How many of you turn your heads up to look at the billboard while you are stuck in traffic en route your workplace? This isn’t going to be a go-to market strategy anymore. The reason being, we are no longer traveling to our workplace. That’s essentially the reason why traditional marketing is losing its lull and digital marketing is gaining momentum. There is a clear need to learn about marketing strategies for startups.
Considering the on-going scenario, about 50% of the workforce in the IT industry might be working from home by the end of the year 2020. This might bring about a change in the HR policies and people would start working from as commute to the workplace is time consuming for a lot of them. If that is the case, then screen-starring would continue and get amplified as days pass. This gives a lot of scope for digital marketing for startups and other emerging businesses in India.
Off late, digital marketing has become a buzzword. Before knowing more about the term and its influence on businesses, let me stroll through a few pointers on why digital marketing is chosen over traditional marketing?
-> Adaptable according to the trend
->Lesser investment and more reach
->Streamlined leads through targeting and retargeting
However, there are few Offline Marketing Strategies for startups that are old school and have been promoting businesses significantly for quite some time.
Going Offline is still a Go-to Market Strategy – How?
Some of these working and effective offline marketing strategies might surprise you with results when applied meticulously.
a. Word of Mouth or Speaking
About 92% believe in a product or service when it comes to them through personal recommendations which means speaking about your brand wherever necessary and relevant will help you greatly.
Personally, we also buy stuff recommended by our friends and family. With decently established businesses, the existing customers/clients become brand ambassadors and advocates and they spread the word about you wherever possible. This also depends on how you nurture your customers throughout the sales funnel.
Speaking and word of mouth is not only restricted to offline. Product/Service reviews, testimonials and Social Media shout out also fall under this category.
b. Networking
Networking is another offline marketing approach that acts as a platform to elevate your business to the next level. Through networking, one can:
->Exchange powerful ideas
->Get recognized among peers
->Seek support from high profile businesses
->Develop a professional camaraderie
->Get referrals from known connections
Inimitably, networking works for both men and women business owners. Not only with businesses, but also with jobs, networking opens up avenues for great opportunities.
c. Cold Calling
One call from a customer care is enough to exasperate us for a whole day. Isn’t it?
Many of us who are business owners don’t even consider adding cold calling to our go to market business strategies. Known for poor conversions, cold calling surprises you with 1% of conversion to appointments, as reported by Hubspot.
Now,I say, while an opportunity of 1% is already created for you here, prepare yourself with accurate customer data and unleash your ability to convert this lead into a potential customer. Precisely, cold calling creates you the least best chances for conversion.
d. Referrals and Partnerships
About 50% of businesses get leads through referrals and partnerships which eases the conversion process resulting in better customer retention rates.
Nothing can work better for a startup business than referrals that come through your advocates. The conversion through this channel becomes easier as it appears authentic. This can spread the message about your brand more effectively leaving a bigger impact on your business.
Partnering with fellow Entrepreneurs and Influencers is another cost effective way to market your business. Especially, if the partnering firm is from your same domain or subdomain, the exploration for business opportunities is plenty. Partnerships are one of the best marketing strategies for startups.
There are also organizations and groups like Business Network International (BNI), The IndUs Entrepreneurs Group, Women Entrepreneurs Development Organization and a few more that support referrals and partnerships through online programs and offline meetings. Enroll your startup company with them to make the most of it.
e. Print Media
In a country like India, a day doesn’t begin without newspapers for anybody. This obviously means that print media is still working though the rate of screen-starrers has been spiking up since 2015 as reported by Statista.
Having said that, newspaper ads, featured columns in magazines, flyers affixed to newspapers are some of the effective marketing strategies for services firms. With such print media, the reach is magnanimous. If you are a service provider, then I highly recommend print media ads to promote your business on a larger scale.
Now, let me throw some light on Online / Digital Marketing Strategies for startups and emerging businesses.
Why Digital / Online Marketing?
When at work, all of us will have a seperate tab of news, our most-liked blogs or Social media pages. While at home, we binge on Youtube or Netflix. That’s where marketers saw the potential to target their ads.
Let’s dive into a few thriving online marketing techniques that have proven to be the go to market strategy for startups and budding businesses.
a. Social media Marketing
The FOMO (Fear of missing out) has driven the majority of Indian population to Social Media. More than 300 million users are on Social Media today. The word that comes through social media can bring a drastic change to your brand.
Ideally, Social Media Marketing is an effective way of promotion for businesses.Ecommerces, service firms, other B2Cs and a few B2Bs use Social Media as a platform to expand their customer base and generate leads. However, choosing the right platform where your target market dwells for a longer time matters the most.
What to do on Social Media to gain audience attention?
->Start a page for your business or startup.
->Create content that attracts and engages your audience.
->Run ads targeting your potential customers
->Do not hard sell.
->Speak more about value addition.
b. Email Marketing
All of us start our day at work with emails. In that case, the average open rate of emails from various industries has been reported as 21.33% by Mailchimp, an Marketing Email Automation platform.
Marketers suggest Email Marketing for various reasons like personalization, brand reach, sales and customer relationship. The following suggestions can make your email marketing impactful.
1. Have a striking subject line
2. Have a subtle call to action
3. Keep the content subjective and engaging
4. Maintain a frequency cap
5. A/B Test your mail copy
c. Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is marketing through targeting the right audience for the right product or service or business.
This method of marketing is usually applicable to B2Cs.
There are both micro and macro influencers who can take your marketing message to the right audience. Through influencer marketing, your product or service reaches a massive number of audience more than other marketing methodologies could do.
Finding the right influencer on the right Social Media platform to market your business is the quintessential element with making influencer marketing a real go-to market strategy.
If you are a fashion apparel or lifestyle brand, Instagram can give you all leverage to promote your brand through Influencers.
However, before getting started with influencer marketing, a company has to identify the goals, plan the budget, strategize, identify the right influencer, promote the brand and review the strategy set for fruitful results.
d. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing refers to the promotion of a business or a product and earning commission from the sale that happens.
In this model, sellers get benefited by increasing their sales and giving the affiliates (people who promote) a financial incentive for each sale. The affiliates can be individuals or agencies. They can create content and promote them on platforms specified for each business and share the revenue with the seller of the product generating a passive income.
Amazon.com has also taken initiatives to run an affiliate program helping businesses and influencers parallely.
e. Video Marketing
Video Marketing works wonders on any business, be it a B2B or B2C. Videos are the most commonly consumed form of content when compared to infographics or text content. The ROI with video marketing is also huge.
Videos are relatable by the audience for which a brand can bring in a new customer on a higher frequency. This is evident enough from the analysis made by Animoto in 2019, a video creation company that has stated that 93% of brands get new customers through a video on Social Media.
While Product companies create explainer videos, demo and launch videos, Service firms use live videos, promos and bytes from longer videos as their marketing strategy. Added to this, videos have also been playing predominant roles in the Education sectors.
Who said that product and marketing videos can’t be binged on? For that, the video marketer has to consider the following:
->Shorter attention spans of audience
->Using intriguing content to tell a story
->Adding relevant call to action
After so much reading about viable marketing strategies for startups, I’m also responsible to tell you that this study by Gartner, will help you in assessing your marketing investments for the future.
Plan ahead, Sell More!