When a business is put in motion, the first thing on the mind of the initiator is to make a profit. Every business initiator worth his salt is willing to learn and do just about anything to succeed even within the shortest possible period. Startups would go to great lengths to ensure that the intended market will receive their product. Marketing seems to be a major challenge for many startups and many components of businesses.
Why Bother with Marketing?
When asked what marketing system they intend to carry out, most startups do not have a clear-cut answer. Instead, it appears that marketing is an afterthought for most instead of an initial thought with conscious planning.
Marketing, however, is a major aspect that could determine the success or struggle of a startup company. When properly utilized, marketing strategies will relieve the company of a myriad of startup challenges.
Digital coast marketing identifies several important reasons for startups to make adequate plans for marketing. First, marketing helps the startup understand their customers by identifying who is most important to them.
Marketing will also help get your intended message to the right audience by optimizing how you send your message across. It also helps build your visibility and online presence for maximum engagement and profitability.
What to Pay Attention to in Marketing
When deploying marketing strategies, a lot of people abandon the essential basics to focus on some big and sometimes unattainable goals. According to bizjournals.com, having a very loud online presence without considering some of these essential elements could waste resources. Some of the things to pay attention to include:
- The first impression when marketing your products
Consider the kind of impression that potential customers will have when they see your marketing strategy. If your marketing content generates negative emotions, it would not be easy to re-engage the customer. Whatever type of marketing strategy you decide to use for your business, keeping the potential customer’s interest is key to maintaining interest in your product.
- Consistent messaging
While marketing your product, you must ensure that the message you send across is consistent and cohesive. For example, startups should ensure that wherever and whenever their product is met, the message on the product does not contradict their brand.
Digital or traditional marketing should complement each other and not have contradictory messages. Once a potential customer finds inconsistencies in the marketing of a product and the product itself, it kills all interest in the product.
- Quality experience
Most startups make the mistake of assuming that once the prospective customer gets hooked on the marketing of a product, there is no going back. However, many have found that this assumption is not only wrong, but it can also be disastrous for the company.
You need to ensure a quality experience for your startup | Source: Pexels
The physical evidence of the product being marketed must sustain the top-notch quality of the marketing of the product. Therefore, your aim should be to have the client come again. This can only be achieved when the service delivery experience is as quality as the marketing itself.
- Market benefits
Red zone marketing suggests that paying more attention to the benefits of a product instead of the features will help drive more traffic to the product. Many startups make the mistake of talking more about the features of a product than how it benefits the customer; this can be counterproductive.
- Traditional media can still be useful
Today, many startups pay more attention to modern digital marketing while neglecting the more traditional means of marketing. Although many startups have a huge funding challenge, employing traditional marketing can still provide the much-needed traffic for your product.
Radio, TV, and print advertisements should be given considerable thought when planning marketing strategies. However, this advertisement may not be viable for all products, but it should not be neglected.
How to Make the Best of Marketing Tools for Your Product
While making plans for the other aspects of your start-up, marketing must be part of the core areas to focus on. The best way to profit from marketing is to plan for it. Please do not assume that once your product is launched, it will generate traffic by itself. While this may eventually happen, it could lead to a feeling of despair and disillusionment when the traffic you need is not forthcoming.
Your marketing strategies should have the following:
- Have a clear goal
Set a marketing goal of how many people you want to reach and how much you intend to spend. It is disastrous to leave everything to chance; hence there is a need to plan.
- Have a target audience
Not every product is for everyone. Before you launch your product or start marketing, have a clear-cut idea of who you are aiming to attract to your product. Having a target audience helps you streamline your marketing strategy towards that particular audience. It also helps you maintain focus on how to develop your product to suit your target client base.
- Make a budget for marketing
Marketing does not necessarily have to consume a lot of money from the little the startup has, but there must be a plan to finance it. Having a budget for marketing ensures that you do not ignore this important aspect while attending to other things. But, no matter how little you spend on marketing, it is better than doing nothing about it.
- Employ professionals
When starting a business, many start-ups want to conserve funds as much as possible by doing a lot of things by themselves. While this may work for some aspects of the startup, it does not necessarily give the best results as would have been seen if someone else were delegated to help.
To get the best out of marketing, you may need to get the help of a seasoned professional who knows their way around marketing tools for your startup company. Until you can achieve this on your own, it is best to engage the services of someone who can help you navigate the murky waters of marketing.
Conclusion
As important as marketing is to startups, having a proper understanding of how and where to deploy it can help the progress of any startup. Marketing is very important to garner and sustain the interests of potential customers in your product. Be advanced or traditional marketing, a start-up that will be successful, must not de-emphasize the place of proper and sustained marketing.
References
RedZoneMarketing: How To Get People To Pay Attention To Your Marketing
BizJournals: Five Reasons To Pay Attention To Traditional Marketing When Branding Your Business.
Entrepreneur: Why digital marketing is Essential for Start-ups
About AbstractOps
As a business owner, you will have to handle several marketing decisions. We understand it can be a bit difficult and that’s why AbstractOps is here to help you get the job done. We are experienced and you can reach us at hello@abstractops.com
