Essay on Start-Up Marketing Tips

Startups are young companies established by entrepreneurs to develop unique products or services in the market. Most startups start with the idea that finally grows into a feasible service, platform, or product after performing market research to ensure a need for such a service or product. Marketing is essential for startups since businesses need to determine which groups to target in the marketplace and how they can build competitiveness.

Section 1: Marketing Tips 

Businesses need to adopt a game plan to reach their prospective consumers and turn them into customers. Marketing tips are designed to help startups boost their sales and profits, attain their goals, and improve brand perception. In marketing, different techniques can be appropriately applied to ensure the startup utilizes its resources efficiently and effectively to achieve an advantage towards marketing competition. Therefore, startups can use three major marketing tips to beat adverse market impacts, as discussed below.

1). Social media marketing 

For startups, social media marketing is the most rewarding technique to grow in the competitive business community. Social media tools help startups engage with potential customers, increase their customer base, and establish brand awareness. In today’s competitive business environment, businesses use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to launch new products, connect with the target audience, collect feedback, run ad campaigns, and find leads (Linsdell, 2019). Brand awareness is an essential factor that can push startups to adopt social media marketing. Multiple global brands have relied on social media channels to market their brands. Since such channels can be accessed daily by billions of uses globally, startups can leverage this opportunity to push their brands in front of the world.

With social media platforms, brands can directly interact with their customers. According to research, 90% of customers directly communicate with their brands through social media platforms (Babych, n.d.). Further, 63% of social media users expect their brands to offer customer service through social platforms, which consumers have witnessed in contemporary times (Babych, n.d.). Therefore, it becomes easier for startups to connect with their audience by creating social media accounts, hence generating sales leads. Furthermore, most startups face cash flow issues, thus becoming imperative to spend every penny wisely (Linsdell, 2019). Social media marketing offers high traffic at minimal costs. Instagram and Facebook are cost-effective for launching marketing campaigns that suit startups’ budgets (Linsdell, 2019). If startups plan their content correctly, they can attain a significant return on investment from social media marketing.

2). Content marketing 

This strategy makes it easier for potential consumers to find the startup through search engine results. Content marketing requires startups to develop content regarding subjects and topics associated with their business to aid individuals in finding the business on the internet (Barker, 2018). Typically, this marketing strategy utilizes search engine optimization to enhance the startup’s rant in search results. Today, startups use influencers for content creation, and this technique has proved to work for many startups. People listen to influencers, and they are also considered a trusted source of information, the reason startups should use influencers in content marketing strategy. Content marketing is an important growth channel for startups since it develops trust with the audience, answers audience questions, and generates leads by connecting with customers (Barker, 2018). Today, most consumers expect consistent and high-quality content from their brands, opportunity startups can capitalize on.

3). Referral marketing

Developing a huge customer base can be well achieved through referral marketing. Customers become sellers in this strategy as they refer your products to others. For startups, gift cards or discounts can be offered for each referral (Munjal, 2019). Referral marketing has actually been tried and works. Besides, the technique is free and credible. Referral marketing helps startups grow their brand since loyal customers enhance their reputation and increase brand awareness (Munjal, 2019). Further, it is a cost-effective strategy as it can be tied through social media and emails.

Section 2: Market Research 

Market research enables startups to identify which marketing strategy to implement based on their resources and overall goals. Performing market research aids in determining the types of marketing campaigns that will reach the target audience.

Determining the target market

In today’s competitive business environment, a well-defined target market is vital. Targeting everyone can seem costly to businesses. With a clearly defined target market, it becomes easier to market the startup. To determine the target market, startups should first identify their current customer base. Look at the current customers, what they buy from the business, and their interests and characteristics (Porta, n.d.). Also, check who the competitors are targeting and their present customer network to identify whether they have overlooked a particular niche. Analyze the product and services you offer while detailing the benefits they provide and people who can potentially benefit from your product’s benefits. Next, startups need to select a particular demographic to target, for example, based on occupation, education level, income level, age, gender, and location (Porta, n.d.). Further, psychographic traits such as lifestyles, hobbies, interests, values, behavior, attitudes, and personality should also be defined (Porta, n.d.). After selecting the target market, startups should evaluate whether the individuals meet their criteria or whether their products or services will benefit the target market.

Industry research 

Performing industry research identifies potential areas of growth and any possible industry gaps the startup can fulfill. Startups can attain relevant information and enable them to assess financial and market factors in the industry and also track their competition (Maguire, 2015). In industry research, startups should assess their competitors to identify their source of competitiveness and current or future prospects that impact their profitability. Recognized models that assist in conducting industry research include the SWOT analysis tool, which reviews the startups’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Maguire, 2015). The competitive forces model is another tool that gives startups an idea of what outside forces can impact their business and thus aid in strategic planning and establishing the brand strategy.

Competitor data 

Competitors’ information is essential in strategic planning since it aids in decision-making regarding performance measurement against rivals. However, with the present age of surplus information, getting the correct data can be challenging. Thus, significant competitors’ data can be found through their websites which gives essential corporate information like geographic presence, leadership team, and products (netscribes, 2019). Annual reports are credible sources of data regarding subsidiaries, stakeholders, business growth strategies, number of employees, and financial data. Therefore, startups can evaluate how their competitors have been performing using historical data (netscribes, 2019). Other sources of competitors’ data include social media, parent databases, and primary research like interviews or surveys.

In conclusion, determining the target market for new entrepreneurs is essential to focus marketing efforts on individuals who are likely to purchase your products. Industry research helps in identifying potential disruptive trends, areas of future growth, products innovations, and what key competitors are doing. Moreover, evaluating the competitor’s data aids in understanding their strengths and weaknesses and determine potential market gaps. Competitors’ data helps build market strategies, capitalize on competitors’ weaknesses, and enhance overall startup performance.

References

Babych, M. Social Media Marketing for Startups: A Beginner’s Guide. SocialPilot. Retrieved 24 August 2021, from https://www.socialpilot.co/blog/social-media-marketing-for-startups.

Barker, S. (2018). 8 of the Most Effective Ways to Use Content Marketing for Startups. Shane Barker. Retrieved 24 August 2021, from https://shanebarker.com/blog/content-marketing-for-startups/.

Linsdell, M. (2019). The 9-Step Social Media Marketing Strategy for Startups | Publicize – PR Firm. Publicize – PR Firm. Retrieved 24 August 2021, from https://publicize.co/guides/social-media-marketing-strategy-for-startups/.

Maguire, A. (2015). Using industry analysis to crush the competition. QuickBooks. Retrieved 24 August 2021, from https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/marketing/market-research-tips-how-to-conduct-an-industry-analysis/.

Munjal, H. (2019). 10 Best Digital Marketing Strategies Startups Should Know. inc42. Retrieved 24 August 2021, from https://inc42.com/resources/10-best-digital-marketing-strategies-for-startups/.

Netscribes. (2019). 7 Sources of competitive intelligence for strategic management. Netscribes.com. Retrieved 24 August 2021, from https://www.netscribes.com/sources-of-competitive-intelligence/.

Porta, M. How to Define Your Target Market. Inc.com. Retrieved 24 August 2021, from https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html.