Most start-ups don’t get easy funding. Many simply use their own savings, ask others or look for free information to help their business. The good news is you can still manage to finance your ideas, but marketing it is something you won’t have much budget left for; don’t worry much. Even with limited funds, you can share your vision with the world. Start-up Marketing is a science. You need to have the right mix of channels to make it effective. We bring you an exclusive list of the most powerful strategies that have placed many start-up businesses under the spotlight.
Ultimate Strategies to Market Your Start-up
1. Identify Your Demographic:
Start-up founders are so passionate that they almost eat, sleep and breathe their products. It is very easy for them to believe that everyone in the world is going to love their idea or product but the reality is really harsh. Only a small proportion of the population is actually interested. So, rather than wasting your time and money in marketing your start-up to everyone, identify your target market and target demographic and then go after it aggressively.
A very good example of this can be Bizdaq. It is a SaaS start-up that facilitates business owners to sell their businesses online for free. They dropped their entire preconceived notions to market themselves offline for a service that was offered online. Thus, they picked up the phone and contacted their early adopters to understand the demographic. This led to a 210% increase in their customer base.
2. Share the “why” of your Start-up:
When asked about your business, you have a big opportunity to generate word-of-mouth marketing. Create a story that clearly differentiates your startup from its competitors. If your business is supporting a certain cause, feel free to say so. If you came up with this idea during your struggle time, narrating it is surely going to inspire people around you, who in turn will recite your story to many others. In short, sharing the “why” of your startup makes it more memorable to others. Go ahead with that!
3. Engage with your Audience:
As a business owner, you may want to push the ales of your product and there is nothing wrong with it but rather than selling your product, focus more on engaging with your audience. Participate in discussions; show your support to followers in your niche. Don’t always flaunt or advertise your product or service but try to offer solutions to people looking for related products or services too. It will help you gain audience attention and establish your brand.
4. Build Credibility:
Carve your own niche and build credibility by providing an insider’s perspective to your audience. Share the insights of your trade through a blog or webinar which will project you as an expert in your field. Your audience will feel more confident and relatable to what you speak. This in turn will increase your network and can gain you a fan following from a variety of people, from journalists to aspiring entrepreneurs.
5. Be discoverable:
In the age of technological advancements, your startup is expected to maintain an online presence. It can be a website, a blog, or social media presence, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your business is discoverable. You need to use specific keywords in your content so that it is easily searchable by search engines. Engage with like-minded audiences through keywords, hashtags, etc. Use proper SEO techniques in your content. Search out for appropriate focus keywords according to your business and include that on your title page. Have proper H1, and H2 headings, increase your page loading speed and always ensure you post only 100% unique and original content. Any plagiarism would only downrank your website.
6. Turn early customers into referrals:
Word of mouth is the best marketing any business can ever have. Turn your happy customers into word-of-mouth referrals.
An example, in this case, can be Hotmail. Decades ago, Hotmail was the only company that came up with completely free email services. As a result, almost everyone had a Hotmail account. Every email has a text link encouraging the recipient of the email to get their own free account with Hotmail. They followed a very simple strategy but even that was enough to gain millions of users.
