How should a startup prepare for their digital marketing roadmap?
Once you have an idea in place and you have got the necessary legal protections for it, the logical next step is to get an MVP done ( more on MVP and Legal Protections on follow up blogs ). Let’s assume you have your MVP done and you are all set to start promoting your idea/MVP or services. But wait did we talk about promotions, you bet we did, and these promotions are very key thing for your idea to takeoff from the ground, in other words this is the escape velocity which makes or breaks the launch of your startup. That is why we are covering this very important topics in this blog.
Website –
The very basic of online promotion is to have a website of your startup. This is absolute must, it serves the purpose of base address something like an online permanent address for your startup from the existence of the startup can be proven. This is a place where you are going to pitch your product or idea to prospective customers, the investors or even your consumer ecosystem. A solid platform for your product or services. It is very important to get this basic fundamental concept right any compromise in this can cost you a lot. A very common dilemma the startup founders often face is Custom vs Ready Made Themes, It is always recommended to get a custom tailored website designed and developed to suite the idea or the product you have, we understand that each idea is unique and different from other and that is why it is in business, however if you believe that your idea is not so different or unique there are so many readymade themes available but make sure you get those tailored from experienced UX designer and get your branding done correctly in one of those things. A custom basic website costs ranges somewhere around 250 to 750 US Dollars at the time this post has been written.
Social media sites –
The next online promotion tool are social media sites, which is a secondary mean of putting the word about your startup or idea out there. These social media site can serve up to a great extent and can be very powerful if used wisely and correctly. The idea is to put out little info about the actual source or in other word micro blog about the actual blog. Let us explain how this works, Social media site is for socialising where your connections and connections of your connection and so on gets connected now this opens an opportunity to get the review and feedback from the real people who are one way or other connected with you so the authenticity of this information is debatable and subjective, how do you filter this into real insight, and that is where a primary source of information comes into picture you can filter the web traffic into real insight in your primary source of information. The cost of social media promotion ranges from 0 to infinite based on your marketing budget. 0 cost for your organic promotions.
Mail Campaigns –
Mail Campaigns are the third way of online promotions which are a good way to keep your existing subscribers engaged and and informed about your product or idea. This has compliances and laws associated with it depending upon the operating locations and countries i.e you need to have a proof of subscription or consent from the subscriber’s that he/she willfully subscribe to your mail campaign. You should also be registered as bulk mail sender for sending these emails the limit vary from one mail service provider to other. Generally a zoho mail costs about Rs 99 annually for standard packs, while mail-chimp provides rates of $10 per month. These are quite reasonable and make your startup ready to handle clients and projects.
Content Marketing – Blogs, articles and white papers –
Blog is as necessary as a website. No business can get by without a successful blog. From 2009 to 2012, the percentage of respondents with company blog grew from 48% to 62% – don’t be left behind. It’s the core of a modern, ‘social’ marketing and communications strategy. To support and drive the company’s web presence and social media marketing activities a digital PR and partnering program needs to be kicked off.’
It should enhance the company’s strategic positioning, promote its product/service category, define credentials, messages, and benefits as well as drive a successful thought leadership and ‘challenger’ framework. The blog is your marketing front foot – make sure it strikes out for you. Blog sites should be set up properly, designed professionally and managed tightly. Editorial strategies need to be developed, writers appointed, guest programs implemented and content carefully planned and produced.
Crowdsourcing campaigns –
“A friend in need is a friend indeed.” Yes, with time this popular adage has come true again. For a startup, getting funds is the biggest impediment. But with social media and the emerging concept of crowdsourcing, getting funds for your startup has become an easy job.
Crowdfunding is a super hot formula to win over funds. The basic idea is you need to get popular wherever you trend. Develop your product in its MVP stage and sell it among your network. Once you get popular half the deal is done.
Crowd Sourcing can be done by these few ways:
- Create hype with pre-sales
- Stating ROI
- Proposing right Workflow
- Proper test before go-Live
Large brands and SME’s are tapping into the power of the Crowd for contest based campaign ideas as well as viral content development and marketing. Crowdsourced campaigns have become another key arrow in the Social marketing quiver. Crowdsourcing can also be used for cost effective business development, market research, opinion gathering, customer service support and more.