It's never too late to start marketing.
There is a myth that people can't start digital marketing because their competitor's are already so far ahead of them.
In this blog we talk about how you can get started with a digital marketing strategy in 2019.
It's time to catch up to your competitors.
As a startup, how do I get started with digital marketing?
This sounds so obvious, but just get online. I know that the next question is gonna be, how do I get online?
Your new company can and should have a Linkedin business page. You should have a Facebook page and you should have a website.
People should be able to find you on that website. And I'm talking like real basic stuff.
It doesn't have to be the kind of website that digital marketing agencies, like ourselves, will design for our clients.
Just something so that you can be found. It's shocking to me how many companies come to us and have no presence online at all.
What are the first three core steps into building an online presence?
The first step is getting your domain.
If you've got a name for your company, make sure nobody else buys it first. Buy it now and then just have something on that domain.
No need to focus on website ranking or what search results you rank for just yet.
Even if it's just a landing page for your business and you don't have a product or an about page. Maybe you just start with a homepage and a form at the bottom.
The second step is developing a social media strategy.
It cost no money upfront, it's not hard to use and it builds trust. It's a free chance to get the first 500 people to hear about your company and create some brand awareness.
When you make an account you'll get the opportunity to invite all your friends. They'll ignore it if they don't want it, but if they're interested, they might invite their friends who may also be interested.
It's a simple step towards So just send it to all of your friend whether it's Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
The third step is its own beast and that's LinkedIn.
I wouldn't group that in with the other forms of social media channels because it's a little different down the road. It's still similar to other forms of influencer marketing in the fact that you should just go out and make the page for your business but it's marketing considerations might be different.
Starting your marketing from square one
When it comes to strategies for startups, similarly to buyer persona research, before you begin you have to know who your target audience is. You also need to know what message they want to hear, what problems are solving for them and what's going to resonate with them.
Then you can focus on how you are going to reach your customers and what marketing channels you should use. Otherwise, you and your team members are going to spend all this time on content, website messaging, subject lines, social media, and you pull all this time and work pulling different levers.
But if there's not a strategy behind that specifically to your audience that you're trying to grow with. You're gonna be doing a lot of work that doesn't really bring in a lot of ROI.
So when you're doing your research knowing who your audience is and building that strategy with them in mind and not just getting your brand out there for the sake of getting your brand out there.
This is sort of like the infamous chicken or the egg debate.
You're not going to know who your customer persona is or what your potential customers look like unless you're selling a product or service. You can guess who you're going to, your target market is, but until you're actually making sales and knocking on doors and shaking hands, they're not going to know exactly.
For more, Check out our podcast "Under the Canopy: More than a marketing podcast"