It might seem all too appealing for a modern entrepreneurial spirit to launch a new and exciting startup, be it a tech company or a clothing brand, yet the dire reality of the start-up market overshadows any new business venture with uncertainty. One of the surefire ways to fail within the first year of the launch is to not create, develop, and implement a strong marketing plan from the get-go in order to put your name on the market and increase your chances of success.
Devising an applicable marketing strategy can be a time-consuming and costly project, yet without it, you cannot hope to move forward in the competitive global market. Here are the five essential reasons why marketing matters for startups and what you need to include into your strategy to turn the possibility of success into a calculated reality.
Market Positioning
Positioning your product or service to reach, inspire and call your exact demographic to action is one of the key elements of marketing your need to implement before you even consider launching your startup. Who is your target consumer? What do they look like and what are they habits, their strengths and weaknesses?
You need to create a complete customer avatar that fits perfectly into your story, a person who wants, rather than needs, what you’re selling. This requires trial and error and some deep market insights into the trends and fluctuation of your demographic.
Moreover, you need to tailor your key product benefits, your core value proposition as well as your competitor benchmarking to appeal to your target consumer. In order to create your core messages and establish a strong brand personality and presence, you will need to answer the questions of who is your customer and why would they put their trust in your instead of your competition.
Brand Development
This leads us to the importance of brand development. Branding is an inviolable element of marketing, and a branding strategy can make or break your business in the long run, as it will mean the difference between an unknown, faceless company and a business everyone loves and trusts.
In a world of endless possibilities and an even greater number of competitors, your business needs to stand out from the crowd and inspire people to trusts your brand’s stories, images, and messages in order to create a unique bond with your company. This is achieved through effective storytelling and visual identity.
The key to a consumer’s heart lies within an enchanting story, and no matter if you’re selling tech solutions of jam preserves, emotions need to be attached to your product along with an inspiring image that complements the entire story.
Web Presence and Social Media
In the modern, digital world where technology has become inextricably intertwined with our daily lives, there is a need not only for a functional website, but also for an interactive, state of the art online presentation that serves multiple purposes.
Instead of acting as a billboard for your company, the 21st-century website acts as an application form that aims to engage and entice the visitor to become a part of your family and your brand. This kind of website development requires substantial investments that will pave the road to success.
Nobody said that creating and implementing a marketing strategy is not a costly undertaking, and that is why the majority of startups make use of flexible small business loans in their first year, in order to implement their plans and ensure they reach their second year with solvency. There are also the pending problems of content, PR, customer support and social media management, all of which require manpower, skill, expertise and monetary investments.
Advertising
Advertising is your tool with which you will spread your message and reach your prospects. That is why you need an efficient and effective online advertising strategy that will be implemented through social media, search engines, email campaigns, word of mouth, crowdsourcing, and PR.
Luckily, there are plenty of analytics tools, such as Google AdWords or Facebook Analytics, you can use to your advantage in order to home in on your target demographic and tailor your message to resonate within their hearts rather than their minds. Remember, people buy what they want first, and spend what they have left on what they need.
Without a sound marketing strategy to spread the word of your innovative idea, your dreams can quickly turn from achievable goals into wishful thinking. Be sure to invest time and money in developing a strong marketing strategy that entails positioning, branding, web presence and advertising, and you will be able to calculate your way to long-term business success.
featured image: depositphotos.com
Nate Vickery is a business consultant mostly focused on trends and technology regarding small business and startup marketing.
He is the executive editor a Bizzmark Blog, and a writer on many other online publications.
