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Carolin Petterson, World Executives Digest | Startups need to have a marketing strategy in place from day one. That’s the only way to stay competitive in the growing and expanding market. These strategies should be prepared based on market research. It’s important to understand your customers and to find ways to become a part of their life and their daily routine.
These days, most of the marketing activities are done online, but this doesn’t mean that startups should forget about traditional and offline channels because these could still be relevant and useful.
Tell a story
It’s important to let the customers know about all the features of your products and services. However, it’s rarely the information that makes the sale – most customers want to know your story and find out what your business is really about. This narrative is always something that you have constructed even if it’s based on a true story.
This story shouldn’t just be about how your business began but also about what it stands for and how those values can also become a part of your customers’ lives. These broad ideas may seem abstract but in fact, they can be translated into an actual campaign.
Make a splash
The best place to make your business known is its very opening. When a business moves to an area, it attracts attention and the community finds ways to include it in its structures and customs. That means that you need to use the opening day to its fullest extent.
This can be accomplished with a few simple tricks, such as providing discounts for new customers. If you sell a particular product, you can use the early reviews to create hype about your business. These reviews can be paid or you can just let the industry do its thing.
Promotional products
Promotional products are one of the simplest ways to advertise a business and they are often underused. They are easy and cheap to produce and they can have a long-lasting impact on the clients because they are actually useful and therefore they move around quite a bit.
The product can be any object that your customers can use in their day to day activities and that can have a logo painted on them – personalised coffee mugs, customised USB drives, and umbrellas are the most popular choices. Make sure that you print some sort of address and not just the logo.
Industry oriented marketing
It’s important for your marketing efforts to speak to the industry you’re working in and not just the customers. These efforts reach a smaller number of people but they also help close more deals and meet people that can help you grow your business.
One of the ways to accomplish this is to advertise your company in the industry-related publications. Have in mind that these advertisements will cost more than you’re used to. Organizing corporate events can also help especially if your business is new and you want to establish yourself.
Apps
Most of the web browsing is now done via mobile devices and that’s where the advertising is moving as well. That means that even the smallest of businesses are creating apps that will help them communicate better with the customers and make purchases more comfortably.
The apps also provide you with a lot of information about your customers and the data stored on their phones. This could be quite useful for predicting what drives conversions and what kind of services your users are looking for. It’s imperative for your customers to be informed about the data you’re collecting and what it’s used for.
A startup needs to have a comprehensive marketing strategy. It should be based on the needs of your clients and on the goals that you plan to accomplish. The changes in tech are also going to have a big role in the way small companies advertise in the years to come.
