9 New Startups Marketing Rules Everyone Should Know

Having your own startup can be quite an exciting experience. You start with an idea and as you grow it into a feasible product or service, there is a lot of learning involved along the way. Sometimes you follow the steps of successful entrepreneurs to get through certain phases and many-a-times you innovate the solutions suiting your situations.

Amidst all the excitement and juggling from one hurdle to another, the one common dialogue that most of the startup owners “We do not have much budget for marketing.”

Well, it’s completely understandable since getting investments for a startup is no easy task. However, another fact also remains that a startup needs to involve more in marketing than any established company in order to develop the customer base and survive in the competitive markets.

9 New Startups Marketing Rules 2017

So, to ensure that you are able to implement at least some of the marketing strategies before you have enough budget to hire a marketing expert, here are few marketing tips and rules that would provide you a kick start.

1. Know Yourself

Before you can even begin to think about creating a marketing campaign, you need to have a clear image of what your business is about and why do you exist in the market. Create a layout of your business concept, its goals and your USP in order to figure out how and where you should put in your endeavors to position your company.

2. Have a Consistent Approach

It is very important that you are being consistent in defining your business and own self every time you make a public appearance or you interact with others. For instance, if your name is Chandler M. Bing then you should be using it as it is in your visiting cards and on your social media profiles. Don’t shorten it to Chan or anything else while introducing yourself.

3. Engage, Rather Than Just Selling

Being a startup, your desperation to sell more and reach your break-even is completely understood. However, it is important that you aim to engage your customers for long term relationships instead of being satisfied with the fact that you sold them your product or service for that one time. As an entrepreneur, you should always focus on the long term benefits.

4. Choose Your Niche Market

Though it seems tempting to reach out to a larger market, it would also require lots of budget because you cannot entice every kind of audience with the same marketing approach. Thus, it is better that you narrow down to a niche of audience for your initial launch and concentrate on marketing just among them. This will increase your probability of success also.

5. Be Noticed

We know that online media makes you reach everywhere with all the blogs and social media posts, but do not ignore the importance of offline media. Make sure that people are seeing your brand everywhere they go without making it seem like in their face. You can use OOH (Out of Home) marketing mediums like putting stickers on local vehicles to promote your brand.

6. Provide Irresistible Offers

Customers these days are open to experimenting with a new brand if they receive any benefit from switching from their existing brand. Provide coupons to your customers for their first few purchases and once they start liking your products and services, they are ought to stick to you even if you will give them offers once in a while.

7. Surprise Your Customers

Since you are new in the market, the customers would be hesitant to try your brand. So, provide them with free samples or giveaways to entice them for actual purchase. In fact, if it is an ecommerce website then you can also surprise your customers by offering them gifts along with their orders or surprising them with goodies on their special days like birthday or anniversary.

8. Be friends with writers and journalists

There are so many budding blog writers and junior journalists in the industries who probably do not receive as many mails in their inboxes every day. Make them your friends and they would be more than happy to write about you. Remember, these junior writers and journos are the ones who will reach a prominent position in their field one day, and then they will get you even more publicity and hence business.

9. Observe and Act

You are obviously going to carry out 5 or 10 different marketing campaigns at once because just like your business, your marketing tactics are also in the experimental stage. So, make sure that you are observing the kind of feedback you are receiving through each channel to figure out which one works the best with your target audience.

Final Piece of Advice…

Be Patient! That is your key to success in everything. Being a startup, you are not going to start selling at peak or become a favorite among the public unless you have found a unicorn or genie to make your every wish become miraculously true (and in that case, let us know your secret too). Otherwise, make sure that you are open to experimenting and you have the patience before you start witnessing desired results.

About The author:

Ashish Sharma is a Key Account Manager, looking after Marketing Strategies and building new business tie ups at WeDigTech – Offer Mobile App Development in India. Focused on helping enterprises StartUps from domestic to MNCs.