marketing strategies for startups

Running a business from its start till it gains root isn’t an easy encounter. It requires planning, determination, and learning. One area that most business starters underscore is failing to establish proper marketing strategies. Even after coming with a great business plan, you need to put strategies that will help build your new business and increase its market visibility. Luckily, there are inexpensive strategies you can use to reach out to your intended customers. That’s said, if you are thinking of starting a business, you can always use the following affordable marketing strategies for prosperity:

Establish a Referral Program

Establishing a referral program is one of the best and affordable marketing strategies new startups can use. Through the programs, you allow your customers to do the marketing for you. Depending on your proposed referral structure, you can give your current customers discounts or rewards each time they refer a new customer to your business. When one is referred to your business, the chances of them bringing other new referrals is high. However, for the circle to continue, make sure you provide high-quality and competitive products/services.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

In the present digital world, many people are searching for information online. If you have a business website, it becomes more meaningful to invest in small business SEO services to increase its visibility on search pages. The key secret towards optimizing your website is identifying and using relevant keywords that are attractive to your audience. Also, you need to create high-quality and unique business content that will easily attract backlinks to your domain.

Social Media Marketing

You cannot mention low-budget marketing ideas for startup businesses without mentioning social media. Of late, social media has turned out to be an effective marketing tool for all kinds of businesses. Millions of people are gaining access to Facebook apps, linked in, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram. Creating business pages across all these platforms requires no cost. Better yet, you can use the pages to engage your audiences by posting relevant, creative, and interesting content.

Offline Promotions

Digital marketing is good. But sometimes, you may find it incontinence for your business promotion. In that case, switching to offline promotions can be viable. According to sales experts, traditional marketing isn’t obsolete. Instead, it should come in where digital marketing isn’t effective or expensive. There are plenty of offline promotion options available. For instance, you can create a magazine ad, commercial billboards, and business cards/brochures or send direct postal cards. Mixing all the offline marketing strategies will help you reach your customers in an affordable manner.

Conclusion

As a business startup, you need to invest in simple and affordable marketing strategies, as mentioned above. However, before implementing the strategies, it’s advisable that you first understand your target audience. This will help you apply the most suitable and efficient marketing strategy.

The one thing to keep in mind when developing your businesses’ marketing strategy is to think carefully about your longer term goals instead of just the short term tactical marketing activations. It is important to develop an effective long term marketing strategy rather than just focussing on short term wins.

There is no doubt that without an effective short-term plan, your business may not be able to make it to the next month. However, you do also need to plan for the future growth of your business. Long-term activities will continue to establish brand awareness and continue to drive results for your business years after they have been implemented. Without a long-term strategy, you don’t know where your business could be in 5 -10 years.

So, how can you ensure that the money you are investing in marketing will drive you a return for your business in the longer term? What are the initiatives you need to put in place now to reap the results later?

Below are 5 essential marketing tips that will be beneficial to your business and help it to grow in the long run. All of them are fairly simple to implement. And they’re all very effective at building awareness for any type of business:

1. Invest in good quality signage for your business shop front that will last for years

Use a reliable printing solution company such as Colour Graphics to ensure that you receive high-quality materials that have the durability factor. By establishing a permanent presence that clearly represents your brand in a beautifully designed shop front will help drive ongoing awareness with passersby.

As signage moves from print to digital, be sure to keep up with market trends and invest in some high-quality digital signage as well. Create stunning and affordable HD and 4k signage visuals in minutes using professional digital signage templates on PosterMyWall. Play your customized on-brand visuals on your signage screens in a few clicks, edit your designs in real-time and start attracting people to your stores!

2. Invest in a well-designed website for your business

Establish your online presence by creating a website that represents your brand in the best way. It doesn’t cost much to get a professional website designer. Create content that is optimised for search to drive traffic to your site on an ongoing basis.

If you have great content on your site that includes relevant keywords, you will find that it continues to get even without any investment. Once a website is designed and has great content, it can be fairly easy to maintain for as long as your business is running.

3. Start to run regular Facebook campaigns to grow your reach

Add Facebook campaigns to your ongoing marketing strategy. They are cost effective and drive great results in terms of awareness for your business online.

You can target potential customers on Facebook using their paid advertising options. It doesn’t cost much and allows you to really target those who could be interested. Since you don’t have to invest much budget, this is an effective tactic to use over the long term.

4. Get on social media to engage with your customers

A good tactic to establish yourself as a brand over the long term is to engage with customers online.

Social media is also a great avenue to post any news or offers from your business. Platforms like Twitter are also really great as customer service channels.

Ongoing engagement and interaction with customers will help build their trust and affection for your business over the years. This will in turn drive long term loyalty that will result in brand growth over time.

5. Get the local community excited about the business if it’s local, using posters and banners

Create a local marketing plan that is more focused on driving ongoing awareness of your business in the neighbourhood. You can use physical marketing tactics such as banners and other more permanent types of signage to establish your presence in the local community.

If you’re looking for quality print solutions in the UK, Colour Graphics offer a range of affordable options for banner printing. Visit their website to find out more.

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Affordable Marketing Strategies for Your New Start-Up