There are numerous factors to consider while starting a business. You must conduct research and develop your product! You must hire the appropriate authorities! You must, of course, decide how you will monetise your company.
Another important thing you need to consider is how you will market your product to prospective customers. Marketing is all about utilising different promotional channels to encourage people to use your product. You use digital marketing to concentrate on online marketing channels to increase sales.
In recent times, digital marketing has attracted much interest due to its highly successful promotion of products and services at lower and more affordable pricing.
Many enterprises have shut down or come to a halt since the deadly covid-19 outbreak ravaged the world. But with the help of digitisation and digital marketing, companies were able to survive and re-establish themselves.
Digital marketing has proven to be one of the most impactful promotion methods, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, because it is easier and less expensive than traditional marketing.
Several aspects will influence the best digital marketing plan for your firm, including:
- Your target markets.
- The kind of product you sell.
- Your financial budget.
Let’s look at some of the most effective digital marketing methods and how successful entrepreneurs have used them to grow their businesses.
1. What is a Digital Marketing Strategy?
A digital marketing strategy is a data-driven framework that specifies the same marketing goals you want to achieve, the online channels for the specific digital marketing campaign to achieve those goals, and, most crucially, a budget for it.
Making a schedule that covers all of the ideas you want to implement is essential. Have a backup/contingency plan in place for a more comprehensive approach in case of a mid-crisis.
2. The Significance of Digital Marketing Strategies for Start-ups
A digital marketing strategy is necessary because it gives you a sense of direction, goals you want to achieve, and the steps you need to get there. This reduces the possibility of errors and diversions and helps to focus solely on your objectives.
With a well-defined plan, all team members will be able to concentrate on the work at hand, allowing employees to work more efficiently and productively, enabling them to spend their time refining their responsibilities.
You can also use a structured plan to monitor your progress to ensure that the program is followed. Modifications can be done based on success and goals.
3. Best Digital Marketing Strategies for Start-ups
3.1 Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is an effective way for start-ups to get the word out about their business and build their brand. It’s not just about getting likes or followers; it’s about creating an online community with the same interests as your business.
According to a report by Social Media Examiner, 90% of marketers agreed that social media is essential to their businesses. 89% indicated that social media had generated increased exposure for their organisations.
However, the real question is how to use the different social media networks to get maximum exposure for your business and make your social media campaigns successful.
3.1.1 Polish Your Strategy
It would help if you chose a strategy that will make you stand out in the crowd. While people spend hours on Facebook and Twitter, they are not paying much attention to everything they see in their newsfeeds. If you want to grab everyone’s attention, you need to do something extraordinary.
3.1.2 Optimize Your Social Media Profiles
Use long-tail keywords and phrases when creating your social media profiles. These words are more likely to appear in Google search results, which means more traffic from search engines. Long-tail keywords also make it easy for visitors to find your pages on social media channels.
3.1.3 Define the Customer Persona
Creating a social media strategy is like playing darts blindfolded without defining your customer persona. You might hit the target, but it’s probably going to be by accident. A social media strategist who does not do this has not done their homework, which will be reflected in the results.
When creating a business’s social media persona, a good consultant will also want to know who your company’s competitors are on social media. This is critical because you need to know what your competitors are doing well to emulate their success.
3.2 Influencer Marketing
Today, marketers are looking for fresh and unique ways to market their products. Influencer marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to do that. It’s a tactic that can help you build brand awareness, drive traffic and increase sales.
It’s a win-win situation for both the brand and influencers. Companies can leverage their social media presence to reach their target audience. At the same time, influencers can get a share of the profits to promote them.
Here Are Some Benefits Of Influencer Marketing
- Reaching consumers has become increasingly tricky as digital marketing channels have become more saturated. Between the countless ads we see online and the endless emails we receive every day, most people don’t even pay attention to traditional marketing channels anymore.
- A study by Trackmaven found that influencer marketing is less expensive than other promotional strategies. The study found that 90% of people trust recommendations from friends and family, making it the most effective type of marketing. However, influencer marketing was the second most trusted form of marketing behind word-of-mouth regarding brands.
- Although influencer marketing is a powerful method for building relationships and increasing brand awareness, it’s also easy to implement. By understanding the steps below and following them, you can get started with influencer marketing.
To start, your brand should build a list of influencers in your industry who have followers related to your target market. Then, you should reach out and connect with each of these individuals on social media. After that, your brand should create a campaign with each influencer to share information about your products or services in exchange for compensation.
3.3 Content Marketing
Every piece of content you create should add value to your brand, whether a blog post, an infographic, or a deck. The practical content strategy is planned to follow the different stages of the buyer’s journey. This way, you ensure that you create relevant and valuable content for your potential and current customers.
Content marketing, a helpful digital marketing strategy for startups, can help you have more content for your website’s blog and social media. Content marketing also supports your SEO and SMO efforts.
- Shoot up brand visibility
- Build a stronger relationship
- Get your brand recognised
- Increase credibility for your brand
- Lead your industry
3.4 Affiliate Marketing
Influencer marketing and affiliate marketing work hand in hand. Both rely on the influence of people to generate sales. For this reason, affiliate marketing, one of the crucial digital marketing strategies for startups, should be integrated with your influencer campaign. The goal of an affiliate program is to draw in leads for your brand. Affiliates are like salespeople who work on a commission basis. You decide how you would like to pay them, whether you want to pay them according to their sales or on a flat payment per product.
Affiliate recruitment software is the best way to recruit affiliates. It automates much of the manual work to find and recruit affiliates relevant to your brand. To track sales, you provide affiliates with affiliate links. These links can be shared with their social media circles, who can then visit your site and purchase through the link.
3.5 Email Marketing
Email marketing has the highest ROI (Return-On-Investment), 400%, among the most important and cost-effective ways to grow a startup. This means you will get INR 40 back for every Re. 1 you invest. Hence, Email marketing is one of the most helpful digital marketing strategies for startups.
Since you’re just starting, here are three tips that can help you get started with email marketing:
- You could use the coming soon or launch soon template on your site to notify your users when your startup (or product) launches.
- You can offer beta testing for your tools or products and grow your email list simultaneously.
- Building your email list can be achieved by offering free trials, demos, reports, or e-books.
3.6 Search Engine Marketing
One of the best digital marketing strategies for startups to get immediate results for your startup is SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Your startup will gain more exposure and sales if you advertise on search engines.
- Results can be obtained instantly.
- Reaching your target audience is easy.
- You only pay if someone clicks on your ad.
- The budget can be as low as $10/day, and you can stop at any time.
- Complete data and insights will improve your SEM campaigns and other marketing strategies.
Budgets for SEM campaigns can quickly be exhausted. A successful SEM campaign requires some expertise and experience to yield maximum results for your startup. As a result, search engine marketing as part of a digital marketing strategy for startups can be tricky. Hence, start with a small budget and take your time in learning it.
3.7 Search Engine Optimisation
Without SEO, you can bid goodbye to your online visibility. It consists of getting organic search engine traffic without paying any additional fees. Search engines will send organic traffic to your services pages, homepage, and landing pages if you start a blog. As a result, SEO helps startups acquire new customers without any expense.
Benefits Of SEO As Part Of The Digital Marketing Strategy For Startups:
- High ROI and cost-effective
- Results that last
- Organically expand your audience
- Easily earn trust and authority
- Establish yourself as a reputable brand
3.8 YouTube Marketing
The first is Google. You will be surprised to find that YouTube is the second most popular search engine globally. Currently, YouTube in India has more than 265 million active users. This is an excellent reason for brands to have a presence on YouTube to reach their target audience.
However, in my experience, many companies have yet to include YouTube marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy. You may get remarkable results for your start-up marketing with a well-planned YouTube marketing campaign. It’s no secret that YouTube Marketing has helped firms like Flipkart, Hyundai, Asian Paints, and Pepsi develop their operations.
3.9 Make A GMB page
People google everything before they make any purchase decision. As a start-up, since people don’t know you well enough, there are high chances they’ll look you up online before doing business with you. Hence, as a digital marketing strategy for start-ups, you should consider making a “Google My Business” page for your company.
3.10. Get The Help Of Automation Tools
Since you’re in the first leg of your business, you may not be able to hire a considerable team to carry out all the tasks required by you. As a solution, you can get the help of some automation tools that will make your job easier. These tools help you carry out your menial jobs that don’t require your time and creativity. You can invest while doing better things for your company, like creativity and strategising.
Here are the five best tools you can use as part of your digital marketing strategy for startups:
- Mailchimp: For creating kickass mailer campaigns
- Hubspot: For inbound marketing
- Unbounce: To optimise your landing pages
- Colibri: To upscale traffic
- Canva: To create beautiful designs quickly
4. Conclusion
Start-ups are not in a hurry. There is no point of urgency. Start-ups have time. They can wait. They can take their time, and they can take their time to figure out what they want to do. They can take their time and experiment with different things, right? So, if you are a start-up and want to be in business in 2022. You want to be in business for a long time; you need to develop an unbeatable digital marketing strategy for start-ups by handpicking and combining the proper marketing channels.
If you’re looking for a customised digital marketing strategy for your start-up, you can contact a digital marketing agency.
TechDel is the leading and most successful digital marketing agency. We have been in the industry for over six years and have served many brands across various verticals.
Which digital marketing strategy for start-ups helped you the most? Please get in touch with us for further information.
