“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”
Benjamin Franklin
Starting any new business is not a piece of cake it comes with its own set of challenges and requires a lot of dedication and perseverance. According to Investopedia, “Research concludes 21.5% of startups fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% in the fifth year, and 70% in their 10th year.”
There are many reasons for businesses to fail, it could be a bad partnership, less capital injection, lack of effective marketing strategies, and failure to understand the target market.
Fortunately, the digital market is a silver bullet for startups if used effectively. Internet, smartphones, and the availability of free Wi- fi spots have changed the whole consumer buying pattern. Compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing is the most cost-effective and result-oriented. So without further ado, I will give a quick guide to startup ventures who are new to digital marketing and looking for groundbreaking strategies to kickstart their business.
Develop a website
The first step in increasing online visibility is developing a website or a landing page for your business. It is a great tool for attracting potential customers, generating leads, and getting conversions. There are two easy ways to do it, you can either make a website on Wix or WordPress. Wix is ideal for beginners with certain limitations. However, WordPress is more functionally sound. If you do not have any knowledge about website coding then I would suggest Wix. With a small investment, you can have your very own website.
Understand your target market
The primary goal of any business is to make sales. And for this reason, understanding the target market is very important. You need to know everything about your target market, demographic details, behavioral traits, and interests. You can do this simply by digging into your website analytics, this will give you some information to begin your survey to know them better about their interests and habits.
Develop digital strategies to target potential customers
Once you have collected the data about the target market, you need to devise strategies to be visible to the potential customers based on their likings and interests. The most vital information that you should be seeking is the online habits, how effective they are online, which digital platform they use the most, at what time of the day they are active, and what influences their buying behavior.
Work on SEO
Search engine optimization helps in increasing online presence. It will increase your chances to be on the top search results on the search engines. Optimizing your website content according to the keywords most sought by the target market is one of the many SEO strategies that produces excellent results. Other SEO strategies are technical and require hands-on experience in getting them perfect.
Setting up an email marketing campaign
There are 4 billion email users worldwide. It shows that emails are still very effective for marketing purposes. An effective email marketing campaign yields the highest return on investment. You can make your campaign on Mail Chimp for free.
Reality Check!
Don’t expect results overnight. Have realistic goals and timelines. Digital strategies require continuous improvement. You cannot stick to the same strategy for a long time. You have to be innovative and creative in getting close to your target market as the competition is cutthroat. With a personalized approach and better communication strategy, you will be able to break through the noise and make your brand shine.