Marketing is essential for all businesses if they want to be seen and heard, but it’s even more important for startups. Prospects won’t buy products or services unless they know and understand the business and the benefits to them.

Startups are hungry for growth and need it to happen quickly. Once a business starts to get well known it will naturally attract more customers but until that happens prioritise these marketing strategies to spread the word about your startup.

Create a website
Having a website is an opportunity to make a great first impression and give people comfort that you’re a real business.

A website will increase your organisation’s credibility, especially if it’s been created professionally. It’s your central hub, your shop window; it ties all your marketing efforts together. Without a website, people may question your legitimacy as a business and driving traffic to your website will be vitally important.

Send Emails
Email marketing is a great way to attract customers to your startup for very little cost, but you must first collect email addresses. You can do this via your website by adding a newsletter signup form to it. Your emails must vary though; don’t just send adverts to people as they’ll unsubscribe. Mix it up with guides, and how-to articles – content that will create interest with your audience.

Start a Blog
Blogging is a powerful strategy that can help your startup generate the exposure it needs. One report found that businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads than their competitors without blogs. With a blog, you can position your startup as a leading source while also attracting organic search traffic to your site.

The secret to creating an effective business blog is to publish content that your audience wants to read. If it’s valuable and worth reading, search engines will reward your hard work by ranking your blog at the top of the search results. And when your blog ranks high, it will attract more visitors — meaning more people will learn about your startup.

Post on Social Media
It’s so important to add social to your marketing strategy. As your business’s presence on social media grows, more people will see and will start to recognise it. But remember it won’t happen overnight. Most platforms allow businesses to advertise too, and you can target specific demographics to help push your startup to grow your audience.

Post engaging and relevant content that gives users a reason to follow your profile. If followers start to add questions and comments to your posts, or directly message you, make sure you respond quickly. This will ensure they remain interested.

Use Paid Advertising
Paid search is a very popular medium for startups. You can get highly targeted traffic from search engines. With Google AdWords and Bing Ads being the leaders, both provide keyword targeting with a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model. By creating custom “sponsored” ads your business will appear in search results when someone searches for a keyword related to your business. When set up correctly, you will only be charged if someone clicks on your ad. This is a great way to get people to see you ad and it won’t cost you anything unless they are interested to learn more.

Sponsor an Event
Have you thought about sponsoring a local event? This is a great way to get your startup seen. There will be several options to choose from that you can sponsor for the event, some more affordable than others. Once you are a sponsor your business logo and usually a short description of your product or service would be promoted on the event’s signs, stationary, banners, and other marketing materials at the event. When done correctly, it can be mutually beneficial and a great way to drive sales.

However, only sponsor events that are relevant to your business.

If you need help with your website, marketing or building an online presence, contact us today to discuss how we can help.