5-Step Guide to Success In the Digital Era

Technology makes the work of marketing department quite simple. They needn’t put extraordinary efforts to reach potential customers or to establish the brand. The majority of the work is done by a powerful tool, the social media. However, experts say that making the optimum use of new-age digital tools s a tricky business. Not everyone is proficient in it. How to take the maximum advantage of it? Here is a five-step guide.

Make a wise use of social media

Remember, there is no point in following the trend always. You have to be logical and rational. It is a common observation that people start online venture when they don’t have sufficient resources to handle the load. Don’t get carried away with the statistics about business ventures that made a fortune by leveraging social media. Yes, it is true but not fully. As a matter of the pact, most of the business ventures that rely heavily on social media close within a year or so.

Do not believe much in the search results

Sounds strange, uh? When everyone is going crazy about search results and visibility, you can choose a path of showcasing your product exclusively in the virtual world. Special brands know the secret, and they leverage it . When you restrict the access to your product, service or brand, it becomes precious.

Derive a marketing strategy that suits you

As per experts, it isn’t a wise thing to copy a digital marketing strategy from others. Each business is different and so is the marketing strategy. What proves excellent for others may not be effective in your case at all. Hence, set the goal before you start. Share the content about your product, service or brand on the social media.

Choose right marketing channels

Digital marketing is a vast niche with so many choices. You should choose channels that are most appropriate to you. Search engine, social media advertizing, mobile marketing, and paid marketing to name a few. You should be quite clear about the use of the right channel.

Monitor the strategy and tweak if necessary

Nothing is constant in the world, including the digital marketing strategy of your company. You should monitor the effectiveness of it and make necessary changes wherever needed. There is no point in spending huge money on a strategy that doesn’t perform well. Give some time to establish it. If you feel that it isn’t performing even after that, then revamp it.

Marketing tips for startups that bootstrapped their way to success

When building your startup, you have two options; raise funds or bootstrap. The business plan way of raising money for your venture still has its place. However, intense competition among startups makes raising funds a long shot for most entrepreneurs.

For the most part, you will be better off bootstrapping your startup until you have some traction to raise the eyebrows of keen investors. Marketing can make or break your startup.

Establish Networks & Connect

Prepare a list of professionals to connect with them, dig-out your full resources to get a contact detail of professionals. The best source is internet where you will find bunch of professionals.  Join relevant groups on LinkedIn, YCombinator, and Reddit to connect with people that can help you. Conferences are also great; just attend the right ones.

Get Customer Input

Get feedback for your product before you build it. Interview your prospective customers to determine their problems. Then, provide different solutions and identify the ones the prospects seem to favor. Finally, ask the prospects if they will be willing to pay for the solution.

Listen to Customers

Listen to the needs of your customers. Use your customers to determine what to provide and how to provide it. Before you make a full offer, test the waters with your customers and let them drive your offer and marketing strategy.

Use Partnerships

Use partnerships to grow your business. When promoting your startup or product, identify other people in your space that can help you get the word out. Partnering with an established company can help to build credibility for your startup.

Use Influencers

Identify a number of key influencers in your industry and form a good relationship with them. Focus your efforts in building a relationship with influencers that have followers and that can market your startup to the right audience.

Trending Topics

Generate buzz for your startup by riding on the coattails of a currently trending “hot topic.” 99designs used this strategy to create buzz on their startup. When GAP unveiled a logo design, which was heavily criticized on the web, 99 designs took advantage of the happening with a crowdsourcing competition to show what its community can deliver.

Use Email

Use email to reach your prospects. There are many cost-effective email solutions that will work for your startup. MailChimp has a free plan that allows sending emails to up to 12,000 subscribers per month. If you can invest in paid email solutions, you can set up autoresponders and run more elaborate email campaigns.

Use Video

Many startups tend to forget the power of video. YouTube is a must if you are bootstrapping your business. Video can not only build your brand, but also get subscribers and visitors to your website. Sevenly.org leveraged YouTube to generate over 40,000 unique visitors in less than 30 days.

 Focus on Benefits

People always buy the benefit, not the feature. Do not lose sight of your business value proposition. You do not have to be better, different or expensive in the market. What matters is how you frame the differences in terms of the benefits, associated risks and value that resonate with your customers.

Cold Calling

Do not be afraid to do cold calling. If you have a great product that will be useful to your target market, call people and ask them to use it. Liam Martin got initial traction for his business through cold calling.