Marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a startup. However, many entrepreneurs are unsure about what marketing tactics work best for their company. This article will present six startup marketing strategies that can increase your chances of highly efficient marketing with ROI.
1. Media Coverage & Public Relations:
In my opinion, the first marketing move a startup needs to make is building their brand and thought leadership expertise via media coverage.
This includes:
*Finding relevant media publications and journalists in your niche and building a relationship with them. Learning what they are interested in, taking a genuine interest in their media outlets and personal brand, sharing media they have written, etc. Later on, when relevant, you can start pitching them stories, press releases, and commentary about or related to your startup. But make sure it is accurate and newsworthy.
*Building out your owned media; this can be having a YouTube channel, running a podcast, writing articles, and guest posts. This is an excellent way of building thought leadership within your niche which can often lead to collaboration opportunities and network expansion.
*When it comes to media coverage, you can also benefit tremendously from influencer marketing. This is where you partner with well-known individuals within your niche and industry for them to promote your startup or product effectively, to a direct audience, with their authority approval. Note that Tech influencers are very selective with the companies they choose to be associated with.
2. Paid Advertising:
LinkedIn ads are targeted towards your perfect customer. It's a great way to get started with paid advertising on LinkedIn because it's very similar to Google Ads. The best part about LinkedIn ads is that the users already have a job title, so you can target them by their profession, making sure they're in the market for what you sell!
The LinkedIn ads targeting options are the most advanced in the advertising space. You can target people by company, job title, job skill, industry, and many more.
LinkedIn ad targeting options are also expensive, so advertisers need to have highly focused goals to get their campaigns running smoothly and accurately.
LinkedIn also lets you upload lists of specific companies that you want to target. So this makes it easier to target specific job titles in specific companies.
3. Social Media Organic Reach:
Social media organic reach has become very low due to paid advertisement growth; however, there are still ways that businesses can benefit from social media without having to pay for ad space.
Business owners must understand how each platform operates so they know how best to utilize what it can offer.
Platforms like LinkedIn, Quora, and Facebook provide a high level of organic reach via personal profiles.
That is why your startup's leadership team should have an optimized LinkedIn profile, as they will be the ones who investors, business prospects, and potential employees will check out before deciding on your company.
This includes having a well-written "about" section, featured media, banner, and accurate resume info, also showcasing who you have worked within the past, awards won or press coverage achieved; basically, any information which paints an accurate picture of why they should want to work with you over another business.
4. LinkedIn Outreach:
The LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium product that allows users to search for their target market and see who can be contacted to grow sales.
It also shows you who your LinkedIn connections know so they can serve as introductions if needed.
Your sales reps can benefit tremendously from working with the LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Lots of LinkedIn outreach agencies build their whole infrastructure on LinkedIn sales navigator.
Just make sure to have organized and data-driven pitching templates ready.
5. Email marketing:
The right startup email list can help you get more leads, convert better and grow faster.
There are several affordable solutions out there that make building a quality startup email list very easy these days - either by using an existing tool or working with a company like Zoom Info.
Just make sure your team has clear guidelines on approaching their emails, so everyone acts in compliance with GDPR regulations.
One thing to consider when building your startup email list is the quality of the people on it. While you need volume for an effective marketing campaign, having low-quality leads can hurt your business in many ways.
6. Event Hostings, Webinars, Newsletters, Product Q&A's:
Hosting events can be a great way to generate an audience. Try hosting a workshop or creating a meet-up at your space for people in the community who are interested in your product/service.
Webinars are another popular strategy with high-growth startups as they allow you to create content and increase engagement from prospects by providing them with knowledge on how to use your products/services.
If done correctly, webinars can boost conversions pretty significantly, so make sure you have the right tools before jumping into this tactic.
Email newsletters should be sent out weekly and include new content, upcoming events, or announcements related to your business.
Hosting product Q&A's can be another great way to generate leads. This will give prospects the chance to ask questions about products they are interested in buying and gives you valuable insight into what kinds of things they care about most so you know how to target future sales efforts better.