Research report- Top 5 digital marketing techniques for startups

 

5 BEST DIGITAL MARKETING TECHNIQUES FOR A STARTUP( Whitepaper Report by Praharsh Chaubey-Summary)

Digital marketing  is the use of digital devices and the internet to create and stimulate demand for an offering or to build/improve a brand image. 

In modern times, businesses are supplementing traditional marketing techniques such as advertising on print media, televisions, direct marketing by salespersons etc., with digital marketing techniques which are considered more cost effective and efficient. Almost all businesses are part of this trend but here, let's look at the case of startups more closely...

Startups are often built on strong ideas, but usually start with low financing, established competition and have no reputation or recognition in the market. This forms a significant hurdle in effectively marketing the business's offerings (products/services). Its no wonder a majority of startups fail before getting profitable. 

However, with the right offerings, management and proper use of correct digital marketing techniques, many startups have found quick popularity and sales...

So how do we go about it? With limited resources and existing competition, a startup needs low cost methods to target the right customers while avoiding direct conflict with strong competitors. Sounds tricky, but the right digital marketing techniques make the job easy!

Let's uncover the techniques which should be used in such a situation and why:-

1. Content marketing

Content marketing is a popular technique of online marketing, which involves the use of online content to promote a businesss brand image and offerings (i.e. products and/or services). It is further used for marketing on social media, websites and other online advertisements.

Notably, as per studies conducted for recent years (2017-2019), by Smart Insights, a publisher and management support platform, most marketers consider content marketing as the most effective technique for online marketing. 

2. Social media marketing and Online community management 

Social media marketing is the online technique of marketing which involves using social media platforms to connect with the target audience in order build a brands image, maintain relations with customers, promote products  / services, increase traffic on businesss web sites and ultimately increase sales of the businesss offering(s). 

It involves creating and sharing online content such as videos, blogs, messages and posts regularly on social networks and includes paid advertising. The potential of viewers further sharing interesting content to other relevant viewers increases the viewer ship scope of good content drastically. The popular social networks being used for social media marketing include Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn etc.

This is again a no / low cost technique with wide reach and scope for targeting.

Online community management is mainly a part of social media marketing, which involves the formation and maintenance of relations with multiple customers / potential customers, over social media, so as to form a productive community with continued conversation. It's been generally observed that maintaining customers is much cheaper than acquiring new customers and this makes community management all the more necessary and ideal for startups.

3. E-mail marketing

Electronic mail marketing is the use of electronic mails to promote a companys products or services, provide necessary information to customers and ultimately encourage the purchase of the businesss offering(s).

It involves sending commercial messages to defined group of potential customers, who have subscribed for the mails by their interest, making it an effective and targeted advertising tool. E-mails are commonly used for personalized advertising; further lead generation and conversation with specific customers.

Citation- [Buzzfeed] (2019) Retrieved from- https://mailfloss.com/30-email-marketing-campaign-examples/amp/

It is again a quick and low cost method of targeting, generating leads and retaining customers.

4. Website design and Search Engine Optimization

Web design encompasses the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web site development, web graphic design; interface design; authoring; user experience design and search engine optimization. Notably, web designing is a cheaper but less customizable option compared to developing a website.

Content and website design example (Designed by me)

A businesss web site should be designed around both aesthetics and usability and should primarily be focused on catering to the target visitors as per its objective. It must be mobile friendly and search engine optimised to get better quantity and quality of visitors. 

Also, remarketing through cookies and ad networks may be used to boost conversion of those who showed interest by showing them relevant ads accross various sites.

(Note- use of third party cookies is often considered inappropriate and Google has ratified their removal by 2022.)

These methods involve relatively low costs (for domains, hosting, designing software etc.) but can attract many new customers.

5. Web Analytics and Reporting

Digital Web Analytics is the practice of measurement, collection and analysis of data about performance of digital marketing tools, techniques or strategies in order to form reports on how web sites, apps and web browsers are used by audience and how to optimise them. It aims to maximize the positive effects and return on investment (ROI) of internet marketing tools, techniques or strategies.

It involves measuring and maintaining key performance indicators using analytics tools like Google analytics, Woopra, Facebook metrics, Similarweb etc.

Citation- [online marketing metrics] (2015). Retrieved from https://www.onlinesalesguidetip.com/which-metrics-are-essential-for-digital-marketing-measurement/

These tools are often free and must be used to determine effectiveness of digital marketing and identifying required corrections.

CONCLUSION

We may conclude that the above 5 techniques i.e. content marketing, social media marketing & online community management, e-mail marketing and web design; aided by web analytics; are ideal for effective and cost efficient marketing of a startup and its products/services. 

These are well tried and tested and are also used by established companies amongst other techniques such as celebrity marketing, paid advertising, search engine marketing, Big data analytics, Search Engine Management, Affiliate marketing etc. These other techniques involve higher costs but can also boost marketing effectiveness greatly; making them good choices for established and profitable businesses.

All the best!