In the startup world, if you build it, they won’t necessarily come. You need to market it, and you need to market it well! This saying perfectly highlights the significance of marketing for a startup. Marketing is an indispensable process for building a thriving business, whether it operates in the physical realm or online.
With digital marketing taking the front seat, there can be as many innovative ideas to reach the customers as possible. With perfect marketing, you not only define your product offerings but also position your startup uniquely in the market.
So, are you all set to let the world know, What is the objective behind your business? What are you planning to achieve? Yes! Let’s get started.
How You Can Create A Successful Marketing Strategy
Below are the steps required to create a unique and innovative marketing strategy.
-
Set A Defined Business Goal
First and foremost, you need to establish a clear business goal. Your goal can be to reach specific types of customers, dominate a particular channel, or achieve a percentage of market shares. The vision and objectives of your company should be reachable and measurable.
-
Identify Your Target And Research About The Market
The company’s goals define the market you should pursue. With the help of research and analysis, familiarise yourself with customers in the market. You would also need to determine the following things about your target market and its customers:
- Market size and Growth potential for the company
- Market Trends
- Competitors of your company
- Customer Behaviour
- Geographic and Demographic characteristics of customers
-
Focus on the 7 P’s
While you develop a marketing strategy for your company, focus on these 7 P’s.
- Product – What type of product would satisfy your customer?
- Price – How much price your customer is willing to pay?
- Promotion – How will you tell your customers about the product?
- Place – Where will you sell the product? Online or Offline?
- People – Who will help you sell the products?
- Packaging – In what ways will you present the product to the customers?
- Process – How will you deliver the products to the customer?
-
Develop Product Plans
Once you identify your customer, choose or create such products that fulfil your customer’s needs. Marketing should help determine the product’s features, pricing and packaging.
-
Find The Benefits Of The Product
As a marketer, you must understand how the product benefits the customer. The customer usually chooses those products which are beneficial for them. So, if you want a good customer base, create products based on customer’s needs and identify how the product benefits them.
-
Mix Your Marketing Strategy
The company’s marketing strategy should include traditional marketing like print, radio or TV and digital marketing through social media like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and emails.
Effective Marketing Strategies
Now that you know how to create a successful marketing strategy, let’s look at some effective marketing strategies.
-
Have A Crisp And Gripping Message
People today have short attention spans and don’t seek services from those companies whose message confuses them. While devising a marketing strategy, keep your message captivating and crisp. For example, L’Oreal uses the tagline, ‘Because You Are Worth It, and it makes the users feel special.
-
Offer Trials
Customers love free trials since they can use the services without paying. Let’s take the example of Amazon Prime- The company offers its new customers a 30-day trial, and customers can use all the services included in a Prime membership, such as free music, free delivery, and free entertainment. In the end, the customers most likely buy the membership. Offering free trials helps expand the company or startup’s customer base.
-
Affiliate Marketing
The company can take the help of influencers to market the products of the company. The influencers can make short videos or reels and talk about their experience regarding the product. If your startup creates herbal products, you can share a cache of photos with an influencer, offer a free trial to them and then ask them to share your experience.
-
Referral Programs
As a new startup, you need customers to keep your business afloat. You can always ask your existing customers to refer the products to their friends and family. You can also upload reviews and testimonials regarding your products, as it helps customers decide whether they want to opt for your services or not use your services.
-
Sponsoring Events
To spread your business, organise small charity events or campaigns for causes for which the customers are passionate. The multinational company P&G (Proctor and Gamble) initiated a campaign named P&G Shiksha that has been working to provide access to underprivileged girls since 2005. This company is one example of how campaigns help increase the visibility of your business.
-
Social Media Marketing
Social Media is the perfect platform to perform marketing and promotional activities for your company. Until July 2022, there were 4.7 billion social media users. Using social media helps the company increase their brand awareness, help understand the customer’s behaviour, improve the company’s brand loyalty, and help connect with new audiences. You can paste reviews, testimonials, videos, reels and pictures on your company’s social media page and help gain more followers on social media.
-
Create a Blog
Next to Social Media, blogging is another effective strategy to boost your company’s brand awareness. If you have a website, start creating a blog featuring all the product details, reviews, and customer testimonials. Be consistent with your content, and help develop trust between the company and the customers.
The content you post on the blog or the website should be unique, appealing, and filled with pictures to make the content appealing and attractive to the customers. Optimise your content in such a way that the search engines can find your content easily. You can also paste the link to the articles written on your blogs on social media like Facebook and Instagram. It helps you get clicks and views, and you get new customers.
SummingUp
Marketing is necessary for a company’s growth and helps develop your brand. You have a plethora of marketing tools at your disposal, ranging from traditional marketing tools like radio, print, and TV to modern online marketing tools like social media marketing and affiliate marketing. These diverse strategies can surely help you acquire new customers, expand the brand’s reach, and provide valuable insights for making necessary improvements when needed.
