Marketing Essentials for Startups

If you’re a recent startup or you are looking to start your own business, then a critical part of your business plan is your marketing strategy. If you’re completely new to marketing then don’t worry, there are lots of useful resources available to help you build a really effective marketing plan.

To get you started, here are a few of the most effective types of marketing methods and channels that you should be considering as part of your strategy:

Website

 It is pretty much standard for any business to have a website to showcase their products and services or even for ecommerce so that people can purchase products from you. Depending on your business and how you intend to use your website, there are a number of different options available for you to use. You can set up free websites with WordPress, Wix and various others but you do have some restrictions in terms of using your own website domain, limited storage and also the possibility of them using your website to place adverts on. To avoid this, you can opt for a shared hosting type of web hosting solution that will give you greater freedom and more features. Get some additional tips on building a good quality website here.

Email Marketing

 One of the traditional digital marketing methods, email marketing is still a very effective way to generate leads for your business. There are lots of different free or cheap templates that you can use to create great, professional looking email campaigns.

Social Media

 One of the easiest ways to find potential customers is on social media. If you sell a particular product then the chances are you can find groups that discuss products like yours. Similarly, if you are a physical trainer, you can find people that are interested in fitness by the Twitter and Facebook accounts that they follow. Social Media accounts are totally free to set up and it gives you a reach that no other type of channel can provide. Used correctly, social media marketing is a major key to a successful business.

Direct Mail

 Although digital marketing is now a very popular and generally low cost way of marketing, using direct mail is still an effective way of generating leads if you are looking to promote your services locally. You can get flyers and inserts designed and printed at a fairly low cost. This type of marketing is particularly effective with the takeaway industry, where it is a very visual persuasion technique.

Blogs and Content Creation

 Driving people to your website takes hard work and it is important to create regular, good quality content because it will improve your search engine rankings as well as attract customers looking for expertise. If you are a plumber for example, you could create a video or guide on how to fix a small plumbing problem. Whilst you might think you are doing yourself out of business, the person will remember you as an expert and call for your services in the future. If your content gets shared by people, this will expand your reach.