The Importance of Marketing for Startup Businesses

Irena Milovanovic
4 min readNov 29, 2018

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Anyone who’s anyone in the world of business these days talks about startup businesses. This is the moment where startups are exploding everywhere like never before. In today’s culture of innovation and technology, everything begins with an idea brought by individuals and their enthusiasm. But as “ The survival of the best “ is one of the main rules in business, for startups, this may be even rule number one.

Statistics say that 76% of new startups fail as a business. Lack of finance, poor business planning and lack of proper marketing strategy are among the three main reasons why these businesses fail.

Cash flow is essential for startups to survive, so the first thing they do is trying to find ways of minimizing their costs. Most of them somehow manage to improve their business plan by doing market research and finding the right market for their products or services, but they are still left with the challenge of creating and executing a proper marketing strategy.

The meaning of Content Marketing for Startup Businesses

So, you had an idea, you did your best to find different ways to finance your future business, your business plan seems to hold your idea, all you need now is to create a good market ng strategy.

In his moment many startup owners ask themselves the same questions - Is this really necessary? With all these financial troubles and budget limitations — Is this the right thing to do in this moment?

MORE THAN EVER!!!

The one thing you need to have in mind is to have clear business goals that you need to accomplish with the right marketing strategy.

Traditional or Digital ( marketing ) The Question is Now?

Marketing experts say- Marketing is Marketing.

As long as you offer a clear value proposition to the right customer online or offline marketing distribution channels doesn’t need to be mutually exclusive, uncontrary, you can use both of their strengths.

Before you decide what kind of marketing is best for your startup busi ess, ask yourself these three questions:

  1. Is your product or service digital?
  2. Do you sell B2B or B2C products or services?
  3. What are you focusing on — Brand awareness or direct customer acquisition?

The answers to these questions will guide you to discover which type of marketing fits your startup business.

Every startup business starts with similar goals like securing business development and reaching more clients, but the marketing approach changes very fast and you need to keep up with the new trends. Although many of these startup businesses keep up with the newest technologies and innovations, that doesn’t mean that every one of these businesses needs to really strictly on digital marketing.

Marketing your Startup — The Traditional ( offline ) way

Traditional or offline marketing refers to flyers, billboards, newspaper prints, tv or radio commercial. So if your local audience is your target, then the best way to reach them is by using traditional offline marketing. Although today’s world thrives to digitalization, not everyone is comfortable with digital methods. Traditional marketing is easy to understand, so if your buyer persona refers to those certain demographics, then traditional offline marketing is your best choice.

The power of Digital Marketing

There are several very important benefits from using digital marketing strategy. The first one ( for many startup businesses may be the most important ) is that it doesn’t cost much but it can be profitable.

How?

When you try to bring awareness to your business, your customer’s opinion means a lot. The easiest way to connect with them is to meet them on the internet. If your target customer spends a lot of time on the internet, then digital marketing is your best way to interact with them, show them you care about their opinion and use that information to build even better marketing strategy leading to a win-win situation.

Conclusion

Most startup businesses focus on product or service development and that’s great, but many of them fail because they fail in the marketing department. So it is essential to create a marketing strategy in every stage of the startup life.

You can start by using some of these proven strategies:

  • Launch a referral program ( let your customers help to promote your products or services )
  • Attend trade shows ( connect with the right influencers )
  • Reach to forums ( target the right users )
  • Reach to a specific community ( online and offline )
  • Connect with another brand ( draw attention to a larger audience )

Whatever you choose, remember, creating and executing a marketing strategy for your startup business from day one is crucial for your business success.

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