As a new company, startups face a lot of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is creating an online presence that leaves an impact on its audience. Creating a website may seem easy, but marketing your website is the challenge that baffles most startups. Even today, many companies do not realize that creating a website is just the beginning of the digital journey and not the end. Companies start with a social media account and end their digital marketing journey there. Some companies find investing in a website a difficult process. Marketing a website is even beyond comprehension for these companies.
Today’s day and age requires your website to be online, but with the competition online, most websites are buried deep in the digital mess, with visitors to the website amounting to a handful of people, mostly family members and close friends. Marketing a website requires a strategy and an approach that are not short of what a corporation or enterprise would use to succeed. Your online business or website is not competing with local businesses. You are competing with businesses worldwide. Some of these websites are 20, 30, or 50 years old. They have had a web presence for 15 or 20 years, and their websites have acquired a reputation and authority in the industry. As a startup, you will be competing with these top websites, and that requires scaling your online presence accordingly.
Some of the most prominent, widely used digital marketing strategies are listed below. But before you proceed any further, it is important to understand that you are required to one-up your competition in at least one of the strategies used. This may require extra content, money, or time. Time, unfortunately, is something that you cannot control. You will have to wait it out in certain areas where time is a factor determining your digital marketing strategies. The other factors are content and money. Let’s start with content-related marketing strategies first.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search engine optimization refers to techniques used to rank your website on Google for relevant and related keywords. This is the simplified version of what SEO stands for, but in reality, SEO is a lot more complicated. SEO is targeted specifically for one platform, Google. Google accounts for more than 80% of web traffic for most websites. Google is also one of the few platforms that delivers relevant traffic to websites that are targeted. This makes Google traffic high in conversions and of better value for money spent.
SEO begins with content. And while most SEO professionals will tell you that SEO brings in organic traffic and is free, the reality is that you spend on time, and content creation. A new website will require valuable content related to and relevant to your industry to outdo your competition. The content reflects your authority in the industry. The more quality content (the focus is on quality), the better chance you have of ranking better than your competition.
Take a good look at your competition. All the top companies listed on Google for specific keywords will have a large quantity of web pages on their website. Websites with 5, 10, and 100 pages have little to no chance of ranking on Google. Take, for instance, the keyword “custom website design company.” The top 3 listings have 3000+ pages, 8000+ pages, and the third position is for a website, which has 575 pages. All of them have highly targeted content for the keyword “custom web development.” The website with the least number of pages had 301 pages on their website.
We also searched for a less competitive keyword, “Custom website design company Vadodara,” a targeted local keyword. The least number of web pages for a site listed on the first page of Google was 141, which was very low, but the company had a reputation for being in service for over 2 decades, and the company served locally with all its content targeted at a local audience.
SEO is not free. Creating content is expensive. With an average freelancer charging anywhere between 1 rupee and 2 rupees per word, a 2000-word authoritative article could cost you 3000–4000 rupees per article. Imagine creating even a mere 100 articles, and you will be looking at a budget of 300,000 Rs or $3750 in investment. This is a huge amount for a startup. What makes things worse is the fact that you cannot publish all 100 articles overnight. You will have to schedule the articles at 5–6 articles per day. Even after you publish them, articles may take anywhere between 6 months and a year to rank and acquire traffic.
With so much effort and time required, why would you invest in SEO? SEO generates stable traffic and creates a brand identity. It’s a one-time cost for businesses to create content. With quality content that does not expire, you are looking at regular traffic for years, making it a long-term investment in your business. SEO is surely not a quick traffic method but is a reliable source of traffic to your website.
SEO extends to technical SEO, which refers to ensuring your website is crawlable and accessible to search engines and ensuring a good UX, which increases user retention. Technical SEO takes into account the site’s navigation, site architecture, web page speed, schema markups, and sitemaps of the website. Technical SEO ensures your website is technically sound. User experience is of importance to technical SEO. Web page speed ensures that visitors do not have to wait for a page to load. The higher the page load time, the less pleased users are with your website. Page load speed is directly proportional to bounce rates, which are not ideal for a good website. Think of every reason why a user would leave your website and correct them. A poor site architecture will deter users from using your website because it’s hard to find information easily. Navigation should be prominent and easily accessible on both mobile and desktop devices, and there should be a valid sitemap file and a robots.txt file. All these factors are simple, easy to achieve, and should not take more than a day or two for a good web developer.
The next step to SEO is the on-page SEO factors, which include optimizing your content on each web page. Include relevant keywords in headers, title tags, and meta descriptions. Place the keywords prominently in the right places of the web page and ensure that the web pages are linked to related pages through internal links. The process of on-page SEO may take anywhere between days and months, depending on the number of web pages on your website.
Search Engine Marketing
Unlike SEO, search engine marketing is faster and drives instant traffic to your website, but search engine marketing requires investment. Paid advertising is the fastest method to drive traffic to your website and the most reliable too. For startups, search engine marketing helps them achieve instant visibility on search engines, driving targeted traffic to their websites. Search engine marketing may require expertise in PPC marketing techniques, keyword research, and optimizing ads for your content. Inevitably, you will require a website with a well-crafted landing page to convert traffic to revenue.
Search engine marketing may seem easy, and Google has made the interface very intuitive. But with an expert by your side, you will spend less per click, convert better, and increase the margin of profit. You may also save on the steep learning curve that is required for paid advertising and spend that time on developing your business itself. Paid advertising in Google comes in 2 models: PPC, which stands for pay per click, and CPM. CPM charges per view of your ad, while PPC charges per click. Each of these models has its own advantages and disadvantages. CPM is better used for display ads to increase visibility and brand identity. PPC is best used for traffic to your website.
PPC ads are recommended even when your website has organic traffic. Most companies, especially corporations and enterprises, spend a good amount of their advertising budget on PPC ads to leverage keywords they do not rank for. PPC is also a good start to test which keywords convert, for which you could create SEO content in the future to rank for.
PPC Ads are not limited to creating ads and keyword research but extend to creating landing pages that provide a good user experience that can convert.
Local Search Marketing
Local marketing is an important marketing strategy that should not be overlooked. With Google giving a major portion of the digital real estate on their first page and often above the fold to Google Business and Google My Business Listings, it’s essential that you take advantage of the space and get listed for local search keywords and rank on Google’s business profile.
While on the surface, listing on Google Business Profile may seem easy, ranking in the first spot is often difficult and depends on various factors. Listing on Google My Business Profile is straightforward. Achieving the coveted first position, on the other hand, takes effort. Competition depends on your industry. For a highly competitive industry with plenty of local businesses already listed, startups may find it hard to take advantage of this marketing strategy. Local search marketing takes time, and it’s a game of patience.
While listing on Google Business is the first step, the process of getting ranked starts here. Start creating content on various websites and ensure the content has your name, address, and phone number on these pages (NAP). These pieces of content with the name, address, and phone number are referred to as citations in the SEO industry. The more citations you have, the better your ranking will be on Google. Create citations from web directories, job posts, and events. Do not be shy about creating content on a wide range of platforms, including social media. Ensure that you have the name, address, and phone number listed on your Google Business profile.
Your next step is to create local content on your website too. Create content related to your industry, combined with the location. Pages like “Best website design company in Vadodara” or “Best search engine company in Vadodara” are local search keywords related to SEO and web design in Vadodara (location). Create enough content that will not only help local search marketing on Google My Business but also rank you on organic searches for these keywords.
Local search marketing may take anywhere between 6 months and a year to achieve the results required. Do not stop marketing while you are waiting. Keep marketing, creating content, and optimizing your website for local search keywords continuously. The process of local search marketing should continue even after you achieve results.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the strategic approach of creating and distributing relevant content that attracts and engages the audience to drive profitable customer actions, increase sales, and build brand awareness and loyalty. One of the most underrated and the least practiced methods of marketing but also the most effective, content marketing can be hard because it is slow to generate revenue and results. Content marketing is often overlooked due to its slow results. Results can take anywhere between 3 months and a year for a content marketing strategy to produce the expected results, depending on your industry, competition, and the results you expect.
Content creation differs from platform to platform. For blog posts, content could range from highly informative long posts to short snippets. Blog posts may also include videos and infographics. Content creation for video platforms could be short videos, commonly used in YouTube shorts and Instagram reels. These are short but effective ways to introduce your product and highlight key features. Long videos are excellent content to create awareness, educate your audience, and create brand loyalty. Social media posts are also part of content creation. All social media platforms are content-hungry. You will have to create valuable, entertaining content for social media platforms that keeps your users engaged. Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, creating regular content is important to retain customers’ attention. Other forms of content creation include whitepapers and ebooks to create authority on the subject and podcasts, which are a great platform to improve branding.
Content creation is the first part of content marketing, but the most important part is content distribution. Content distribution ensures that a single piece of content is well-distributed among various platforms for efficiency. A blog post should be distributed on social media platforms, converted to short videos, carousels, and, when possible, also promoted with PPC ads. Utilize the power of email newsletters to send a notification to your subscribers about a blog post or content you have created to increase traffic to the page.
Focus on content optimization and audience engagement. For search engines, especially Google, audience engagement determines your ranking. The better the engagement, the lower the bounce rate. Google keeps websites with lower bounce rates at the top and promotes them with better ranking. This has been noted by various SEO professionals and top sites.
Content marketing helps in increasing visibility but creates a ripple effect throughout your website. It increases trust and authority, boosts customer retention, generates sales and leads, and eventually supports other marketing strategies. Websites with consistently good content are known to be liked by users and generate a brand, which creates more direct visitors to your site.
Remarketing
Remarketing targets visitors who have already interacted with your content. Remarketing is usually targeted towards users who have visited content on your website or blog. Remarketing requires tracking mechanisms like cookies and pixels. Retargeting is a feature available on most PPC platforms, including Google Ads and Meta Ads.
With remarketing strategies, you can target people who have already shown interest in your website or product. People who have visited your website previously after purchasing a product or without purchasing any can be retargeted for repeated sales or a new sale. These are audiences who have already shown interest in your services. This makes them a very highly potential candidate to sell to.
Remarketing has a conversion rate of up to 20% if done right, but for most e-commerce websites, it could range from 2% to 10%, and for B2B websites, it could be between 1% and 5%. The average conversion rate across all industries has been noted to be 2%–5%, which is relatively higher than the industry standards for display campaigns, which stand at 1%–2%.
While retargeting campaigns are prominent in paid advertisements, they also have a special place in email marketing. Email marketing helps remarketing campaigns, especially when you have a means or provision to acquire email addresses from interested parties who visit your website. Create a themed 3-part email campaign to retarget audiences who visit your website and do not purchase. Offer them deals and promotions to encourage purchase.
Remarketing strategies will be widely used in the future, especially in combination with paid advertisements.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is an evergreen strategy for digital marketing. Since 1995, email marketing has been a dominant digital marketing strategy in the industry and has never failed to please. Even when search algorithms changed and the market was volatile, email marketing always succeeded. The success of email marketing depends on how you craft your mail, personalization, and time of delivery. The other factors of importance include follow-up emails, the duration between emails, and your website’s landing page.
Email marketing strategies take time and begin with creating a quality email list. Use your website to collect email addresses using an opt-in form where possible. Also use email addresses from existing customers who have already purchased your products to generate repeat orders. Provide free material related to your industry to gain email addresses. Every email address is an asset.
Once you have a few email addresses, segment the audience. Divide the email addresses into smaller groups based on purchase behavior, demographics, etc.; this enables you to create targeted emails for each segment. You can personalize email messages for people who have already purchased your products previously and craft a different mail for them, while a person who has just been introduced to your platform can be emailed a different content altogether. When drafting emails, always remember to personalize the content. Personalization is not limited to adding names but extends to using behavioral data to tailor the content. Know where they work, what their income is, if they have kids, and where they live to personalize content accordingly. Personalization helps a lot with building relationships with your target.
When possible, automate your emails. Abandoned cart reminders, welcome emails, and autoresponders should be automated and should be personalized too. Whatever the type of email, automated or otherwise, ensure your content is optimized. Place calls to action prominently and optimize your emails for mobile devices. When possible, do an A/B test on your emails. This way you will know which email format has more click-through rates, open rates, and more. Use the emails and subject lines that convert better after testing.
Email marketing is known to have the highest ROI in digital marketing, with $42 for every $1 spent. To take that into perspective, PPC campaigns have a $2 for every $1 spent. Use email marketing to strengthen customer relationships first. Sales will come later. Build relationships and create a direct communication channel with your audience.
Email marketing is here to stay. There is no reason for the end of email marketing anywhere in the near future. Take advantage of email marketing strategies for your business to build a better brand, increase and improve sales, and generate profit. Start with building an email list today!
Social media marketing
More than 80% of mobile users with an internet connection have a social media profile and are active on at least one platform. Common social media platforms include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Each of the social media platforms has its own features. LinkedIn, for instance, is for professionals and is focused on B2B business. Twitter is a short message platform where brand building is customer support. They are also great for building a community. Facebook is the most used platform worldwide and can generate leads but is commonly used for brand building. Instagram is more popular among the younger generation between the ages of 18 and 35. If you are looking to target this user group, Instagram is your best platform.
Apart from the above platforms, there are other platforms like Reddit, Pinterest, and various other smaller social media websites you can promote on. But with more people on these 4 platforms, most of the social media marketing efforts are put into these platforms.
Marketing Automation
Automation Increases efficiency in marketing. Various parts of marketing can be automated to reduce repetitive tasks and workflows. Automation ensures businesses deliver personalized, timely, scalable marketing efforts. You can also streamline processes to improve efficiency. Key areas where marketing automation can be put to use best include email automation, lead management, customer segmentation, the art of social media management, personalization, A/B testing, analytics and reporting, and multichannel campaigns.
With the emergence of AI and ML tools, various tasks can be automated. Some of the tools available in the market include HubSpot, Marketo, Mailchimp, Pardot by Salesforce, and ActiveCampaign. AI marketing automation tools can help you with predictive lead scoring, content recommendations, email optimization, predictive analytics, creating dynamic content, audience segmentation, behavior tracking, customer engagement scoring, and automated analytics.
Influencer marketing
Social media marketing takes time and lots of effort. Creating content regularly and still not seeing the full potential for your effort is common. Many social media platforms will not allow you to market your products easily. Your visibility is limited to a very few people, and to reach a wider audience, you will be required to invest in paid advertising on their platforms. While paid advertising is an excellent method to market your product or brand on social media, influencer marketing is equally profitable and a viable option if done right.
Influence marketing strategy involves collaborating with an influential individual who already has a good number of followers on a platform and is in your industry. You can leverage the creativity of a user who has an established profile on social media platforms to promote your products and content with their help. With an audience who already trusts and is engaging with the user, you have the opportunity to pitch your product through them to reach all the audience in their group.
Influencer marketing is great when you can find a person who is in the same or related industry. For instance, a food content creator and influencer can be roped in for food products or health-related content. A gym influencer or a bodybuilder can help promote content related to whey protein, healthy cooking recipes, or gym equipment. Ensure that you choose a person from an industry that is related to yours.
Influencers usually share reviews and recommendations with their followers, making their followers trust your brand. The audience is targeted and already has people who are interested in related products. It becomes easier for customers to relate to the products you are selling. With a good influencer, you can expect a high engagement rate, and your marketing campaigns usually have a high ROI. Choosing the right influencer is important. Some influencers may have 1000’s of followers but have poor engagement or no one buys products from their list, and there are others who have a handful of targeted audiences who visit their social media profiles regularly and consume content with dedication. There are influencers who will charge you 100,000, and there are influencers who will do it for a few 100 rupees. Choose your influencers wisely. Remember, they represent your brand!
When choosing influencers, also ensure that you choose the right platform. Each platform has its own advantages. Instagram and Facebook are great for entertaining content. LinkedIn is great for B2B businesses. Twitter is more for tech content and real-time discussions. Understand the platform too before picking your influencers.
What next? Create a collaborative plan, allot a budget, and create the campaign. Always monitor and optimize your campaigns. This way you will know the type of engagement, the results, and this will determine the change in content required, your option to continue with the same influencer or change the influencer, and more.
