When is the Right Time for
Digital Marketing Your New Business?
When Should You Start Digital Marketing?
The short and simple answer is immediate. Your target marketing, target geographic region, and competition are some things to consider. Once you have that established, then try to set a realistic budget. Without Marketing and Advertising, it will take a long time for your business to gain traction. We have compiled these articles to assist you in your marketing planning effort for your new business.
When is the right time for digital marketing your new business?
[1]So you recently started a business. Or maybe you have a small business that you’re trying to get off the ground and running.
Of course, now you need to start getting the word out about your start-up. The great news is, digital marketing is highly accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes, no matter your budget size.
But digital marketing is extensive. If you know nothing about it, you can easily get lost in the noise, which means you can waste your efforts and have little results to show for it.
On the other hand, if you do digital marketing the right way, you can increase your customer base, survive, and even thrive as a business.
To get the right results, you need to follow digital marketing best practices.
In this blog post, discover seven top digital marketing best practices for new start-up businesses.
1. Create marketing and buyer personas
You’ll find many best practices in this post. But this is probably the most important one. There are two sides to digital marketing:
- Your business
- Your audience
All you do is use marketing channels to connect your business to its audience and provoke them to take the actions you want. But how do you market to an audience you don’t know? Almost impossible.
This is why buyer personas must be your first step in digital marketing. This is essentially a document that contains all the details about your ideal customer or customers. These include:
- Name
- Age group
- Job
- Income
- Location
- Solutions they need from your business
- How they research products online
- Their favorite social media channels
- Their favorite customer support channel
When you have these details, you’re able to focus on marketing channels that are likely to yield results for your business. Furthermore, statistics show that personas can make your website two to five times more effective for targeted users.
After all, to properly market a product or service, you need to know who exactly you’re going to market it to.
2. Optimize your content for search engines
If your website shows up when people search for the solutions you offer, you get more visitors. It’s then far easier to convert these visitors because they’re highly targeted.
So, how do you start with SEO as a beginner?
The first step to improve your visibility on search engines is to carry out keyword research.
Through keyword research, you can find the terms your potential customers are using on search engines. As a new business, it’s better to target long-tail keywords (three or more words).
These long-tail keywords have three big advantages:
- They have a clear intent.
- They have low competition (and therefore, it’s easier to get those top spots).
- They account for a large portion of searches.
According to Casie Gillette, 50% of search queries are four words or longer. Also, through long-tail keywords, Neil Patel got 173,336 more search engine visitors per month to Quick Sprout.
Additionally, if you run a local business, you should optimize your business for local search. This involves uploading your business details to important local listings and collecting reviews from your customers.
Another aspect to bear in mind is paid advertisements. Search engine optimization (SEO) can take a long time before you see results. As you work on your SEO, you can get results faster with paid advertisements when you target valuable keywords in your business.
3. Have a regularly updated blog
Your potential customers need content to guide them during the buying process. DemandGen Report revealed that 47% of buyers viewed three to five pieces of content before they engaged with a sales rep. To help, you can create an editorial calendar to publish new content consistently on your blog.
A regularly updated blog also helps you rank for more keywords on search engines and gain more leads. HubSpot found that companies that published 16 blog posts monthly got 4.5 times more leads than those with zero to four posts.
However, you need to know that blogging goes beyond just cranking the posts out. You have to create posts on your blog to solve problems for your audience. You should also guest blog on other industry websites to gain access to a wider audience – and generate more inbound links for your website, therefore helping you boost your website’s SEO.
4. Engage your audience through personalized emails
If you want to reach your audience personally, email is one of your best bets. The result speaks for itself.
For instance, a study found that email campaigns have a return on investment (ROI) of $44 on each dollar spent.
However, you need to note that email marketing has changed over the years. Now, you need to send personalized emails to your subscribers to get them to open your emails and click-through to your website.
For example, emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.
Digital Marketing Tips To Grow Your Startup In 2020
It’s a great achievement to launch your own startup in this tightly packed global business industry. You dreamt big and coalesced resources, ideas, and action plans to create your nascent platform.
A pat on the back for you and a nudge on the other shoulder. You have yet to go stronger to grow stronger.
In this fast-paced and influencing business industry, you need to take measures to establish your brand name with a robust digital marketing strategy for your startup.
Digital marketing for the startup is an essential tool, can contribute powerfully to your online presence and positively impact your bottom line.
Everything you do to build your digital presence counts toward your brand name getting known. When your target audience knows you, it will start affecting your bottom line.
And one of the most effective ways to create a strong presence is by using digital media for your marketing needs.
[2]Here are 5 essential digital marketing tips for startups:
1. User experience
Your audience is what matters. Your audience must be able to engage with your brand name, your values, and your product to build a lasting relationship and association with your company.
Similarly, the audience is now more reflective and receptive when brands offer them unique user experiences and brand value.
Digital marketing strategies for startups must be designed carefully to appeal to the audience of your market. Delve into research and find out what works for your audience.
Build their interest and knowledge by providing them with content that informs and inspires them. You will also be able to strengthen the brand voice by continuously engaging with your audience.
User experience can be made effective primarily through content, communication channels, and intuitive UI.
The loading speed of your website; the intuitive menu navigation; chatbots that assist in communication; and the simplicity and tone of your content are key to a great user experience.
In addition, you need to develop a client management strategy that helps you connect with your customers.
This strategy will walk you through query and complaint management. Moreover, it will collect feedback for improvement and make your clients feel part of the brand community.
For example, develop a series of simple FAQs and use them to respond to your audience and clients’ queries on social media, via email, on the phone, etc.
If you are keen to get involved more, the digital world is full of new updates. Go ahead and search for more tips and trends on making a captivating user experience.
2. Creative content
You will need to invest in a solid content marketing strategy that engages your audience. Create content that is unique and fresh as it can have a strong impact o your target market.
From communicating your brand’s message to engaging your customers with information, content is supreme as it gives something useful to your potential customers.
3. Social media platforms
Your online presence and identity begin with your website and social media platforms. So you can engage your audience, communicate your message with powerful content through a strong social media platform.
One of the first things that you probably worked on was an active social media strategy as a startup.
You know that in this business industry, social media is the key to leveraging your brand awareness and value.
Apps like Snapchat and Instagram are becoming popular and engaging the audience with brand names.
Be consistent and regular in your social media strategy and maximize your growth. Good social media strategies can profoundly impact lead generation and conversions, brand awareness, and, of course, better search engine ranking.
And while social media platforms are effective and raging with success for startups and established brands, influencer marketing has risen since 2016. This is like referrals that are convincing for the vast majority of social media users.
Keep a watchful eye on who could be your brand’s influencers. Get in touch with them and engage them in helping you build your brand’s visibility.
4. Video marketing is seeing an upward trend
Videos are powerful tools for startups to communicate extensively. Consider Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, and Snapchat stories to engage your audience.
You can hold webinars and live events for product launches, hold tutorials and answer questions in real-time. This gives a tangible feeling to your audience and helps them connect more closely with your brand and product.
5. Search engine optimization
And most importantly, invest in a credible SEO solution. Conduct an SEO audit and find out how users are interacting with your website and social media platforms.
SEO will look into aspects of your website and page optimization, device optimization, and credible link building for better visibility in search engine results.
For example, in one of Google’s critical updates, the websites that are not responsive on various digital devices will not appear in search altogether, regardless of their SEO measures!
[3]Digital Marketing Strategies For Startups
1 – Know What You’re Talking About
To fully understand the process of digital marketing optimization, you need to know exactly what we’re talking about. Digital marketing tip number one is to get up to speed on our list of 75 Must-Know Digital Marketing Terms.
2 – Develop a POWERFUL Digital Marketing Strategy
When it comes to digital marketing, a strategy is the foundation of all your efforts. Every marketing action you take should tie back to your strategy, and each should work as collaborative elements of a skillful marketing machine.
Unfortunately, most marketers refer to as a “strategy” is actually just an amalgam of individual tactics. Digital marketing tip number two is to understand better the importance of developing your own powerful strategy and use it to build a fully functional inbound sales funnel that drives sales.
3 – Keep Your Digital Marketing Strategy Relevant
Once you’ve established a powerful digital marketing strategy, you’re good to go. Not really. It would help if you considered your strategy to be a living document that is continually updated based on new information.
Our third digital marketing tip is to keep your strategy relevant to deliver optimal outcomes for your company.
4 – Regularly Assess Business Performance
The performance of your marketing goes beyond the strategy that you implement. To determine how your marketing program impacts your company, be sure to assess your business performance regularly and truly understand where your business is heading.
5 – Nurture Leads Through Their Buyer’s Journey
To develop a highly effective marketing machine, you’ll need to reach your customers earlier in their buying journey than most companies do. In doing this, you’ll be able to nurture them towards a conversion rather than losing them amongst the noise of pushy sales copy and ads.
Understanding your unique buyer’s journey and approaching customers at each stage is critical and rounds out digital marketing tip number 5.
6 – Focus on Results
Nothing you do matters if it isn’t generating results that meet the long-term goals of your company, which is why focusing on results above all other metrics is our next tip.
Our guide on results-based marketing explains exactly how to push beyond the limits of traditional marketing metrics (and most marketers’ comfort zones) to deliver the best possible outcomes and move the needle more than ever. Don’t miss it!
7 – Prioritize Quick Wins
When it comes to getting the biggest marketing bang for your buck, so to speak, seek out quick wins. Your marketing program likely has at least a few tweaks that could be made to deliver a positive impact FAST.
As you might have guessed, we have a guide dedicated to discovering quick wins in your company. This may be our seventh digital marketing tip, but it’s a great place to start when starting actually executing your strategy.
8 – Make Decisions Based on Data
Too many marketers are simply going through the motions because they “know” that the actions they’re taking are what they’re “supposed” to be doing. If you do not see positive feedback in your data, it’s time to make a change.
We wrote this article on data-driven marketing for exactly that reason. Read it to discover how to determine what’s working, what’s not, and what you should do about it.
9 – Regularly Audit Your Marketing Program
You built the perfect marketing machine that delivered superb results with very little input from your team, and then it all blew up. It happens to the best of us—but only if we don’t regularly audit the performance of our marketing and work to identify gaps in our marketing strategy.
That’s why digital marketing tip number 9 is to audit your marketing program regularly. You’ll learn exactly what to look for and how to stay ahead of most of your marketing problems in this powerful guide: How to Conduct a Full Scope Marketing Audit for Your Business.
10 – Track the RIGHT KPIs
While we’re on the subject of tracking your performance, we need to talk about the KPIs you’re tracking. If you’re not tracking the KPIs relevant to your goals and the success of your organization, you’re far less likely to reach them.
We created this list of 70 digital marketing KPIs to help you understand what you should and should not be tracking based on your goals. Be sure to give it a study before you draft your next marketing report.
11 – Ensure Your Branding Speaks to Your Ideal Buyer
When it comes to selling your brand to buyers, it’s no secret that aesthetics are important. People learn a lot about your brand without ever reading a word of copy on your website, blog, or social media accounts.
You could have the most beautifully designed site with breathtaking visuals, but if it’s not appealing to your targeted audience, then it’s not doing its job. Learn the fundamental rules for branding design to create an effective aesthetic that will help you gain your customers’ trust and long-term support.
12 – Use the Right Marketing Automation Platform
Marketing automation is a crucial part of your digital marketing strategy. It would be best to utilize marketing automation software to deliver highly personalized and perfectly timed content to customers as they make their way along the buyer’s journey.
If you’re asking yourself, “how the heck do I choose a marketing automation software when there are SO MANY different options?” then you’ve come to the right place. Tip number 11 is to find a marketing automation platform that works best for you.
13 – Focus on Mobile
People are consuming content from their mobile devices more and more each day. Reaching an audience on handheld devices should be a key element to your marketing strategy—simply treating mobile marketing as an extension of your desktop content will not suffice!
You need to understand the core concepts of mobile marketing to learn how to construct an effective mobile strategy for your company properly. Failing to do so will leave major gaps in your marketing strategy and give your competition the chance to steal potential buyers!
14 – Establish a Community
Are you having trouble generating leads and building your email list? Using the Challenge Technique is the quickest way to foster a community of individuals that truly want to communicate with your company. By participating in a challenge, they can engage with your brand in an intimate, personal way that creates lasting relationships. Learn how to boost audience engagement in five easy steps!
15 – Work With Influencers
Influencers are great at getting your message in front of their audience, but who’s to say that audience wants to hear what you have to say? Choosing an influencer who can promote your brand in a relevant and organic way without numbing their audience to their product placement is a delicate balancing act.
That being said, influencer outreach is one of the fastest-growing forms of online customer acquisition and, if done correctly, is a compelling marketing strategy. That’s why tip number 15 is to work with influencers—in the most effective manner possible, of course!
Conclusion:
Never give up. Always tune your marketing efforts to match your personality, your product, your target market, and the budget you have. Don’t follow every whim. Stay focused and monitor your marketing efforts and go to where you are getting the best impact. Should you need help in your marketing plans, call hughesagency.ca today.
Article compiled by hughesagency.ca
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