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Out of the thousands of startups that emerge every year, fewer than 10 percent actually receive a first round of capital from private equity sources. In addition, it is rare for a startup to go from concept to commercial opportunity. Part of the reason is many startups have unique concepts, but getting the message out to the mass public often poses a problem. Many times this is because startups are founded by technologists and not sales or marketing experts. The founders may even feel the product is good enough to sell itself–this can be a fatal mistake. Here are some tips to help startups get the word out through digital marketing.
Improve your local SEO
In terms of startup success, local SEO is the next frontier. In fact, Google released a study that showed 50 percent of mobile searches ended up with people visiting the business in person. If you aren’t making an effort with local SEO, you could be losing a lot of business. You want to start off by presenting yourself as a local business. With this in mind, it helps to have a local address and phone number on your website. Whenever your company pops up in a local search, Google will show your local number and address.
Furthermore, you want to claim your business in local directories. This should also be consistently updated. The reason is you want to keep your record high. Moreover, you need to ensure your information is genuine. Once a prospect finds a misleading address or number, they will more than likely never search for you again. The same goes for having consistent social media links with data on your hours of operation.
It is critical to list your company in as many places as possible. In this field, it is all about quantity. The more places you are found, the greater your chances are of being discovered.
Use local keywords
The key to success in this area is be as natural as possible. Gone are the days when all you had to do was add a keyword with your city–this is now considered spam. To have a greater SEO impact, you want to combine your chosen keywords with local and relevant information. The objective is to focus less on quantity and more on reaching your target market. Some of this company’s most productive campaigns have been around improving local SEO.
Define what makes your brand stand out
All startups need to market a brand that has a compelling message. This is something that will standout, is cool and propels everything your brand does. When it comes to digital marketing, you want to tell memorable stories. Moreover, you need to establish a voice that comes complete with eye-catching logos, colors and patterns.
Build a messaging plan
A digital marketing path needs to be created through the use of a blog, video, podcast or newsletter. This starts by creating a strategic map and plan to reach your marketing goals. When creating your content marketing strategy, think of terms of targeting your intended market and what may be relevant to them.
Have several domain names
To get the most out of your SEO efforts, you should have multiple domain names. You can certainly do this if you operate in more than one country, city or state. You should consider taking a different domain name for each locality. The reason is because each gets a separate listing on Google.
Don’t forget affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing comprises of using a partner or “affiliate” to help your brand get more leads. It is essential to find the right avenue for your brand. You need to qualify your leads, so, you have to be specific with the types of affiliates you select as partners. Then, once you have affiliates, you need the right tracking tools in place to determine the effectiveness of your campaign.
Utilize growth hacking
If all else fails, you can always out-market your competition. Sometimes the prize goes to the squeakiest wheel. You need to put your brand out there en masse. There are so many similar products on the market today. What makes one sell over the other is cost-effective and intelligent marketing techniques. You can use a well-planned SEO campaign to outrank your competitors. In addition, you can look to industry influencers to help you gain greater exposure. There are countless possibilities with the right plan.
Stay consistent with content marketing
Regardless of how well your SEO is performing, you should always keep up with your content marketing. The more content you have, the better it is for your brand. Content marketing is one of the most effective forms of SEO today. It helps you rank higher in the search engines, while creating more awareness around your business.
There are many tactics to get your company, message and brand out there. The point is to take advantage of all the digital marketing opportunities you have and to make smart choices. Don’t be another startup failure. Create your digital marketing plan now and seize your market before someone else does.
This is a guest post by Katrina Manning, a native, English-speaking technical and web writer/editor penning content for a wide variety of sites and publications. She’s the lead content marketer for Build Niche Links, Houston’s link building service company. In addition, Katrina is the author for published books Marmalade’s Exciting Tail and Lupus Obscurus. Follow her @kcinnaroll | Connect via katrinamanning
