What do you need to know before creating a digital marketing strategy?
Do you know why big businesses are BIG?
Because people know them!
You attract more customers when people know you (especially of your field).
So, to expand your business, you need to increase your visibility.
Everyone in your market should know your name.
The best way to do that is Digital Marketing.
As a digital marketer or startup owner, you need to learn how to create a digital marketing strategy in order to:
- Increase your visibility
- Make it easy for potential customers to reach you
Development in these two elements will significantly expand your business.
This article comprises 8 doable digital marketing tactics to achieve this goal.
Here’s what you need to get started with the digital marketing strategy for startups.
1. Add Services and Achievements on Your Website
- What does your startup offer?
- Why should a person/business acquire your services or product?
These are two very important foundations for every startup.
Make sure you have an attractive website that clearly mentions these two details.
Your website is like your office on the internet. All your potential customers will be regularly visiting it.
A good site with good presentation will convert those potential customers into leads.
Mentioning your services and achievements will create a good impression on the visitor’s mind – that’s exactly what you need.
2. Blog with Evergreen Content
A blog is the most important part of the website because it draws traffic.
It also shows activity and helps your site attain and maintain a ranked position.
A website looks attractive with a blog, and it gives you a platform to show off your knowledge in your domain – another attraction for potential customers.
A blog is a great channel for content marketing.
You should carefully select topics of your niche that will always remain valuable.
Every topic you write will cover a few keywords that people search on Google. With more content and pages, you will cover more keywords.
Searchers will then visit your blog when they see your page in search results of Google.
For example, if you sell online shoes, then you would cover keywords like:
- Latest Shoe Style
- Trending Shoes for Women
- Shoe Trends 2019
These are a few interesting topics that people search. Here’s how a good blog will strengthen your digital marketing strategy for startups.
- A person searching these topics is most probably looking to purchase shoes – making him/her a potential customer for you.
- They will visit your blog when they see your article on Google’s search result page. Now, they are in your shop.
- Your content will show that you perfectly understand their needs and have got exactly what they need.
3. Social Media Marketing Strategy for Startups
Social media websites are a huge opportunity for you to approach your potential customers.
According to Statista, over 2.77 billion people are using social media websites. This number is expected to further increase in future.
You have to create your business profile on all social media profiles.
Social media sites bring a lot of traffic to websites.
According to stats of Shareaholic, 8 big social media platforms drove 31.24% of overall web traffic in 2015.
Use of social media has only increased since then.
Building social media following and keeping them engaged is one of your most important digital marketing strategy for startups.
Another significant benefit is its help in making you a brand.
Regularly post something that will catch the attention of your market.
It will increase your following. A business with a large following on social media platforms is considered a ‘Brand’.
If I ask you to choose a free pair of shoes from either ‘Nike’ or ‘Anta’, which would you choose?
Most probably your answer is ‘Nike’.
Do you know why? Because Nike is a huge brand. Not many people know ‘Anta’.
People trust brands – unconditionally!
Here’s another digital marketing tip for startups.
Put your focus on social media that has the most users in the world.
Here are results of the Global Stats Counter on the use of social media:
Here are results of the Global Stats Counter on the use of social media:
Below are the results in the table form:
| Social Media Platform | Worldwide Users |
| 68.95% | |
| 15.15% | |
| 7.41% | |
| YouTube | 3.76% |
| 1.71% | |
| 1.56% |
4. Create a Lead Generation Form
Social media engagement and blog writing will give you visibility and bring traffic.
Next step is to turn that traffic into leads.
A visitor becomes a lead when he/she contacts you for your services or product.
You need to urge your social media followers and visitors of your website to acquire what you offer.
How, you ask?
Create a form to get contact information of the visitors.
No one will give you their contact information for no reason. To cope with that:
- First, assure them that you are great at what you offer.
- Second, offer something in return.
For example, the above lead generation form offers A Talk with their specialist.
Here’s another example.
This form offers a free quote as a digital marketing strategy to turn visitors into leads.
You can create such lead generation forms on your website and Facebook page.
In either case, you get contact information of a person interested in your service/product. They are most likely to become your client as long as what you offer is worth it.
5. Search Engine Optimization
You must now understand how an interactive website with traffic can increase your business.
Search Engine Optimization is the process of increasing the website’s traffic.
The world uses Google for their every little problem – whether it be a question, purchase, or sale.
According to 2012 research of Statista on search engines, 1.17 Billion People Use Google Search which has increased significantly since then.
Google shows the user a lot of results for each query.
A user rarely goes to the second page of Google. And, most traffic goes to the top 3 results.
So, every website tries to rank top on Google; this creates competition for you.
To get an edge over your competitors, you will need to optimize your website according to the requirements of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
6. Build a Subscriber’s List for Email Marketing
While social media following has its value, many leading digital marketers recommend putting the focus on creating your own subscriber’s list.
Your website subscribers are not dependent on any other social media.
They are your website’s followers that you approach through emails.
Despite arguments, email marketing is still a very powerful digital marketing strategy for startups.
According to 2016 stats of Campaign Monitor, email marketing is still the king of marketing and returns 4,400 percent return on investment.
But, you don’t have to send emails to random people.
Your subscribers are the people that want to or agreed to receive updates of your website.
Most of them won’t ignore your emails.
How to Build Subscriber’s List
Internet users don’t feel comfortable sharing their email.
It is understandable because it fills their inbox with spam and scams.
A person is more likely to give you his email when:
- He trusts you
- He needs something in return
Why not offer both?
You have to build trust by providing quality content and services. People find websites with a good design more trustworthy.
Next is offering something valuable in return for their email – just like we discussed to get more leads.
Tricks like offering a reward or prize may not work very efficiently with smart users.
A recommended digital marketing strategy for startups to grow their email list is to use the ‘Content Upgrade’ technique.
Content Upgrade is offering additional useful and relevant content that a user would really want.
You ask them to subscribe to your newsletter in return for this useful download.
For example, you can offer something like these items.
- Cheat Sheet of the problem discussed in your article
- Quick or Full Guide
- PDF version of the blog post
- Checklist
- List of Resources
- Scripts
7. Paid Marketing
Paid marketing is an easy and fast digital marketing strategy for startups to enhance their visibility.
People don’t know new businesses.
It is especially difficult to build the first few hundred followers.
Once you have a following, even if it is small in size, it will bring more followers for you.
Because people discuss, refer, and share what they like.
Opting for paid marketing won’t be a bad idea to give your startup a boost start.
In 2014, $137.53 Billion were spent just on online advertising. It was the one-quarter of total media ad spending that year. Use of online advertising has grown even more.
There are many platforms that offer online paid marketing – the two most effective among them are Facebook and Google Adwords.
Facebook Post Boost
Facebook is the biggest social media on Earth, and almost every person with access to the internet uses it.
This global company knows a lot about its users – for example:
- Age
- Gender
- Geographical location
- Qualification
- Profession
- Interests
Think for a moment and tell me, how you would define your target audience.
If you have the answer, see if the shared list covers those attributes.
Facebook will show your ad to the people that you specify.
For example, if you deliver Derby and Oxford style shoes in New York City.
It’s common sense that the people who would need these shoes are:
- Male
- 20 to 50 years old
- Educated
- Professionals
You can set all these specification when boosting a post on Facebook.
This will show your advertisement only to relevant people. A woman would, most probably, have nothing to do with an ad showing shoes for men.
This kind of advertising saves you time and money.
Google Adwords
1.17 billion people use Google.
They consult Google for every little thing – even when they need a toothbrush.
According to statistics of Keywords Everywhere, around 22, 200 people search for toothbrush every month.
People also search for queries that are related to your business!
Google offers a service to post your ads on:
- Google search result page
- Other relevant websites
Ads on Google SERP
You can show an ad of your business on Google search result page when people search query related to your business.
Your ad will show on top of the page, and people will click on it if it catches their interest.
It is also a very common digital marketing strategy for startups to drive traffic on their website from other relevant websites.
You also have the choice to either ‘Pay Per Click’ or ‘Pay Per Impression’ on your ad.
You see, it’s not blind marketing but clear-sighted – and based on figures and stats.
8. Viral Marketing
You will see many stupid things going viral online.
Some things just go viral; some are made viral.
It’s viral marketing.
Here’s how Google defines it.
If you can come up with a creative idea, viral marketing is the fastest way to make your name.
In 2017, fidget spinner toy went viral.
There is nothing creative, useful, or even fun about it – but, EVERY KID HAD IT.
Most things go viral through social media sites like YouTube and Facebook.
As a digital marketing strategy for startups, you have to create something that generates interest and should spread like a virus.
Conclusion:
You can’t sell your product or services unless you bring it to people.
Digital marketing has made it easier for businesses to approach their potential customers.
Marketing is not something that is done just one time. You have to keep practicing it as long as your business stands.
Otherwise, a brand like Apple wouldn’t be spending $1.8 billion on the advertisement of iPhone 7.
The digital marketing tips for startups shared on this page are not one time practices.
You can utilize one or all of them, whatever suits you best. You have to decide which techniques bring more return on investment.
Are you a startup owner? Or, working on digital marketing strategy for startups? How you plan to expand your business; share with us in comments.
