Developing a DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY FOR A STARTUP

Why Is Digital Marketing Important for Startups?

Traditional Marketing Vs. Digital Marketing

The main reason to use digital marketing is that it is a low-cost way to reach more
potential buyers. Consider some of the costs of traditional marketing :

Inexpensive Customer Research

Startups are too new to know exactly what their customers want. Technology can be used to
track, monitor and interpret buying behavior. Through technology, companies can figure out which
products and demographics work best for their business. Rather than waste millions of dollars on an
ineffective television advertisement, the startup can directly target the consumer that they know is
interested in the product.

Engage Clients

Twitter campaigns, social media posts, and webinars all provide an opportunity for engaging
the client directly. Through digital marketing, customers feel like they have a personal, one-on-one
relationship with the company. Once this relationship is developed, it takes a minimal amount of effort for
the startup to keep their clients. Other than engaging clients, social media campaigns also help to drive
traffic to the company’s website and market new offerings

Use Metrics to Drive Success

More consumers are using mobile devices to get online and find out about products.
Because of the widespread access to traditional computers and mobile devices, online marketing is one
of the most efficient ways of marketing to consumers. Also, it offers real-time metrics for the startup to
gauge the success of their campaign. Instead of trying to guess the number of newspaper readers who
looked at a print ad, the startup knows immediately how many viewers are reading and interacting with
their advertisements.

Startups can now customize their marketing approach to specific locations and demographics. These
sophisticated tools allow digital marketers to find out about the customer’s buying behavior and identify
new opportunities. Also, digital marketing makes it easier to discover which offerings are useful and which
products should be created to match the consumer’s needs.

Developing the Right Digital Marketing Approach

When creating a digital marketing strategy, companies have to tailor their approach
carefully. Digital marketing allows all aspects of the advertisements, emails, and content to be integrated
into each other. From creating a website to posting a webinar, these techniques must be planned out in
advance for them to be effective.

Creating a website that showcases their brand

To start with, the business needs to make a website that is attractive and easy to navigate. It should place
the brand as an authority in the field. Within the website, most companies will also want to include a blog
or similar content-focused section. This part of the site can then be used to boost online visibility and
brand awareness.

Search engine optimization

For startups operating on a limited budget, it is important to utilize search engine optimization (SEO). This
technique is used to drive organic traffic to a website. The search engines scroll through websites to pick
up on keywords. These keywords, backlinks and other metrics are then used by the search engine to
decide if the website will be useful to a reader. Web sites that are considered higher authority and more
useful are ranked higher in the search engines. Since most people will only click on the first three results
in the search engine listing, it is important for businesses to appear in the top results.

For startups operating on a limited budget, it is important to utilize search engine optimization (SEO). This
technique is used to drive organic traffic to a website. The search engines scroll through websites to pick
up on keywords. These keywords, backlinks and other metrics are then used by the search engine to
decide if the website will be useful to a reader. Web sites that are considered higher authority and more
useful are ranked higher in the search engines. Since most people will only click on the first three results
in the search engine listing, it is important for businesses to appear in the top results.

Content Should Be a Major Part of Any Digital Marketing Strategy

Content marketing can provide a relatively cheap or free way to market a business continuously.
Consumers want to find out information about products, and they will search for that information online.
When the user arrives at the company’s site, the business has an opportunity to turn their quest for
knowledge into a sale. Once the content has been added to the website, it can continue to attract clients
for free.
Digital marketing allows startups to:
 Boost their visibility
 Increase online conversion rates
 Reduce their marketing budget
 Generate leads
 Increase Sales
 Develop a brand awareness
 Increase online conversion rates
 Improve customer engagement
 Influence purchasing decisions
 Track their return on investment

The model provides linkages for the use of social media as a marketing tool for start-up companies.

The model above shows the relationship between social media, marketing and start-up.

Social media is a powerful marketing tool provided to start-up looking to increase their reach
and interaction with customers. The concept of social media has brought the tools and underlying
technology, which provide start-ups with the interface to continuously converse about their products
and services. Using the social media tools and technology such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for
social sharing of content, videos, and images, start-ups can market at a lower cost. Social media is a
great platform for two-way communication. It allows consumers to discuss ideas, post
comments, ask questions and share links. This facilitates open communication, leading to
enhanced information discovery and delivery. The start-ups expect their marketing effort to
be cost effective, interactive, engaging and scalable to a large audience. This is because they
would need better and faster reach to create awareness and visibility to offering and to build
long lasting relationships with customer
Facebook as a Marketing Tool
Facebook is a social networking site and service that allows a person to connect and share content with
their community, family and friends online. It is a place where users post comments, share images,
share, post, and react to important news and also a major place for entertainment, games, live chats
and even a place to stream live videos, with a selected group of people or publicly. It is not only for
private individuals, but also for businesses and different types of organizations, where everyone is
connected

Instagram as a Marketing Tool

Instagram is a social media platform that allows it’s users to take, edit, add filters and share photos and
videos of their life events with friends and followers. Now they can also do stories and stream live videos
as well It has become popular all over the world in a very short time. This gives an opportunity for small
businesses to reach their target audience, where they would not have it possible otherwise. There is a
portion of people who had little Internet access before owning a smartphone; they are now a new target
audience for young businesses. Companies can have more of a two-way communications and can build
an interactive relationship with their followers as the use of social media has become a relevant and
prevalent part of daily life

Brands are present on Instagram for showcase, to raise awareness and build confidence it is a territory
of the client. If the company turns over to selling, followers may turn away, it is a slippery road. If the
decides to be present on Instagram, considers important to be active on it too, since the audience is
rather young, active and constantly needs interesting content, otherwise they may turn away
Visual content is becoming more and more important to people, as it is easy to consume and Instagram
offers. A picture is worth a thousand words, and what better way to tell the company´s story than a
thousand words at a time.

Blogs as a marketing Tool

Independent web-based journals where blog writers (bloggers) publish content such as news, pictures,
product reviews, opinions and experiences.

Google+ as a marketing Tool

A network for sharing photos, interests, videos and news with circles of friends, family, classmates,
colleagues, or acquaintances. Google+ can be linked with other Google accounts and services (AdWords,
Statistics, YouTube, Blogger)

LinkedIn as a marketing Tool

A network for professionals to build a network of colleagues, classmates, and friends. By creating an
online profile it is possible to discover professional opportunities, business deals, new ventures and
share interesting news, ideas and opinions. For companies it works mainly as a career and introduction
portal, but it also provides paid advertising and marketing consulting for businesses
Twitter –
A real-time information network that connects users to the latest news, stories, ideas, opinions and
interests. Messages called Tweets are 140 characters long, which can contain text, photos and videos. In
Twitter, the user can contribute by posting Tweets, participating in conversations, or just exploring
Tweets posted by others.
YouTube
A social video sharing network, where individuals and companies share video content. This user-
generated video content includes movie and TV clips, video blogs, music videos, educational videos and
many other subjects.
Display advertising –
This can be, for example, in the form of banner ads on websites or in emails. For marketers this is a
visible way to create brand awareness but it does not necessarily translate into direct clicks. Targeted
product recommendations based on users clicks are also a rapidly growing means of advertising which
may increase product awareness and trigger purchase action

Email (Newsletter)
– Newsletters have been around as long as email and they still have value for marketers. They are fast
methods for businesses to quickly share information about sales, promotions, new products, or any
other current issues with interested customers, since customers choose to receive (subscribe to) the
company’s newsletter.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) –

This is a process that aims to enhance the website’s listing in search engine results. SEO is done by
improving the website’s search engine friendliness. In other words, phrases on the site, blog, or other
online content are found by the search engines. SEO is often outsourced.
That is why every company should evaluate their goals and their target customer in order to choose the
best tools for their purposes. This applies to traditional marketing as well as digital marketing, since the
purpose of marketing in general is to reach the target market.