By Chris Giarratana
Having a business is exciting, but it can also be frightening at the same time. You have to invest a lot to succeed — that means exerting time, money, effort, and dedication. Startup marketing is different, mainly because of the limited resources, but it doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Allow us to give you a startup marketing guide that every beginner should know.
1. Pick a Target Market
For a startup founders, it’s easy to believe that everyone would love what they have to offer — their products and services. There’s no doubt about this, as they have put a lot of dedication on those products.
However, the truth is, only a small part of the population would be interested in your products. That means if you’ll be trying to market to everyone, there’s a huge possibility that you’ll be wasting not only your money but time as well. To prevent that, you have to figure out a niche target market and focus on that instead.
How do you pick a market? There are certain factors that you have to consider, such as:
- Market Wealth: Does this market have money to spare for your products?
- Market Size: What’s your target? Male? Children? Female? And can you give an estimate of how many customers are going to be a part of this market?
- Market Competition: Do you have a lot of competitors? Is it saturated?
- Value Proposition: Can you say that your value proposition is one of a kind that it can even cut through the noise?
2. Define Your Keywords
Having a well-thought-of market would allow you to create a list of keywords. This list should be used for social media, blogging, and the main marketing site. Ideally, you have to create a list of words and phrases that are quite relevant to your brand, product, and services. To determine what it may be, you can always ask yourself what someone would type into Google to arrive at your website.
Have at least 3-5 keywords that would sum up what your startup does. Then, expand the core keyword list to incorporate secondary keywords. As much as possible, the secondary keywords should be specific as well. There are some tools that you can utilize to find keywords that would drive traffic to your website. Uber Suggest, SEMrush, and Ahrefs.
The best keywords that you can find through these tools would be known by low competition and high traffic. What we’re trying to say is that, although a lot of people are searching for them, only a few are displayed.
3. Create Relevant Content for Subscribers
No matter your business or industry, if you want to grow your customer base then you need to create relevant content that is valuable to your audience. There are many ways to go about identifying and creating this content, but one of the best way to do this is create an instructional guide based on questions that your readers ask.
Keep in mind, one of the few reasons why a lot of people are using the Internet is because of their need for knowledge, and the “how to…” is the most searched phrase. Better take advantage of this and come up with a how-to guide that a lot of people would find useful. This can help you stand out instead of just creating the usual blog post.
Create something that would be useful and easy to remember. Aside from making your readers interested in sharing your content with their family and friends, it can also encourage other content influencers to advertise your guide. Landing pages can be utilized for this, as well as opt-in forms. Only ask your readers to give an email address for them to be able to access the guide.
4. Take Advantage of the Social Media
Today, if you don’t have a social media account, you’re missing out a lot of things. However, it’s also worth noting that they are not created equally. This is based on the demographics of your target audience, your business model, and the type of content that you provide.
For example, if Instagram is working for some people, it doesn’t mean that it’ll be working on yours as well. What you can do is begin by investing in social media to boost the content you are creating. Look for networks that would work best for you by focusing on the age, location, consumption patterns, and other demographics of your customers. Posting relevant materials can also be a great help, and as much as possible, try to be as responsive to your audience.
5. Consider Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is highly advised for startups. For one, guest posting on a trending blog could help you build a reputation in just a short amount of time. Likewise, having something influential, such as a guest blog on a startup blog could also help you generate traffic.
There are plenty of guest blogging opportunities out there, and all you have to do is search for them. Most blogs would accept guest posts without much question at all. So, it’s highly advised to look at the writer’s page or even just on the contributor’s page. If you’re experiencing issues, then you have to track down the blog owner or editor. If possible, ask them to send you the first draft of your blog post idea and see to it that it’s 1000% original to prevent problems later on.
After building a reputation, the preceding step would be to look for influencers who would be willing to contribute to your blog. There should be a writer’s page, or at least hire a few influencers that would handle your social media accounts.
When the guest post has been published, make it a habit to double check if you have pinned it back to the contributor so that she will also be promoting your brand, together with hers.
6. Capture Emails
Email marketing is generally divided into three categories — newsletter subscriptions, email submits, and blog subscription. The email offers should be in ebook downloads, while the bulletin is a brochure that showcases what your business has to offer. Make it a habit to send mails on a regular basis without appearing creepy.
It doesn’t matter what the stage is, every organization is in need for a rock-solid marketing plan to grow. For startups, this can be a bit challenging, but if you follow the tips mentioned above, you’ll be able to do it with ease.
No matter your products or services, your startup needs amazing marketing if you want to reach your goals. Use the above tips to find ways to reach your target audience and drive more sales!