interesting content not only piques the customers’ interests but also has the potential to go viral, which can help enhance the visibility of your business.
Choose the social media platforms that have the majority of your target customers. Keep your accounts active and respond to your fans promptly. Finally, use the posts to divert your audience to the website landing pages.
Social media marketing requires consistency and focus, to produce results. It can be the most influential tool in your marketing arsenal if utilized appropriately.
Establish a referral programs
Referrals are a quintessential way to earn customers on a budget. In fact, people are almost four times more likely to buy from you if your company is referred to them by an acquaintance.
Therefore, in addition to offering a top-notch product or service, initiate a captivating referral program that compels your consumers to refer you to their friends. You can provide incentives like attractive discounts, cash rewards, promotional vouchers, etc. to the customers who bring in more business.
The best part about referral marketing is that the leads are most often nurtured already having heard many positive things about your product or service. Thus, they are already on the path to conversion and would require minimal effort from you to close the deal.
Network like crazy
Leverage your connections and plug your brand within your professional and personal group. This would create a ripple effect that will provide you access to other notable individuals that can help your business gain prominence.
Attend business conventions related to your field to acquire resources, as well as to market your brand. Join public forums and social media groups, and interact with the other members. Answer their questions with your expertise and subtly mention how your product and service can help them alleviate their pain points.
Online groups and forums are also great to discover local events where you can advance your marketing efforts. Finally be active and involved within your community, to generate recognition for your startup.
Remember to optimize your site
Search engine optimization (SEO) is very critical for your website’s visibility. You can design a very attractive site with a user-friendly interface, but if no one can find it online, all your hard work goes down the drain.
SEO is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task, but it requires almost no financial input if you optimize your site yourself. Therefore, learn SEO and audit your website to bring it to the first page of the Google’s search engines.
However, if you lack the time, you can always hire an SEO expert. Even then, it is better to know the basics of SEO so you can identify an incompetent SEO consultant and save your hard-earned cash from wasting.
Leverage online reviews
Online reviews are akin to a seal of approval by satisfied customers. According to statistics, online reviews can influence almost 70% of the purchasing decisions.
Therefore, ask your consumers to leave reviews on your social media or website. Contact influencers in the field to review your product or service. If they like what you have to offer, they can promote your brand amongst their massive fan following, earning you significant leads and prospective customers.
Moreover, even if you have a few bad feedbacks, you can practice reputation management techniques. Offer a sincere apology in addition to the promise of replacing the goods, reimbursing the clients, or giving discounts. This can turn a disgruntled, unsatisfied customer into a loyal follower who feels valued.
Create amazing content
Content marketing is another technique that requires almost no investment but can yield significant results. It can generate brand awareness, promote customer engagements on social media platforms, and improve your website’s SEO. It can also increase your sales by enhancing customer loyalty and trust in your brand.
To earn the consumers’ confidence, you need to produce quality content that addresses the pain points of your target audience, offers them solutions, and is beneficial in their day-to-day life. Avoid using your blog and social media walls for mindless advertisements as the audience, in favor of exciting content, often ignores those.
If you do not have the penchant to write, you can outsource the task to freelancers. They are efficient in creating quality content and targeting keywords that can bring your blog, and consequently your site, to the top of the search results.
Once you have a thriving blog, promote every post on your social media channels to bring the social media traffic back to your website.
Conclusion
Marketing does not require substantial funds to yield results. You can generate brand awareness and acquire customers with a little hard work and dedication. Also, you need intuitive deal management software and customer relationship tools to streamline all your transactions. This ensures that you never miss an opportunity to convert a lead into a client.
- Marketing Lessons for Startups: What to do when you are on a budget? - July 11, 2018
- App Development by the Numbers: Will the Bubble Burst in 2018? - March 28, 2018