You’re a startup trying to market your business in the ‘digital age’. 2017 is upon us, and times are changing. The changes for startups are not just coming to retail, but also everywhere else. Do you have your New Year Resolutions written down yet? The time for startups has come, and now that it’s here, we can expect everyone to continue growing in the new year. We are making the advancement into digital in the present day. The game is changing, and so is the term ‘marketing.’ The same old rules do not apply, and we do not expect them to. Startup marketing is all about Social Marketing and engaging with a target audience; that’s where growth marketing starts.
We got some extra tips to help you kick-off your new year extraordinarily. We asked some startup marketing experts for advice in 2017 and they had a lot to say. This is going to in fact be a BIG year, and the advice will astound you! Take a look at what these experts had to say:
Alanna Jackson @RabidOfficeMonk, Co-Founder & Co-Chief Editor of Rabid Office Monkey
“Content marketing and promotion are key to a successful content marketing plan. It’s not simply about churning out tons of content. It’s about crafting quality content and marketing it through adequate distribution and sharing. It takes time for a well-thought out content marketing plan to start seeing results – so be patient!”
Quality will reign over quantity when it comes to your branded content this year. Think about where you have been distributing your content and think about where you can succeed the most. More importantly, make sure it is a juicy, quality piece of content you will be proud to see fantastic results from.
AJ Kumar @ajkumar Founder of AJKumar.com and Limitless Publishing
“Regardless of whatever the trend is for marketing, educate your customers in an entertaining way. The best time to sell is when you’re educating, and the best time to educate is when you sell.”
The key takeaway here is that you will need to keep the eye of your customers, whether B2B or B2C, it matters. Rather than making your content a sales pitch, educate your audience with interesting and vibrant information.
Rieva Lesonsky @Rieva CEO of GrowBiz Media & Small Biz Daily
“Startups need to do a marketing budget–random acts of marketing rarely work. Marketing for small businesses in 2017 must include: social media (find your 2-3 best platforms and interact regularly), video (Instagram is on fire right now as a marketing vehicle), and email. And make sure your website and your online marketing–including emails–are optimized for mobile viewing. If your emails in particular are not mobile-friendly consumers will delete before reading.”
We already know that social media is taking the marketing world by storm, so capitalize on it. Stick to your goals this year and be sure to have a content calendar, a strategy to help you plan out your posts, videos, and emails. Who knows – you might go viral in 2017!
Gail Gardner @GrowMap of Grow Map
“Marketing must always start with strategy: define your gols, gather your marketing assets and choose your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Then choose your marketing channels, register the same username everywhere, and optimize your bios to send potential buyers to your site. Focus on where your audience is active already with n emphasis on mobile and social networks that include video.”
KPI’s are incredibly helpful for marketing your content. Go for the most popular keywords for your product or service. Make sure you have your brand on every social media channel as possible. Go find your audience, rather than trying to get them to find you instead.
Ivan Widjaya @PrevisoMedia, Founder/CEO of Previso Media
“I’d say digital marketing, but that’s too cliche. I’d like to go niche, recommending startups to do digital influencer marketing. There are popular individuals on social media platforms who can take startups’ products and services to the next level via their posts/status updates. I’d say that it’s still underpriced.”
So you have your marketing channels nailed down, but you need some compelling and entertaining content for them? Go utilize influencers in your niche market. Do not settle for vanilla content. Be unique. Be different.
Ramon Ray @ramonray Speaker & Author of Smart Hustle Magazine
“1. Build a tribe. Build your email list. Build your social following
- Deliver repeatedly engaging content and FEED your tribe what they what
- Convert those tribe members to customers and raving fans.”
2017 is going to be all about finding your ‘tribe.’ So utilize them! Look for what they reacted the best towards and give them more of what they want. Once you have your loyal following, it’s time to convert, convert, convert. To 2017 and beyond!
Amanda Chiu @manda_auror Marketing Coordinator for Atomic Reach
“Have conversations with your community throughout the day, even if it’s for 10 minutes, 3 times a day. Listen more to what they have to say, what they’re having problems with, and the language they’re using to help shed light on how to accurately market to them.“
This could quite possibly be the most important step for your startup after you’ve completed all of the above. Be sure to engage with your audience. Be a conversationalist, even if it’s only for a granular portion of your day. The audience has the facts, the questions, and the experience – learn from them as much as you can!
Have a happy and safe New Year – and please let us know how you are implementing these tips into your startup in 2017!