Growing A Startup Through Effective And Budget Friendly Marketing Tactics

Startups do not always possess huge budgets from a monster investment from an angel investor. The truth is that many startups struggle with cash flow during their infancies until business stabilizes. Throwing money at marketing and hoping it works simply is not an option for some startups. A strategy based on data of other similar businesses or data gathered from market research is imperative. Tracking ROI on campaign is also important if a campaign need to be modified to increase its cost efficiency. The following are tactics that will not only help grow a business through marketing but also doing this in a budget friendly way.

Find A Great Freelance Writer

Finding the right freelance writer can allow a startup to establish their corporate tone. This could be casual or formal depending on the industry but having a consistent writer is important. Most freelance writers are willing to give discounts to companies that are going to give them a multitude of work. Negotiate this first as paying $100 a blog post simply is not in the cards for some budgets. If the writer has experience with things like writing product copy as well as website copy, allow them to handle this as well. Email blasts and newsletters are also areas that this writer can help with. Finding a writer that fits the budget, availability, communicates well, and hits deadlines is imperative. Do trial campaigns with a few writers to see which fit the tone the business wants to establish.

Outreach To Publications Needs To Be Done

Relevant publications linking back to a startup’s site helps them with keyword ranking on search engines. This can also help them earn a reputation as a company as being mentioned on a site like Forbes legitimizes a business quite quickly. Researching sites that accept articles from outside contributors is the first step of this. Once you have a list you need to find the appropriate email so you reach out to a person that can help you along in this process. Once you have had an article pitch accepted this needs to be written up within the guidelines an editor has provided. Then the article is published with or without your link, most publications will allow a company link in the author bio though. Staff building their name in an industry is valuable for both the employee as well as the company. Big names in an industry on staff that have been developed over time can help close deal after deal.

The Company Blog Can Be A Huge Asset

The company blog can be a great place to showcase knowledge on specific topics relevant to the startup. This can garner backlinks where bloggers link back to the blog post as a resource which helps search engine rankings. Establishing the blog as a top one to read in the industry helps a startup gain credibility in a business niche. An important factor is to engage readers and respond to questions or comments readers might have. Readers can even be great for generating content ideas which can help improve reader loyalty as it helps create a sense of community amongst those reading the blog. Podcasts can be an incredible way to showcase knowledge as well as the blog shouldn’t be just for written content. For example, the best digital marketing podcast broadcasted from Houston TX by eWebResults garners quite a bit of attention. The ability to go in-depth in a podcast allows people to ask very technical questions and allows the host to answer these questions thoroughly.

Building Great Sales Lists Through Contact Forms And Email Blasts

Marketing that leads directly to sales or creates a healthy sales funnel will have the highest ROI. Hitting sales prospects with information as well as sales that might be going on is important. Staying present in their mind can allow a company to close a sale instead of going elsewhere to complete a purchase. The important aspect of marketing is making sure that the leads that are generated are quality. This means the leads qualify themselves in some way and a great way to do this is by having a prospective client questionnaire. The sales team can benefit from this as they can tailor their pitch around the products or services the prospect is interested in. Questions should include pain points of why the client is seeking out help of a service or product. Solving pain points empowers the buyer allowing them to remedy the situation instead of feeling like they were sold something.  A good sales software will allow the sales team to periodically follow up with leads that are still in the sales funnel.

Marketing on a budget will take a focus on quality as there is little room for wasted spend on marketing tactics that don’t deliver on ROI. A sound strategy is important as this can help grow the business at a faster rate than you could have imagined!