Top Marketing Tips for Startups
from Biz 2 Commu blog 12 Apr 15 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
Marketing is #1 of the most important factors that will determine the success of any business. Carefully planned, marketing strategies will ensure brand sustainability in the long run. We need to be very certain that our marketing efforts, not only will help us bring in the sales, it can also create an environment where consumers will feel good about owning our brands.
Challenge that many Startups face is the limited marketing budget. However, it also does not mean that these Startups are not able to compete with the big & established competitors. The age of the Internet & Social Media has changed our marketing landscape completely. It is no longer a winning game for the big brands anymore, but it is more for the faster & the smarter brands today. Here are the 4 successful marketing tips that Startups can use to ‘beat’ the big boys.
1. Search Engine Marketing. The Internet opens up lots of opportunities for Startups. They can market their products & services without spending too much of their marketing budget. One of the fastest ways to see real marketing results is through Search Engine Marketing (SEM). This is where you target the right consumer market on popular Search Engines such as Google & Yahoo. Focus on creating quality ads around quality “key words”, so that your potential consumers may type these into the search engines (and if the competition is too strong), you can always put your focus on the long tailed keywords which are less expensive and more targeted.
Avoid Bidding War. Entering into a price bidding war in SEM is never a wise move, especially when the competitors are huge players with strong financial muscles. Focus on building good quality content instead. This is where your business will flourish – especially in the long run. Quality content will also give your website a better Quality score and higher Ad ranking for SEM, such that you do not need to bid very high in order to rank high on the search engines.
2. Share your Expertise Online. Add valuable content to you Website, by sharing your expert opinions, how-to tutorials, industry trends & kinds of other knowledge-based information about your products & services in general. The more you share, the more the public will perceive your brand as the “expert” in the industry. On top of that, the media people, such as the magazine & newspapers editors or writers will come to you for an interview about your opinions & expertise. Therefore, by sharing your expertise online, your Startup can also gain potential media exposure that can help it to build its brand credibility & reputation, in the shortest amount of time.
3. Social Media Branding. The power of Social Media should never be under-estimated. One person is able to influence tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people on Social Media. Especially for Startups, it does not really matter whether you have a strong marketing budget or not. Big companies can spend hundreds of thousands marketing dollars on social media but they also may not be able to see better results. So for our Startups, we should take a slow & steady pace in building a strong core of followers on Social Media. This strong core of followers will be your brand “mavericks”.
Brand Mavericks are the people who not only, will like everything about your brand, they are also willing to share the good things about it with their family & friends. Your brand mavericks are the best influencers of all. To create more brand mavericks, we should make our brands more likeable on social media. Moreover, learn to share your knowledge and many positive things about your brand on social media, such that more people will trust, like, & have confidence in you.
4. Brand Leveraging. Tap on the strength of other established brands in the market, through mutual collaboration. Always be on a constant lookout for any opportunities that can help you to raise your brand profile. You can offer to speak & share your expertise on major events organized or sponsored by other established brands. It does matter if it is a different industry. For example, a product Startup can share its expertise on good customer service to people in the hospitality industry. In one way or another, you are leveraging your brand by putting yourself on par with other established brands in the market.
Have a clear Purpose in Mind. The late international best-selling author, Stephen Covey has mentioned in his famous book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” that we always need to “Begin with the End Goal in mind”. What do we want to achieve from your Startup? Wealth? A better lifestyle? Early retirement? Changing the world?
How Fast do we want to see these achievements manifesting right in front of our eyes? 10, 5 or even less than a year? By having a strong & clear purpose in mind, will push us to think further, of more highly effective marketing strategies that can help our brands to achieve what we want to achieve in a definite period of time.
Passion. Starting a business is one of the best adventures in life. This is the stage whereby you are very hungry for success, very high in morale, & you will give your all, to see the results, no matter what. Do not lose this passion, even if you are already in business for many years. This is because, this passion will keep you going, make you grow, and also, help you to achieve the many wonderful things in life that you desire.
Comments: Is there any Marketing ideas you could add to these?