Module 7 - Sharing your story
2. Creating a marketing strategy on a shoestring budget
“You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything”
-Beth Comstock
Having a strong marketing strategy matters: if you want customers to pay for your product or service, you will need to go out and find them, and then convince them to buy from you. Many startups focus on their product and service but don’t put enough thought into their marketing strategy when, in fact, it’s as equally important as your sales strategy. The two go hand in hand.
Knowing your customer
The first step in creating a marketing strategy is really getting to know your customers. Through your brand positioning, you identified your target market and how you will set yourself apart from your competition. Here you go one step further identifying and developing customer profiles. You may want to think of this as customer “personas”. The aim is to understand what your customers’ pain points and priorities are. What problem are you solving for them with your product and service? And what is their behaviour going to be to buy your product or service? How will they find out about you? How do you want them to feel? You shouldn’t base these profiles on assumptions or guesses, it’s best to go out and do as much research as possible. Research online data available, carry out interviews and surveys and take advantage of your online social networks. Can you get friends on Facebook to respond to a survey, or can you reach out to LinkedIn contacts? Even a small amount of research is better than none. Once you’ve gathered enough information, you can create profiles outlining a few different sections (these are not-exhaustive and will vary depending on the kind of business you’re building and the customer journey):
- Demographic: Gender, age, location
- Pain points: What are they struggling with?
- Behaviour: What do they do for work? In their free time?What are they interested in? How do they like being approached? Where do they find out about new products and services?
- Channels: This section is filled out after you’ve identified your marketing channels (next section!)
Choosing your channels
When you know who you will be targeting, you need to figure out the channels you’ll go through to reach these customers. As a startup, your marketing budget is limited so it’s important to make the most of it and pick your channels effectively.
Word of mouth/testimonials
The cheapest (and mostly free!) marketing channel is through word of mouth. A great way for potential customers to relate to your product or service is through testimonials from other customers. It’s also worth considering if you’re able to create a referral process which encourages existing customers to recommend you in exchange for something (e.g. a discount). This isn’t possible for all business models but don’t underestimate how much people are willing to help up-and-coming entrepreneurs, especially mission-led ones. When you win a customer, can you ask them if they know other potential interested parties and whether they’d be happy to make an introduction? Or can you ask them to write a testimonial you can share on your website & other communications?
Email marketing
Emails can be a highly effective marketing tool to engage existing customers, drive repeat purchases and gain customer insights. People who agree to receiving email marketing (newsletters) from you have made that deliberate choice so it’s fair to assume they’re a strong supporter of what you do. Use that to your advantage by sending clear, easy to navigate, exciting & engaging emails. More tips on this guide to growing an email list.
PR
It’s tempting to think that PR (Public Relations) is only for the big boys but it’d be a shame (and a missed opportunity) not to include this in your marketing strategy. Make the most out of being a startup striving to make a positive impact and/or doing something different. It’s relatively easy to get good PR coverage since people are always looking for new, exciting content to write about. You don’t need to hire the services of an expensive PR firm at this stage, you can do it in-house instead. Here are a few steps to get you started:
- Start by writing a press release. Journalists may constantly be on the look-out but they’re also short on time, so make sure your press release is catchy and stands out from the crowd. Here are some tips, templates and examples for inspiration.
- Identify journalists or outlets you’d like to target, make a list and plan your approach. You may wonder how you find people to get in touch with? Look up journalists who have written about similar topics/your industry/the problem you’re solving in the past and try reaching out to them either by email (if you can find it) or on twitter (also a great place to find them). You can also search for relevant hashtags like #prrequests or #journorequests, you never know what you might find. Don’t be shy and consider contacting different (online) magazines, podcasts and bloggers that are focused on topics related to your product or service. Not everyone is going to want to write about you but if you do your research, perfect your pitch, contact the right people and clarify what’s in it for them, chances are someone is going to want to share your story.
- Build a strong social media presence (see below) and PR will come to you!
SEO
An effective search engine optimisation (SEO) is essential for startups as it helps capture relevant traffic from search engines and drive this traffic to your website. It’s important to keep in mind that the specifications for SEO change constantly and it’s not enough to simply optimise title tags and meta descriptions, distribute links that direct back to your website and regularly update your (possible) blog. In order for Google and other search engines to recognise you as a trustworthy and legitimate brand, you need to have an active social media account. Consequently, a strong social media presence helps you rank for a certain set of keywords. (Startups.co.uk, 2018)