4 Top Marketing Tips for StartUps
We all know that the statistics for startup businesses succeeding are not great. The odds are very much against you when you take the big plunge and venture into your own startup adventure. So what can you do to try and improve your chances of succeeding? Having a well-developed marketing strategy is a good starting point as your marketing strategy can certainly define whether your business goes the distance. A good marketing strategy can boost your sales and/or lead generations significantly, so it is not an area that you will want to take lightly.
If marketing is a fairly new field for you then here are some tips that might help you to build an effective strategy:
Get acquainted with SEO – Search Engine Optimization is getting more and more focus, not just from people in the marketing industry but business owners too. Climbing a few places higher in search engine rankings can result in significant financial outcomes, so researching the best ways to get your website appearing as high up in those results can certainly pay off.
Segment your emails – Long gone are the days where an email marketing campaign involved sending a generic email out to a list of as many email addresses that you could get your hands on. Due to the overwhelming number of emails that people now receive on a daily basis, it is much harder to break through and get those click-through rates. Marketers will tell you that the best way to get results from email campaigns is to ensure that your content is specific to the recipient. Therefore, you need to use any information you have to build up profiles and segments of different customers based on information like age, past purchases, gender, etc.
Use a variety of marketing channels – Don’t make the mistake that many startups make by putting all of their marketing eggs in one basket. If it doesn’t pay off, then you are going to end up putting your business at risk, especially if you have spent a lot of money and/or time on that one type of marketing. It is much better to spread the risk and use a few different methods, so website content, blogs, social media, email campaigns, videos, direct mail, flyers, etc. can all come into the mix.
Don’t give up on marketing plans too early – It is important to remember that results will rarely be instantaneous. Usually, you need to keep pushing, developing and adapting to become successful. For example, if you’ve created a great podcast with fantastic, useful content and you’ve uploaded it onto SoundCloud but you’re not finding that many people are listening to it, it doesn’t mean that it is finished. You still have other options available to try and boost your figures. For example, you can think about purchasing SoundCloud comments to drum up more interest and create a sense of popularity. Comments will make your video rank higher than others and produce a stream of online traffic.
It is important to remember that one to one marketing is all about trial, error and research. What may work for one company, may not fit another.
