The Ultimate Guide for Startups on Effective Digital Marketing

Gone are the days of traditional print and TV commercials. Most people get their content online.

If you’re a startup company, this fact is enough for you to start digital marketing strategies, like marketing with SEO. But the problem is that most of your competitors are also doing these to build customer relationships online. You might feel overwhelmed if you aren’t well-versed in marketing yourself online.

Don’t get discouraged yet.

We put together the ultimate guide to effective digital marketing for startup businesses. These strategies will allow you to leverage the effectiveness and widespread reach of digital marketing. Read on and find out how:

1. Use Email Marketing

Emails are here to stay. When used in marketing, it does a great job since its average return on investment is 122%. It’s around four times higher compared to other marketing methods like direct mail, social media, and paid search.

If you’re a startup, you know this ROI will help you get more exposure. The best thing about it is the cheapness compared to some marketing campaigns. But to achieve the ROI mentioned above, you need to harness email marketing to the fullest.

To ensure your email marketing succeeds, follow some best practices in crafting your emails. Start with the subject line since it’s the first thing your recipients see. Make it engaging, eye-catching, and rich in benefits.

When writing the email copy, stay clear from jargons and use plain but persuasive words. Don’t be shy and use bullets and subheadings to break up the text. Be upfront with the benefits and make it mobile-optimized.

2. Use Social Media Marketing

Social media is a powerful marketing platform, with 90% of marketers using it for their businesses. It’s justified since it will help you gain more loyal customers. Social media also helps make your website rank higher in search engines.

Advertising with social media means building your authority. For this, make high-quality content consistently. You need to maintain an air of competence when posting content without forgetting to engage your audience.

It’s a challenging task, that’s why you should invest in social media marketing tools. With that, your social media content is seamless. These tools also help you post on multiple platforms, scheduling them to create a constant content stream.

Social media marketing tools also track your social mentions and engagement rates. But no tool can help you if you don’t choose the right social media platform. This is your first step before you develop a social media strategy.

3. Try Pay-Per-Click Marketing (Google AdWords)

Organic marketing can’t stand alone. Effective digital marketing involves using every tool at your disposal and this includes using paid ads.

PPC marketing uses search engine-based advertisements to bring more website visitors. It’s a powerful marketing strategy since it results in sales-ready leads. It’s possible since the right ad allows you to reach out to your customer timely.

Using PPC also gives you free rein over the amount of money you want to spend. The results are often instantaneous. You also have access to data and other insights to improve your future PPC campaigns.

The drawback is that PPC campaigns costly. That’s why you’ll need some expertise when using this marketing strategy. Your goal is to get more conversions instead of clicks.

4. Invest in Search Engine Optimization

Building an awesome website won’t automatically attract people to view it. There are millions of websites within the same niche. That’s why search engine optimization is a must since it helps you appear at the top when people search for business-relevant keywords.

SEO helps to increase website traffic while building customer trust. When your website has a high search result rank, it makes people think you’re a trustworthy business. It’s especially important when they’re trying to search for products and services related to your niche.

Follow best SEO practices like making regular blog posts and using images and videos on your website. It also pays to make it a habit to track your website’s SEO regularly. Invest in SEO management tools to help with the following activities:

• Keyword research
• SERP ranking
• Competitor monitoring

If this seems overwhelming for you, get a good SEO company to do it for you. Reputable ones have the equipment and expertise to overcome these challenges. Before long, you’ll get more exposure and higher rankings on search engines.

5. Get Help with Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is an effective strategy if you want your brand image to grow. Compared to other traditional methods of marketing, it’s inexpensive. With influencers, you need not worry about customers already desensitized with traditional marketing.

It’s also easy to implement, and it yields better results. Influencers do word-of-mouth advertisements, which builds more trust in your brand. Your customers are also more likely to engage with your brand, as long as the influencer is authentic with their support.

Without a deep pocket for your budget, you can’t get the big stars to advertise your brand. As a startup, look for micro-influencers within your niche. You enjoy their high engagement rates while paying a lot less because of their smaller audience.

6. Start with Affiliate Marketing

This strategy goes hand-in-hand with influencer marketing. It’s similar since both rely on people’s influence to bring sales to your company. With affiliate marketing, you get affiliates to draw in leads for your brand.

These affiliates get paid on a commission basis, and you control how it goes. Whether the payment is a flat fee or according to the amount of generated sales, you decide. You keep track of sales using affiliate links.

Use tools like Google Analytics to make these custom links. This allows you to know the number of sales for each. With that, you’ll know the best-performing affiliates within your network.

Are you confused about the difference between dropshipping and affiliate marketing? If so, read this guide. It’s about dropshipping vs affiliate marketing, which helps you decide the right strategy for your business.

Try Effective Digital Marketing Methods Today!

These are some of the most effective digital marketing strategies around. Follow them and you’ll build a loyal customer base in no time.

Don’t stop here! If you want to get the most out of your marketing efforts, you need to learn the latest tips and tricks of the trade. You can continue to learn more by checking out our other guides right here!