Published on October 30th, 2018 | by Sunit Nandi

Digital Marketing 101: Simple Strategies For Every Startup

In recent years, we’ve seen a significant shift in digital marketing. Companies are spending top dollar for digital marketing experts to improve their online presence and to increase their bottom line ultimately. Digital marketing has also enabled a lot of startups to succeed and grow faster than ever before. While there’s no one size fits all solution for digital marketing, it’s vital for you to know some simple strategies to get you on your way.

1. User Experience

Some may argue that user experience is not exactly a digital marketing strategy but, what most people don’t realize is that your users are your marketers. Do you remember experiencing a seamless online shopping experience that you just had to share it with people you know online?

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most reliable ways to gain loyal customers; it’s organic, and it could potentially turn any content viral. A simple way to get this type of marketing right is by focusing on the user experience. Your audience will become more receptive towards your website if you provide them a unique and intuitive user experience. Here’s how you can achieve this:

Optimize your website to load images faster with any monitor resolution.
Organize menus properly and try to be concise with your copies.
Offer self-help pages for when you’re not available to respond to customers.
Consider testing call-to-action buttons and optimize for it.

2. Email Marketing

Contrary to what the other marketers are saying, email marketing is still effective and still has a significant ROI when executed correctly. Another thing that’s really great about this strategy is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get started. There are platforms available that offer basic email marketing services for free.

Careful crafting of your copy and subject line is what will set your email marketing campaign apart from competitors. Imagine receiving an email saying that they have a special offer for you only to find out that you don’t qualify for it. Take time in crafting your email marketing copies. Here’s some tips to help you get started:

Make sure your subject lines are catchy and engaging.
Avoid wordy copies of your email and instead focus on short and simple sentences.
Use capitals at the beginning of each word to help your subject lines look more professional.
Make sure your subject line tells exactly what is in the article. For example: ‘5 Hot Deals For Bali Accommodation’ is better than ‘Here’s Your Next Travel Destination’.

Finally, make sure to send a test email to yourself, the last thing you want to happen is sending an email with error messages.

3. Social Media Marketing

One of the most powerful digital marketing strategies you can have in your arsenal is social media marketing. About 85% of startups who’ve used this marketing strategy confirmed that their social media campaigns have resulted in an increase in profit and brand exposure.

Social media is the fastest way for your startup to gain traffic and exposure. It helps you engage with your most loyal customers. It enables you to generate leads and optimize for sales. It’s also where your customers are which is why it’s only natural for your business to be present as well. Some tips when marketing through social media includes:

Create a plan and goals for each of your campaigns so you know the direction you need to go in order to be successful.
Create a posting schedule and stick to it. Don’t overload your followers with content sporadically instead pick certain days and times and stick to it.
Think about what you’re going to share. Is it useful, offensive, or maybe thought of as something else?
Narrow down your audience by working out their demographics such as age, earning, interests, location and more.
A/B test your campaigns from time to time to make sure they’re working to their full extent.

This type of marketing strategy takes the occasional keyword optimization on a whole new level. Social media marketing isn’t just a skill there’s an art to it. You need to develop ways on how you can effectively target your customers especially on platforms with more than 1 billion users.

4. SEO

Website visitors don’t just magically appear nor do they increase without a little strategy. Search engine optimization is a crucial element for your startup’s success. This strategy doesn’t only improve your traffic but increases your authority. If your website appears as a top result for a search query, it leaves an impression that you’re reputable.

Do a simple SEO audit of your website if you haven’t yet. SEO isn’t just about proper keyword research and placement; it also factors in your website and device optimization. It also looks at how credible you’re website is through your use of inbound and use of outbound links. Here’s some tips to help you with your SEO:

Optimize your meta descriptions and titles with your chosen keywords.
Make sure the content on your site is fresh and original, not duplicated from another website.
Create SEO friendly URLs by incorporating the keyword into it.
Add internal linking to other pages on your website from your blog.
Fix any 404 error pages that are on your website.
Optimize images and videos to reduce loading time.
Check for broken links and remove them.
Make sure your website is mobile friendly.

Search engines are now smarter than ever. Updates are being rolled out on a regular basis to prevent people from gaming the system and also to provide quality search results. For example, Google penalizes websites that aren’t optimized for mobile.

Conclusion

An effective digital marketing strategy is what’s going to set you apart and push you above the digital landscape. Gaining more traffic, leads and subscribers is what will increase your website conversions. Startups can be overwhelming enough, and if your marketing strategies aren’t planned well, you could be burning through your budget without getting any tangible benefit.

Tags: digital, digital marketing, marketing, simple, startup, strategies

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.