Well done! You established your very own startup business, and you can’t wait to watch it develop and grow. But to do this, you will need to successfully market your brand online – and for some reason, many businesses struggle to do this. Luckily it isn’t as hard as it can sometimes seem; you just need a decent understanding of your startup, your target audience and your chosen social media platforms.
Don’t depend on Google ads and organic traffic to market your small business. Here are five tips to help you with startup marketing.
1. Try Something New If Your First Attempt Doesn’t Work
You may think that Instagram is the best marketing tool because it used by millions of businesses, but something that works for someone else might not necessarily work for you. So if you try using both Instagram and Facebook for a few months and you notice you are getting far more traction through Facebook, consider replacing Instagram with a different marketing platform that could be more effective. For instance, you could try Google Advert, or you could try affiliate marketing.
Stay open to new ideas, and spend time every month assessing which marketing platforms work best for you. This can be time-consuming, but it is well worth it – and if you don’t have time to do it yourself, you could hire virtual assistant services to do it for you.
2. Increase Efforts If You See Results
It can also be beneficial to increase specific marketing efforts if you start to see results. For instance, if you find that Facebook posts result in sales, consider doing an extra Facebook post every week. Over time these increased efforts will build a stronger relationship with your customers – just make sure you don’t go overboard and start spamming your customers, as this will push them away.
3. Be Creative
If you really want your marketing efforts to pay off, don’t prioritise posting adverts for your brand; instead focus on creating original, unique content that will actually appeal to your followers. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ever post adverts, but you should follow the 80/20 content rule. 80% of your content should be useful, informative, interesting content that your followers will engage with, and 20% should be adverts, discount codes or giveaways. This ratio will make your brand seem helpful and informative, rather than inauthentic or pushy.
And once again, if you don’t have the time do to this yourself, the work can be outsourced to virtual assistant services. It is well worth the time and effort, especially if you want to increase your online sales and engagement!
4. Check Out The Competition
You may also want to check out similar brands online to see which are doing well and which aren’t. This will teach you marketing tactics to avoid, so you are less likely to lose followers after posting, and it may also inspire you to improve your marketing strategy. Just make sure your content is still unique and personal to your brand, or you may face issues from your competitors.
5. Consider Using Influencer Marketing
Finally you could consider using influencer marketing to increase your online engagement. Influencer marketing is one of the most popular marketing techniques at the moment; in fact, a recent study found that over 80% of marketers are expected to work with an influencer during the next twelve months.
If you do decide to use influencer marketing, take some time to find an influencer who actually aligns with your brand. Ensure that their followers are part of your target audience, and make sure that they are fully engaged with the influencer’s page (for instance, check that every post gets genuine, heart-felt comments, rather than spam comments). This will produce the best results possible.
