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Digital marketing is more important than ever before for a new business. If you’re launching a new startup, be sure to develop an online marketing strategy to help make your launch a success. Continue reading to learn the best ways to build your online presence quickly and cost-efficiently.
In the digital age, starting a business is more complex than ever before, despite the low barriers to entry for many industries. The twenty-first century has seen a wealth of technological advancements emerge, with social media, cloud storage, digital magazines, and SEO taking prominence for any new startup. Taking your idea of a money-making venture and turning it into a fully-fledged business takes time, commitment, and effort. While you may be honing your business and marketing plans, you may be focused on funding, cash flow, and your financial forecasting. The idea of digital marketing and your online presence may take a back seat. However, it shouldn’t. Creating and launching a digital marketing strategy should be at the forefront of your new business.
Your online presence will end up being the face of your brand and will be the first thing that the millennial and Gen Z markets will see of your business. It’s vital that you pay attention to your website, your social media channels, and your online analytical prowess. You need to understand your niche market through the way you communicate with them, including where they hang out online. With the Internet being a vital medium through which to communicate, search for businesses, and receive news, it makes sense that you hone your online presence and digital marketing strategy for maximum profits. Here are our top digital marketing tips to help grow your business the right way from the start.
As a new business, you should have a Twitter feed, an Instagram page, a Pinterest account, and a Facebook account at the very least. These are the channels through which your potential customers will find and contact you. It’s vital that you update your feeds regularly and post relevant and meaningful content that can be shared and enhance your level of followers. The more shares your posts and images receive, the greater exposure for your brand and a more positive impact it will have search engine rankings. This is vital if you are to compete with your already well-established industry rivals.
As a new startup, you need to hone your branding, your market positioning, and your company voice. The best way to do this is via your social media channels. The millennial and Gen Z markets no longer want a stuffy corporate tone to greet them when making the first contact with a startup. They appreciate a more human, chatty voice to communicate with. This human level allows you to connect with your customer more and provide a better customer experience.
If a potential customer tweets you a query or sends a DM on Instagram, don’t ignore it. All conversations that you have with customers are in the public domain, so you need to consider your social media interaction as a public relations activity. The more professional, attentive, and respectful you appear, the more likely traffic will flock to your site. The key is to engage with your followers to build that conversation and trust while developing a community around your company.
Social media content and its quality can also dictate how many hits you can receive to your website. Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram are great at referring potential new customers to your shop and services pages. Treat them as a form of free digital marketing and never neglect the potential impact on your profits. These channels are ultimately great to start conversations with your audiences.
As a new business owner, it’s crucial that you understand your niche market. Don’t think that you can have a stunning website alongside active social media channels, and then expect the sales to roll in. You need a more nuanced approach to your online presence that’s targeted and resonates with your audience.
By developing a native ads network, you can source traffic revenues for your brand and optimize your algorithms for online targeting of your audience. Alongside Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, you can develop a clearer picture of how long your potential customers stay on your site, the top referrers to your site, and the demographic of your developing niche. You will also be able to see where visitors are bouncing off your site—which is critical to building a loyal following. This data can help you adapt your digital marketing strategy to harness more of the market and convert hits into sales more readily.
Designing a Website that Resonates with Your Audience
The website that your business utilizes is your little patch of the Internet. This is the face of your brand and should emulate your ethos and values. The design should be on-brand and make people want to click through to other pages. No longer can you get away with a simple and static Geocities style web page that looks like it was designed in 1997. Your website must be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate, and fully search engine optimized.
There is no point in having such a stunning website if no one can find it if they search. Organic hits are few and far between and you want to find new customers through alternative referrals. Good SEO means using Google’s Keyword Planner to find the right keywords and PPC techniques to enhance your website’s standing in the Google rankings. With enhanced SEO, you can be sure of leapfrogging the competition to ensure that your website is higher up on the first page of search results. You will just want to ensure your website’s SEO strategy adheres to Google, Bing, and Yahoo’s webmaster guidelines to prevent it from being penalized.
When you have the hit—better known as a unique visitor”, it’s vital that you can keep the user on your site rather than deviating elsewhere. This is why you need fast upload speeds, increased bandwidth, and a top-performing web host. WordPress is the host that most websites utilize in the twenty-first century. It’s fully customizable, easy to use, you can create a really professional looking website even as a novice, and there are plenty of widgets to explore. However, we like to use Squarespace due to its beautiful templates that can be fully customized without writing a line of code. In fact, it’s the perfect option for visual web designers without coding experience.
With a website that is informative, interesting, and beautiful, you will portray a professional image and showcase your credibility. Bad grammar, dodgy spelling, and fuzzy or pixelated images do not set the tone for your startup and will drive your traffic away. You want your website to make the best possible impression when someone lands on it.
Acquiring Feedback from the Right Customer Segment and Stakeholder Groups Online
Online feedback will make or break your business. If your customer service levels are high and you respond to queries effectively and speedily, the chances are that you can foster a bank of positive reviews. People are often reluctant to part with their cash on a newbie company. The reviews you generate will encourage people to take a punt on you. Price your product or service reasonably and go the extra mile to provide your customers with the best possible experience.
Add a free gift, offer free delivery, or give a discount on the next order if the customer follows you and leaves a review on Facebook, Google, or Yelp. If you do receive negative feedback, address it immediately, and respond to defuse the situation. Explain the issue, how you solved it, and the impact it has had on your future transactions. Showing that you have learned from a poor experience will help your customers come to their own conclusions when it comes to your reputation.
In the twenty-first century, it can seem more challenging than ever to make a success of your business both online and offline. However, if you can harness the marketing and sales potential of your online presence, you can future proof your venture and it will thrive. It’s all about creating a product or service and offering a customized and personalized customer experience that will have them coming back consistently.
FemFounder is a one-stop shop for creative entrepreneurs and small business owners who need PR, Instagram, Pinterest, and email list building help.
