Curious to know about different methods of marketing and sales promotion techniques for startups and small business. Most entrepreneurs always look for ways to build trustworthy and innovative solutions in the form of products/services which could attract more customers and enhance the business profitability. While building brands they might have innumerable questions in their minds – How many people may be interested in any particular product or service, how many of them are repeat customers, and what percentage of a customer trusts their brand? Have any of the customers who have tried your products and made suggestions/comments? Well, the marketing functions for a startup or small business help entrepreneurs to find answers to all such questions.
But, what is marketing for startups and small business? Marketing is an umbrella term for all such activities by a business to build consumer awareness around its offerings and encourage the purchase of its products/availing of its services from the relevant market. Other than advertisement & promotion, marketing contains other activities like undertaking market research, designing products, or delivering products to consumers, etc. For instance, connecting with potential customers or past clients through activities such as writing emails, writing answers to suggestions or returning calls/emails, and meeting them over coffee, etc. could also be part of marketing activities.
Importance of Marketing & Sales Promotion for Startups and Small business
With the advent of the internet & e-commerce, it has been difficult for startups and small business to compete with established bigger businesses, thus they need to have an effective marketing plan in place which could help them stand out and offer unique products/services to their customers. Having an effective marketing strategy helps the startup not only achieve profitability but also grow its customer base for a business. Here are some of the benefits of efficient marketing techniques for a startup business-
- Customer Acquisition – Marketing techniques allow a startup to connect with potential customers who might have similar interests or preferences as that of the offerings of the startup. Other than this, employing marketing strategies allows startups and small business to study the preferences of people in a certain geographical location where it intends to establish or expand the business.
- Building & establishing a brand- Employing marketing techniques allows start-ups and small business to adopt inventive and innovative approaches to connect & engage with their audiences with personalized content and gauge their attention even before they use the products or avail their services.
- Gaining useful insights – Marketing could also be crucial for gaining useful insights on consumer habits & preferences which could in turn be applied to drive profitability & success. For instance, in case market research finds that a beauty product (i.e. anti-aging cream) is used by women in their late 30s and above in age. Such information could be extremely valuable in forming business strategies or product development, achieving higher sales & use resources more efficiently.
- Communicating business goals & objectives-Marketing techniques could also be helpful to communicate the business objectives & goals of a startup such as products/services offered by the startup, how it aims to transform the lives of people around the world, its history, and the motivation for its being & continuity, etc.
- Higher Growth & Expansion prospects- With an effective marketing strategy, there is a stronger business-customer relationship and they are likely to refer the products/services to their friends & family, which gives you a competitive advantage over your competitors ultimately achieving higher sales and growth.
Different methods of Marketing and Sales Promotion techniques for Startups and Small business
For startups in the early stages of development, it is necessary to carve out certain marketing avenues for businesses that could help to establish their business brand, enhance their visibility, and help the startup stand out among its competitors.
Here are some of the marketing avenues to be considered by startups to build and implement a strong marketing plan and establish a customer base and achieve success &growth.
Defining Marketing Goals & objectives
Regardless of the shape or size of the business, when it comes to marketing start-up businesses have two key goals in mind- Establishing a brand in the market and Acquiring new customers for the business. For establishing a brand & raising awareness about it, start-ups should create social media presence, or in general introduce themselves, their goals & objectives, and what makes them stand out in the competition, and above all plan their marketing strategies around their brand. Similarly, for customer acquisition, they may consider encouraging people to subscribe to the business platform and become active users and to further convert the existing leads to become paying customers.
Identifying the target consumer segment
Regardless of the nature of your start-up business to create a successful business, start-ups must identify the right kind of audiences who could be interested in the offerings, build strategies focusing on the right audience, and connect with the right message to them. Additionally, there are some other facts to be considered by the start-ups-
- What are its key offerings for its target customers?
- If the start-up is a B2B- focused business, would its offerings be more valuable to businesses of a certain size or within any specific industry?
- In case the start-up is a B2C-focused business in nature, would it be more logical to offer products/services to customers based on their demography or their preferences?
Identify the potential Market
While building a business, start-ups and small business should ensure that they are tapping into the right kind of market to launch their business products/services. The absence of proper market research may cause it to fall into a lot of troubles such as the small size of the market to reach a scalable business or insufficiency of the products/services to solve a problem in the market, etc.
To avoid all of these, start-ups and small business should do deep research on their target market, products/services being offered by competitors and their average market share, and the existing gaps in the industry where you could fill gaps in the market. On being assured that there is enough demand in the market to build a sustainable business, they could focus on effective means to communicate the uniqueness of their brand to the target audience.
Determine the Unique Value Proposition for your Startup or Small business
Apart from others, it is necessary to determine the unique value proposition for your business by stressing what makes your business so unique as compared to your competitors. It includes the business model, products/services offered or focus target customers, etc.
Determine budgets for marketing expenses
Since most startups run on tight budgets, it is obvious that start-ups and small business cannot afford to spend money generously on marketing expenses of the business. To avoid extravagance, start-ups should consider directing resources to channels having greater potential to yield successful results.
If required, start-ups and small business should review the success of their marketing activities and make necessary adjustments where required. Later, when the business grows and there is more budget available, start-ups could spend more resources on marketing & research expenditures to explore untapped opportunities.
Build an official website for customers to connect for your Startup or Small Business
As a start-up founder, it is crucial to ensure that the target customers get timely updates & notifications from an officially verified source. It also allows the start-up to connect with them & interact with them regularly. Further, here are some other helpful tips for you to follow-
Create a website that accurately represents your brand-Having an official business website is a focal point for all officially verified information and a place to lead all marketing campaigns, therefore start-ups should consider building a website that could adequately represent their brand/s.
Give special attention to the homepage– The homepage for your startup’s official website should clearly explain your identity, team members, products/services being offered, and how the products or services being offered by your startup could help you to solve existing problems. Further, you could also mention your goals and achievements, client testimonials, and how can you help your target customers.
Employ SEO strategies- Next, it is necessary to employ certain SEO strategies which could help you to enhance the visibility of your website through search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo with the help of basic SEO tools which could be used to improve the ranking of your website i.e. search ranking, like keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, internal links, and high-quality original content.
Connect potential clients through the right channels
- Content & Email marketing for Startups and Small business – Content marketing is yet another marketing avenue that is employed by startups to enhance their digital presence. It includes the process of creating, analyzing, publishing & promoting the relevant business content for the startup to a pre-defined audience.
- Similarly, Email marketing helps startups to connect & interact with their audience. Startups could use the content on their brand website, social media channels, website (blog), paid to advertise, and SEO, etc. to share updates about their products/services, etc., or any other form of content that might gauge interest in their audience. Also, by requesting information such as date of birth or preferences, etc. startups could offer more personalized and relevant content.
- Social media marketing for Startups and Small business – With the growing popularity of social media platforms as a means to connect themselves, there are increasing opportunities for startups to make connections with their audiences. Thus, startups must have social media strategies which may include posting ads on platforms, communicating with customers either directly or through influencers, etc. to expand their reach and encourage them to visit your websites/physical stores or try out your products/services.
- Facebook and Instagram ads for Startups and Small business -Even among various social media channels and platforms such as Facebook & Instagram enjoy millions of followers worldwide, again offering a lucrative opportunity for start-ups to connect with their audiences with just one tap. Further, due to the availability of the information, it may also help a start-up to identify their likes or dislikes or their preferences, making it easier for them to target a specific category of customer (age, location, or preferences) easily.
- Twitter /Linkedin ads for Startups and Small business– Further, there are professional platforms such as Twitter & LinkedIn which offer various advertisement options for businesses to increase their visibility, raise awareness, gauge customer attention and attract newer audiences. It becomes easier to offer relevant content as per their location, interests, and job industry they belong to, or even through the accounts followed by them on the platform, etc.
- Placing Google Ads- Other than the above. Start-ups offering products/services may also consider placing Google ads on their target customers who visit their website once or twice. Google Ads are considered to be a powerful tool to generate traffic and recall sales to potential customers online.
Keep Track of your Marketing Campaigns
Since most start-ups have limited funds available for marketing functions, it is necessary to warrant that every penny spent yields successful results for the business. Here are some of the methods to be employed by start-ups to ensure the same-
Set Key Performance Indicators and review them
Since the business priorities for each start-up business may be different, it is important to set some performance indicators to track their impact & growth over time following the goals & objectives of the business. For instance, if the start-up is looking to measure its brand visibility, its key performance indicators should be the generation of website traffic, social media ads, and connect with the audiences, etc. However, if it is looking to primarily enhance its sales and add more customers, it should look for indicators such as periodical sales and conversion rates, etc.
Testing & Iteration
Regardless of the type or size of the business, it is necessary to be customer-oriented in its approach and there is no better way than testing and understanding its impact, even if they are connecting only through click-throughs, page views, conversions, etc. in your reports. If things aren’t working, start-ups should consider making necessary adjustments and changes wherever required. For instance, several applications help in analyzing the content engagement level with your customers and even suggest adjustments to better customer reach.
In times of globalization, when customers are spurred for choices with millions of varieties of products/services available, start-ups need to incorporate various marketing avenues to create brand awareness and achieve their business goals. Therefore, it is advisable to craft a marketing strategy using a combination of all the above-mentioned avenues to create a suited strategy for your own, analyze its performance and make adjustments timely, as each business customer is the king, and their preferences keep changing faster with time.
