Marketing is an important part of all businesses, but it’s vitally important for startups. Unless people know about your startup business and the products or service it offers, they won’t buy what you’re selling.
All businesses want to grow, but startups in particular are hungry for growth. In order for your business to grow, you have to get the word out about and get it found and that’s where marketing is an absolute necessity for Startups. At the same time, when you are just starting out, most times there isn’t a huge amount of funds available to market your business.
Eventually as your business grows and its presence gets larger, it may attract new customers simply through word of mouth. Until that happens, here are some marketing strategies to help spread the word that have been provided by Forbes.com.
-
Send Emails: Email marketing is an essential strategy for attracting customers to your startup business for very little cost. Once you’ve obtained a prospect or a customer’s email address, you can send him/her emails to promote your business. You have to begin by either asking customers directly for their email addresses or if you have a website, placing a signup form on it. It is key to remember to diversify your emails with non-commercial content that readers will find useful such as guides, how-to articles, infographics or videos. If you only send “salesy” emails, subscribers will most likely opt out or unsubscribe.
-
Start a Blog: Blogging is a great way to help your startup generate the exposure it needs. One study found that businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads than their competitors without blogs. With a blog, you can position your startup business as a leading authority while also attracting organic traffic to your site. The secret to a successful business blog is to publish content that your audience wants to read. If your content is valuable and worth the readers’ time, search engines will then rank your blog at the top of search results. And when your blog ranks high, it attracts more visitors, resulting in more people learning about your startup.
-
Post on Social Media: Statistics show that more than 2.4 billion people use social media regularly. It’s important to incorporate this channel into your startup’s marketing strategy. As the social presence of your busines grows, more people will see and recognize your business. In addition, most social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, allow business owners to pay for traffic and exposure. For example, Facebook ads allows you to create ads that appear in users’ news feeds or in the right column on Facebook. It’s fairly simple to create the ads and you can adjust the budget and can even target the ads to a certain location. However, success on social media takes more than just a post here and there. You have to post engaging and relevant content that gives users a reason to follow your account. Once you’ve attracted followers, encourage them to stay by responding to any questions or comments.
-
Use Paid Search Advertising: Paid search allows business owners to buy targeted traffic from search engines like Google and Bing. Google Ad Words and Bing Ads are two of the leading paid search networks, both feature keyword targeting with a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model. Using either of these networks, you can create custom ads for your startup business that appear in search results when someone searches for a keyword related to your business. For instance, if your startup sells enterprise-grade cybersecurity software, you can target keywords like “cybersecurity for enterprise,” “enterprise cybersecurity software” and “enterprise anti-malware.” What’s great about CPC is that you are only charged when someone clicks your ad. Thousands of people may see your ad, but if no one clicks, you aren’t charged. Of course, you’ll generate plenty of clicks if you create relevant and engaging ads, but you are still only charged by the click, simplifying the process of optimizing your paid search campaigns for a higher return on investment.
-
Sponsor An Event: Sponsoring a local event can help get your startup on your prospects’ radar. It involves paying the event organizers a fee to become a sponsor and your business can be promoted with signs, banners, booths, or other promotional marketing materials at the event. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement that’s highly effective at driving sales when done correctly. Business owners should choose to sponsor events that are relevant to their business or what they offer. If your startup is a mobile health and wellness app, for example it makes sense to sponsor a 5K or marathon. If your business is something like an insurance agency 😉 , you may need to sponsor several local events in the town where your office is located. Local golf tournaments, Fairs and festivals, high school sports sponsorships, or Veterans events are all great events to sponsor and can really help get the word out about your business. Just remember to have a way of collecting email addresses and always try to have some marketing material on hand at these events so that people can learn more about your business.
While there is no magic formula to propel your Startup business from Roll Out to Maturity, from Seed stage to Scale, these five marketing strategies can be used to promote your business and generate more sales.
McSweeney & Ricci Insurance specializes in insuring Startup businesses and helping them grow. We offer programs suited to your particular Growth Stage. Even if you are just starting out and haven’t turned a profit yet, that doesn’t mean you’re not at risk. Your business needs protection at every stage and our programs will align with your budget while keeping you covered. For more information on business insurance for your Startup company contact Patrick Leary at (844) 501-1360.
Source: Forbes.com Arya Bina-“Five Essential Marketing Strategies for any Startup” May 30, 2018
