Marketing Tips for Startups

by Startacus Admin

June Carmody helps Start Ups around the world build their company profiles. Here she gives Startacus a few inside tips on how to create a marketing strategy for your startup...

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required." Sir Winston Churchill

As a start-up entrepreneur, ensuring everything runs smoothly from the initial stages of market research and planning through to launch date and reaching out to the target market can be a lot of work. Taking into account, marketing and PR can seem like a strain and an extra task, which is often left on the sidelines due to other stresses. Getting the marketing strategy right from the beginning and laying foundations is a sure way to make your mark and ensure your brand is known early on.

But how do you know the right steps to take? And what if you don’t have a large budget to take on a marketing manager or the time and resources to supervise an intern? As a start-up, assessing the resources you have in-house will mean that your strategy is off to the right start.

Having worked with over 10 start-ups over the past two years across a variety of industries, I’ve come to understand the most efficient ways of managing a start-up marketing task strategy and have learned how to get it right with limited resources and budgets.

Keeping the following guidelines in mind will ensure you make the most of what you’ve got while still having time to focus on other areas of the business.

Fresh Minds

Research, research and more research, even after you’ve understood the market; the site is looking wonderful and you feel like you know what your customers are thinking, ask again. Gaining as much feedback as possible at the beginning will mean you can make more informed decisions about content, design and approach to the market. Build some surveys, create a Linkedin poll and ask the right questions so that you have as much information to work with as possible.

Think like the competitors

Whether there is one or ten competitors conquering your space and charming your customers, know who they are and what they are doing. Sure, you might have ‘the edge’ but they already have part of the market and have built relationships your potential customers. Have a look at their websites constantly; know where they are making noise and which noise is most effective. This will give you strong ideas for your own campaigns and an indication of what tactics you can safely avoid.

Consistency is key

Stay active with your marketing and keep your activity consistent. If you’re going to create a facebook profile, some google adwords campaigns or a Company blog then do it all but make sure it’s consistent. Consistency is what will attract your customers and will ensure that they stay active and want to interact with your content on an ongoing basis.

Build compelling content

It’s your start-up and you know it best. That’s why you started your business, right? So knowing the facts, the industry and what your fans and future customers would like to hear should be a piece of cake. Whether you are writing a press release, an introductory blog post or a shout out on facebook, make it interesting and relevant. Do your research and put yourself in your readers’ shoes, would this content be something that would make excited?

Don’t be afraid to try new tactics

The amount of options you can try when it comes to marketing to your audience is endless so never be afraid to explore the options, dedicate time to resources both online and offline and monitor everything. A/B testing is a sure fire way to know what works and what doesn’t. Out with the old and in with what works and you have the perfect formula for a successful marketing strategy.

Marketing is a process and something, which you will constantly build on throughout the lifetime of your business. Build your campaign little by little and with enthusiasm. Learn about what works and don’t forget to have patience, you will get the results."

June can be found on Twitter and thank you June for your time in writing this article for the site.

Oh and if you need some affordable but tailored publicity for your startup, the Startup publicity programme might be for you.

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Published on: 23rd April 2013