When you come up with a solid business idea and get the wheels in motion, your sole goal will be on captivating an audience into buying your products or services. Understandably, the more people who are aware of what you do, the more chance you have of making money and turning over a hefty profit. If your target demographic isn’t aware of your company, you’ll have a real struggle on your hands to make your presence known.
For startups, there are tons of marketing tactics you can implement into your operation that will boost brand awareness, get consumers talking, and hopefully, turn potential customers into loyal, long-term followers. Here are some strategies to try out today to get started.
Boost Your Social Media
Whether you’re scrolling through social media feeds endlessly or the idea of Facebook and Instagram fill you with dread, you must use these platforms for your startup. The reason for this is simple – your audience is going to be on them. Businesses of all sizes recognize the benefits of having a social media presence. In 2022, customers are more likely to check out your social media feeds rather than head to your website or blog first. Therefore, you need to carve out a strong presence on these giants to get your voice heard.
Once you’ve created social media business pages, it’s time to put the hard work in. This starts by creating content that’s relevant to your brand. You’ll want to hook visitors in immediately. For this to happen, why not try adding visuals and videos into the mix? Customers want to feel heard and seen too, so make sure you’ve got a dedicated team in place to control your social media feed. This enables them to respond instantly to inquiries and comments.
Send Emails
What is the one thing you need to create a social media account? An email address, of course! With that in mind, it’s essential you send emails out to potential and existing customers. This gives them a chance to find out more about your brand, the latest news, and why they should stick around and buy from you. It’s a good idea to create a weekly or monthly newsletter that you can send out via email. Make sure to keep it short and sweet so you keep the reader’s attention. Should it be full of large blocks of text, readers are more likely to click off it and send it straight to the trash.
Also, make sure that you address the reader by name. They will be more inclined to click on the email, and overall, it’s a nice personal touch. Try to be careful with how many emails you send out to customers. Too many can be a real nuisance and potentially be flagged up as spam. Of course, you don’t want this to happen when you consider how much time you’re putting into crafting engaging emails.
Launch a Blog
Blogging is a brilliant way to spread brand awareness for your startup. If you love writing and want to showcase your words, there is no better tactic than going down this route. When you launch a blog, you can connect with others in the same field and receive mutual benefits. A large part of this is down to guest posting. This is where you write content for a similar blog and in return, they house a link to your own. For startups in particular, this is a good tactic for boosting traffic and getting people on your page.
It’s one thing setting up a blog. It’s another maintaining a successful one. You need to fill it with lots of informative content that goes into detail about your brand and what makes you special and unique. You’ll want readers to be hooked on every word and trust what you have to say. If you’re passionate about your business, this should naturally shine through in your content. Make sure your blog includes links to your website and social media feeds so potential customers can find out more about you.
Host a Giveaway
Let’s be honest – we all love a good contest. If you play your cards right, you can maximize your audience reach by hosting a giveaway. It’s best to do this on social media. Whatever kind of company you have, there are bound to be products that you can give away that customers would love! When creating a competition, make sure there are options to like and share the post. This enables users to share the giveaway with their loved ones.
When you host a competition, it shows that you care about your audience and like to do good deeds. A social media contest will build a community, incentivize people to follow your pages, and potentially increase subscribers too. Just make sure you do everything above board when picking a winner. Note – we don’t mean giving the prize to a family member or close friend! You can pop some branded merchandise in with the prize to get people talking, like a printed t-shirt. Bolt Printing specializes in cheap t-shirt printing. You can use their services and house your company logo on them to spread brand awareness.
Reach Out to Influencers
Influencer marketing has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. Going into 2023, there are influencers across all sectors that can be hugely beneficial for your startup. Whether you seek out a YouTuber, TikTok star, or reality TV personality, when consumers see someone they love and admire using a product or service, they’re more likely to try it out themselves.
For newly launched startups, you need to be incredibly careful about who you pick to represent your brand. You need to ensure you get a popular figure who your target audience will be drawn too. For instance, if you’re catering for the over 50’s, a teen TikToker isn’t going to be the wisest choice! Also, you’ll find fees for promotional videos will vary significantly depending on the influencer. If you haven’t got an endless pit of money, don’t expect to get the top stars on board!
Create Business Cards
While most of the strategies we’ve listed are done online, you can never underestimate the importance of offline marketing. If you have a startup and operate in-person, it’s vital that you spread brand awareness out and about, too, especially if you’ve got a premises customers can visit. This all starts by creating business cards. These can be handed out to people on the street and at networking events.
Make sure your business cards ooze professionalism, highlight the best features of your brand, and include contact details if a consumer wants to find out more. Also, include your mission statement and make sure your logo dominates the card.
Regardless of what type of startup you run, you’ll want as many people as possible to take notice of what you do and be keen to find out more. While we’re not going to say the process will be clear sailing, what we can confidently determine is if you implement any or several of the above ideas into your company, you’ll have a much better chance of securing customers and clients.
As you build up an audience base, you will figure out exactly what your customers want from you, which will be a massive help in terms of your marketing efforts. Whether you’ve got money to spend or you’re on a tight budget, there are numerous marketing techniques you can utilize effectively for business growth and success.
