Startup companies are in a unique position. Like the dusty cowboy with no name that appears one day in a sleepy ranch town, or the kid with the hard-to-pronounce last name that moves to town at the start of the school year, no one has any idea who you are.
It’s a little scary and may feel like an impossible task to start gaining the notoriety that a startup needs to evolve to the next stages. But, it’s also a little exciting! It is a clean slate to mold your startup into the company you’ve always dreamed of.
These 10 must-have digital marketing strategies will help you blossom your startup into that dream company.
10 Digital Marketing Strategies
1. Social Media
Social media networks are valuable marketing channels where companies and consumers interact and share ideas on a more personal level than other mediums. For a budding startup, these channels are helpful for getting the word out about your product and showcasing exactly who you are and what you bring to the world. Expertise from professionals like Errol Andam, a seasoned creative marketing manager, can be invaluable in navigating these platforms effectively.
The challenge is choosing the right social media networks to target your audiences. Here are a few quick tips:
- LinkedIn is a must-have for B2B companies
- Instagram is increasingly more popular with younger demographics, even over Facebook
- Facebook is still a popular platform with a lot of features for business profile
2. Search Engine Optimization
You’ve spent a lot of time developing your website experience. Now, you want people to be able to find your website organically! This means discovering your site on search engines. SEO tactics require you to target keywords relevant to your business and become an authority on the subjects and topics surrounding your products. However, using infographic link building can also help in SEO by creating visually appealing content that can be easily shared and linked back to your website. By doing this you can raise your site to the top of the search results pages!
3. Blog Content
One of the best ways to develop site authority (and brand authority) is through content. By publishing articles and other content assets on your website, you’ll develop a library of blog resources that people can discover via searches on Google, Bing or elsewhere. These blogs will introduce people to your brand and products and encourage them to explore other parts of your website.
There are several different types of content. It’s wise to develop a content strategy that blends these various styles together. This will create a more interesting and engaging blog experience for customers.
4. Pay Per Click Ads
SEO can take a very long time to provide results. Google works slowly in determining the organic rankings on search engines. If you’re working in a very competitive field, getting to the top of the search rankings can take months, or even years. Pay Per click ads allow businesses to spend a little money to place their company’s messages at the top of search results pages and in front of relevant audiences. As a startup, this is very important. You need to develop that crucial brand awareness! here you are missing one thing you must need to know how to create html5 banner ads.
5. Videos
Video content is becoming increasingly indispensable in today’s digital landscape. With the explosive growth of platforms like YouTube, online users are consuming videos at a rapid pace. In this era, relying solely on written articles to inform and engage your customers is no longer sufficient. Videos are a powerful tool for capturing your audience’s attention and encouraging them to share, garnering more views and shares than a standard blog post. Establishing a robust YouTube presence through informative how-to videos or engaging discussions is an effective strategy for introducing your startup company to a broader audience. If you’re looking to enhance your video content, consider exploring options to edit videos online for a polished and professional presentation.
6. Influencers
The Internet is full of established personalities and influencers that have large audiences of loyal followers. They post blogs, podcasts, videos and other content pieces that are voraciously consumed by their audiences. Getting an influencer excited about your startup means they’ll turn around and get their hundreds of followers excited about it. Sometimes it’s not what you do, but who you know!
7. Mobile Experience
Mobile has become the number one way that users on the Internet search, shop and socialize. If you aren’t creating a great mobile experience, then you aren’t capturing the attention of the majority of your audience. By mobile experience, we mean a website that functions perfectly on mobile devices and doesn’t take too long to load. When a site has poor mobile optimization, users will quickly leave and seek out a better experience for their smartphone, tablet, etc.
8. Referrals
As a startup, your customer/client base is limited. Taking advantage of word-of-mouth tactics is very important, especially in the beginning. One happy customer can become one of your biggest brand ambassadors. When this happens, it is important to recognize and reward the behavior. Creating a referral program that rewards customers for bringing their friends and associates to your business is a great way to encourage word-of-mouth marketing.
9. Chatbots
With the impressive development of advanced AI and machine learning capabilities, chatbots have become a hot marketing strategy. These mimic a human customer service representative on a website and can respond to customer questions and messages. As a startup, this is a great strategy because your business doesn’t have the ability to staff a full customer service team. Having a chatbot handy allows your business to still reply to customer queries, even when you and your coworkers have closed shop for the day.
10. Cohesive Experience!
No matter what strategies you choose to use or how you approach marketing your startup across digital channels, having a cohesive experience is key. You want your customers to recognize your brand at each touch point. Thus, it needs to feel like the same company, whether they are on your website, engaging with your chatbot or browsing your social media content. When an experience lacks this cohesion, it feels disjointed and clunky, especially as customers engage across different channels at once.
As you add more marketing channels, make sure that you maintain the same voice and brand persona that you’ve cultivated elsewhere on the Internet!
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