Simple but effective ways you can market your start-up company

We’re sure that you won’t need us to tell you that 2016 has been a year of great change, with just one such change being the increasing ease with which even the smallest businesses can market themselves and steal a march on the big players.

Below, we have detailed just some of them.

Make a video

Recent years have made video production more and more cost-effective for start-up businesses, with even the most technically impressive videos no longer necessarily out of financial reach for the smallest firms.

Consider, for example, The Mob Film Company, a service production company in Manchester that has served such clients as Manchester United, BMW, Saudi Telecom and Pepsi, but which has also long catered to the requirements of ambitious start-ups.

Give product or service demonstrations

If what your business provides lends itself well to demonstrations, get in touch with groups or individuals among your target audience who may be receptive to receiving one from you.

After all, nobody knows your own start-up’s product or service – including its distinctive features, benefits and applications – better than you.

Incorporate offline marketing techniques

Online marketing very much deserves to receive the bulk of your start-up’s marketing spend and attention, but you could be missing a trick if you neglect offline marketing altogether, which in many ways remains effective because of its sheer novelty.

According to an infographic shared by US graphic communications company Imagine! Print Solutions, for instance, 39% of customers tried a business for the first time because of direct mail, and over half of customers consider print marketing to be the most trustworthy form of marketing.

Build your reputation as an industry authority

Your target audience will be much more likely to place their trust in your start-up’s products or services when you are known for your expertise in your field.

So, be sure to keep your start-up’s blog and social media pages up to date with your thoughts on the latest developments in your sector, in addition to sending informative and relevant articles to noncompeting websites, magazines and newspapers.

Place emphasis on your local area

Serving your local community is a great way to expand your professional contacts and consumer base outside what may currently be a somewhat narrow personal network.

Look up your local chamber of commerce on the British Chambers of Commerce website, making the most of the training, network events and other support that they can provide to your start-up. Also consider local SEO techniques, such as building locally-oriented landing pages and obtaining reviews on sites like Yelp.

Do something exciting

You might not be able to match the vast budgets of the big-name corporations in your sector, but you should never underestimate the power of the right ideas and the simple human ability to express excitement about them in a way that will get other people excited about them, too.

So, be sure to think carefully about how you can provoke and challenge your target audience in a way that doesn’t depart from what you aspire to for your start-up’s brand, perhaps as part of a wider coordinated PR campaign with a major newspaper, magazine or other media source.

Apply just some of these tips for the marketing of your start-up, and you may be shocked by just how much company growth you can achieve well into 2017 and beyond.