Digital Marketing For Startups
Digital marketing has recently attracted a lot of attention because of how well it advertises goods and services at lower and more affordable prices. Additionally, many businesses have closed their doors or come to a stop since the fatal COVID-19 outbreak hit the globe. However, with the help of digitization and digital marketing, businesses could endure and re-establish themselves. Because it is simpler and less expensive than traditional marketing, digital marketing has shown to be one of the most effective promotion techniques, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
Thus, if you own a startup, you should familiarise yourself and your staff with digital marketing. Take online course in digital marketing, or opt for corporate training in digital marketing for a more polished approach. The next step after being aware of digital marketing is to plan and make the most of it. After bringing that out of the way, let’s now discuss what a digital marketing strategy comprises.
What is digital marketing?
A data-driven framework known as a digital marketing strategy defines the precise marketing objectives you want to reach, the online channels employed for the particular digital marketing campaign to achieve those objectives, and, most importantly, a budget. Create a schedule that includes all of the strategies you wish to use. For a more thorough approach, have a backup/contingency plan prepared in case of a mid-crisis.
Now, consider why a startup requires a digital marketing plan after learning what it is.
Why is digital marketing strategy necessary?
A digital marketing strategy is essential because it gives you a sense of direction, identifies the objectives you want to achieve, and outlines the steps you should take to get there. This removes the chance for mistakes and side diversions so you can concentrate only on your goals. A straightforward approach will enable your team members to focus on the work at hand, enhancing their performance and spending more time perfecting their duties.
You may also employ an organised strategy to monitor your progress and ensure the plan is followed. Based on the outcomes and accomplishments, adjustments can be made as necessary. You may develop effective digital marketing strategies for startups that provide the highest output levels at the lowest possible cost by appropriately combining various parts of digital marketing. Because of this, every business requires a digital marketing strategy.
Without further ado, let’s look at the suggestions for digital marketing techniques that will help you create a successful campaign.
Best Digital Marketing Strategies for Startups
The ten best digital marketing strategies for startups to boost success are –
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is one of the numerous effective methods to gain awareness and clients for your company. It is one of the most effective low-cost marketing strategies for your company. Social media marketing has the potential to transform your company into a lucrative brand, but you must understand how to utilise it effectively. There are several social media sites, but you must select the best ones for your business promotion.
Here are a few common platforms to consider:
- Facebook – Facebook is the most popular social networking site, with over 2 billion users. Facebook can be used to promote almost any kind of product or niche. It is the most cost-effective social networking site for marketing your company. However, factors like the targeted country, speciality, ad kind, and others affect the actual cost. However, with an average CPC of 1.4 INR for our clients’ advertisements, it costs me roughly 4 INR to reach 1000 people.
- Twitter – Twitter might aid in the growth of your business. It is the best platform for B2-B companies, but B2C firms may also use it. However, it is more expensive than Facebook. However, it enables you to run various advertisements for various objectives.
- Instagram – Instagram is the best platform for you whether you work in the fashion, beauty, modelling, or photography sectors. It can also be effective for other specialised firms. However, Instagram could be the best choice in these cases.
- LinkedIn – A professional networking website is called LinkedIn. It is perfect for business-to-company operations because of this. Consider LinkedIn if your firm is business to business.
Email Marketing
One of the most critical and cost-effective strategies for business growth is email marketing. One study found that email marketing had the highest ROI (Return-On-Investment), at about 40 times. That means you’ll receive $40 for every dollar you invest. However, if you ignore email marketing, you will lose out on customers. Businesses do not often prioritise email marketing. One of the few marketing strategies that may be used before the launch of your actual product or company is email marketing.
Here are some notions for email marketing for your startup:
- Use a coming or launching soon template on your website and collect emails from potential customers to notify them when your business (or product) debuts if it hasn’t already.
- Offer beta testing for your products or tools to increase the size of your email list.
- Offer a free trial, demo, report, pdf, or ebook to grow your email list.
Search Engine Marketing
One of the numerous profitable digital marketing strategies for getting quick results for your business is SEM (Search Engine Marketing). You may use search engine marketing to promote your startup and increase sales.
The main benefits of using search engine marketing are as follows:
- You can expect results right now.
- Your intended audience is simple to reach.
- Increased return on investment; you only pay when a user clicks on your advertisement.
- You may start with a small spending limit, like $10 per day, and stop anytime.
- You’ll receive thorough information and insights to help you improve your SEM campaigns and other forms of marketing.
Search Engine Optimization
With a higher ROI than other strategies, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the most affordable marketing platforms. SEO should be a focus for any startup. It is a technique for getting search engine organic traffic for nothing. Therefore, SEO enables you to continuously bring in new consumers for your business at free cost. You may start a blog and optimise your service, home, and landing pages to attract organic traffic from search engines.
Why SEO is Beneficial for Your Startup
- Affordable yet with a better ROI
- Long-term results
- Expand your organic audience
- Automatically acquire credibility and power
- Make your brand well-known.
SEO is a challenging game. Skills and knowledge are needed to get results. An expert SEO company might be of use to you in this area.
Influencer Marketing
Nowadays, influencer marketing is a well-liked marketing strategy. It is a very effective and affordable strategy for growing your business. Influencers are the newest market fad. Influencers are people that interact with their followers on social media platforms and sway their opinions on a variety of topics.
It’s fantastic if audiences learn about you through someone they already know and trust since audiences enjoy and trust their favourite influencers. Eighty percent of marketers believe influencer marketing is effective, and 89 per cent believe it is on par with or only with traditional marketing strategies, according to a “mediakix” study.
Influencer marketing benefits:
- For your business, you could attract a lot of interest.
- It helps you build your self-confidence and attract customers to your firm.
- Low-cost marketing strategy
- Easy to use
You might promote your business by working with well-known influencers or a few micro-influencers (less popular).
Content Marketing
Content marketing is an effective strategy for expanding your business. According to a recent Content Marketing Institute study, Ninety per cent of companies actively employ content marketing for their operations. Studies claim that content marketing generates three times as many leads as sponsored search. It is a cheaper and more effective method for your business. Additionally advantages are SMO and SEO. Long-term benefits of content marketing are produced, but they take time to manifest. Many well-known companies, including HubSpot, Buffer, Blue Apron, Mint, and Kissmetrics, have rapidly grown because of content marketing.
Content marketing benefits –
- Long-lasting and highly efficient results
- You may use it to promote your startup.
- Cost-effective compared to sponsored adverts
- Increases brand authority and trust
Video Marketing
Briefly, video marketing uses engaging video content in your digital marketing strategy to increase brand awareness and grow your business. Most people these days watch interesting, unusual, and funny movies. People prefer viewing videos over reading text because they find them more aesthetically pleasing and share them.
- Make sure your movies are well-made, informative, and content-rich. This is crucial since it could help readers learn more about your business.
- Make titles that are engaging and fascinating. Ensure your videos’ titles contain your primary keyword and are pertinent to your industry. As a result, the title could help draw in new clients.
- Use video to lead website users to other pages. Consider linking to related information and more pertinent videos on your website while uploading a few videos to websites like YouTube and Vimeo.
For video marketing, YouTube is the best option. There are more than 265 million active YouTube viewers in India. As a result, many marketers are using YouTube to connect with their target market. Entrepreneurs do not, however, include YouTube in their company marketing plan. However, startup marketing may be successful for you. Flipkart, Hyundai, Asian Paints, Pepsi, and Coupon Dunia are just a few businesses that have benefited from using YouTube marketing.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is unmatched for generating significant traffic, revenue, and online buzz for your business. Viral marketing may help you succeed quickly if you can create viral content. You must create original material (articles, explainer videos, etc.) and have a strong marketing plan to promote it. Squat Potty successfully earned $7 million thanks to its popular videos. The Dollar Shave Club and Blendtec are other practical examples of viral marketing.
Referral Marketing
Nothing compares to referral marketing for amassing a sizable clientele of fan following. Marketing through recommendations turns customers into sellers. They endorse your products to others. Ninety-two per cent of respondents to a survey said they trusted personal referrals. Referral marketing may therefore enable your company to grow on autopilot.
There are various strategies you may use to win support from others. However, if someone is happy, satisfied, and enjoying something, and perhaps they may get anything for nothing, they are more likely to recommend it to others.
Facebook is a great illustration. Users of Facebook are urged to “Invite Friends” to sign up. They currently have more than two billion active Facebook users as a result.
Dropbox is another excellent illustration. In the beginning, Dropbox used sponsored marketing to attract new customers, but the strategy was unsuccessful. They paid more than they had anticipated. Dropbox then used referral marketing to increase its clientele. How? So, they encouraged their consumers to refer friends in exchange for 16 GB of free storage space. Moreover, companies like Amazon, PayPal, and others utilise a similar strategy to attract new customers. You might carry out the same for your company.
Publishing on top – tier publications
Last but not least, make an effort to be published in a reputable publication if you want a lot of exposure and traffic. Your business may receive a lot of publicity and traffic from any respected newspaper, like Forbes, HuffPost, India Times, The Hindu, and others. You might employ this strategy to aid in the growth of your business. It would be best if you contacted these periodicals’ authors and editors. But refrain from being overly promotional. Hiring a marketing agency to help you with this approach is another option.
Wrapping Up
The factors listed above are the most important ones to consider when developing a digital marketing plan. Any digital marketing strategy should have a good mix of all of these. There are several strategies and venues you may use to advertise your business. To start, you must comprehend your target market, their behaviours, and the nature of your industry. Due to limited resources, startup marketing is not difficult, but you must be assured before taking any action. Think creatively and differently than others if you want to succeed. You might also hire a company to assist with your startup marketing.
