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Startup Marketing: Work Smarter Not Harder

Published on April 5, 2012 by in All, Marketing, Public Relations

Startup Marketing Work Smarter Not HarderIt all started with a great idea. Now, you have a shiny new product – or service – with a carefully designed website and you are ready to shout it to the world and get your customers rolling in. Not so fast! While you may think full-speed-ahead is the way to go, the key to marketing success with a startup, and a limited budget, is all in the execution. You have to figure out a way to make $1+$1=3 customers, right? While being first to market is important, taking some time to do things thoughtfully and carefully will help you get that extra bang for your limited bucks. Plan effectively and implement efficiently with the following tips.

 

1. Develop a plan. A former manager early in my career at a technology startup used to say, “Throw it on the wall and see if it sticks” when referring to marketing and advertising strategies. A lot of start-ups believe this mantra too and that is not a model that new businesses can rely on long term.

Unfortunately, this tactic is a huge waste of your time, energy, and money, and … it doesn’t work. With limited start-up resources, you can’t afford to act haphazardly and market yourself to anyone and everyone who may or may not be interested in what you have to offer. Develop a streamlined marketing plan designed to reach your target audience. Keep it systematic and consistent.

 

2. Stick with what you know. Don’t try to “go viral” with content, videos, Infographics, etc. that aren’t related to what you do. Sure, you’ll generate traffic for your site, but those visitors are not likely to stick around and buy your product or utilize your service. Define what you do, what makes you different, and why people should care. These value propositions should be woven into all of your marketing efforts.

 

3. Tap your network. Social media is important, and we’ll get to that next, but it does not replace good, old-fashioned face-to-face networking. There are many great networking groups in the Baltimore-Washington area including the Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber and the Business Women’s Network of Howard County. Attend local chamber and industry events, set up lunch meetings with former colleagues to share your new venture, and don’t hesitate to ask friends for referrals to people that may be interested in your company. Always be honest and genuine.

 

4. Be social. Set up your social media accounts now and make sure that your website and all marketing initiatives include links to your pages. Facebook and Twitter are the most obvious, but don’t forget about Google+, Pinterest, CrunchBase, YouTube, and sites that may be geared to your market.

For example, if you have a mom-focused product, you want to be involved in a site like CaféMom.com. Remember that social media is a conversation so engage and interact.

 

Monitor all the social media buzz about your start-up with a social media dashboard. There are several easy and free ways to see what is being said about you, including TweetDeck, Hootsuite, Threadsy, and more.

 

5. Engage with bloggers. Blogger outreach can be extremely beneficial and effective. Seek out the most influential bloggers in your genre and pitch them relevant and useful content.

 

6. Start your own blog. The benefits of having a blog for your business are fairly well-know and numerous. Content marketing is more than just SEO. Providing fresh and relevant content on your site establishes you and your business as an expert and a leader. People will keep coming back. According to a study by HubSpot, a leading inbound marketing software company, businesses that actively blog get 55 percent more website traffic!

 

7. Go public … with PR. Public Relations is a big part of starting up, but unlike advertising or sales, it’s best to think beyond revenue generation. PR is about building and maintaining your company’s brand. It includes developing and nurturing community and media relationships. Newsworthy releases are great for brand awareness, and with the help of newswire services they can even provide some SEO benefits, but be sure to incorporate these tools into an overall public relations strategy that will help generate meaningful and credible media coverage for the duration of your business life cycle.

 

We hope you find these tips helpful in marketing your new startup. If you have other suggestions or ideas to add to the list, please let us know.

This article also appears in The Business Monthly: March 2012 issue.

 
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Pinterest for Non-Profits

Published on March 3, 2012 by in All, Marketing

Nonprofits on PinterestWe have often worked with non-profit organizations with limited resources to accomplish very noble and needed missions. Many times, it’s hard for non-profits (and small businesses) with very little staff to prioritize the marketing tasks that are mission critical promoting fundraising events, seeking donations, and generating new volunteers are among the many tasks requiring marketing talent and resources.

Utilizing new social media sites like Pinterest may seem like the last thing on a non-profit’s to do list, but a recent article from Mashable shares “10 Strategies for Non-Profits on Pinterest“. This article is a collection of interesting and usable ideas for non-profits to increase brand awareness, engagement, and followers with Pinterest.

Has your non-profit started on Pinterest? Tell us about some of your ideas.

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Gear Up for the Newest Google Analytics

Published on February 20, 2012 by in All, Marketing
Google Analytics

© by Search Engine People Blog

I assume most of you have encountered Google Analytics, or GA, at some point as more than half of the top 10,000 most popular websites utilize the free service to gain valuable insights into their website traffic and to help determine the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. Last April, Google launched a beta version of new Google Analytics, with an array of upgraded features including multiple dashboards, interaction goals, comparative metrics, and more.

 

Since then, they’ve made several new updates, increased functionality, and provided additional features.  If you didn’t get a chance to try it out in beta, it’s time to dive right in. No worries though, here’s the quick and dirty on some of the latest and greatest features to guide you through.

  • Real-Time – Launched last September, real-time analytics help you see what’s happening with your site right when it’s occurring and what challenges and opportunities you have. The original Google Analytics did a great job of showing past trends so this is, in my opinion, is one of the best new features!

 

  • Multi-Channel Marketing – GA shows EVERY interaction that the user had with your site 30 days prior to conversion, or purchase. For example, if the user first visits your site from a Twitter feed, then finds you through an organic search, and might come across you again from a banner ad, the final source or channel usually is attributed to the conversion. This new features allows you to see all channels a user followed and optimize your strategy accordingly.

 

  • Custom Dashboards – The first thing you see when you log on has gotten a face lift. You can customize your view based on 4 widgets – metric, pie chart, timeline, and table – and create up to 20 dashboards per profile.

 

  • Social Plug-In Analytics – See how users interact with social media sites like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can also easily incorporate “AddThis” and “ShareThis” features.

 

  • Report Email Scheduling – Analytics will email any of your reports to you, or to any email address you specify, on demand or on a set schedule, in 4 different formats, xml, csv, tsv, and now pdf.

 

  • Mobile Enhancements-  Mobile Apps features now include the EasyTracking Library for both iOS and Android that allows tracking for your app down to the activity level,  automatic session management, and better integration with Google Analytics software development kit or SDK.

 

  • Flow and Goal Visualization – allows you to analyze site insights graphically, and instantly understand how visitors flow across pages on your site, as well as how they get to the end goal.

 

  • Compare Data Ranges – An update from the old GA that allows you to compare two different periods and range of time, then chart it right away.

 

  • Referring Sites – With new Google Analytics you can see your site traffic, as well as the goal conversion on the sites that are referring users to you. This gives you details on both the number of visitors generated from a partner or ad and also the quality of those visitors.

 

  • AdWords Integration – GA provides data on each campaign, group, and keyword, so you can analyze display ads, clicks, cost, conversion, and whether or not they resulted in an e-commerce transaction or another defined goal.

These are just 10 of the many exciting new features that Google has rolled out with the new analytics to help you refine your marketing strategies and increase your conversions. Still overwhelmed? There’s a lot to digest! Check out Google’s support pages for more detailed information.

 

How has Google Analytics helped your marketing initiatives? What are your favorite new features?

 
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Why Your Company Should Have a Blog

Published on February 15, 2012 by in All, Marketing
Company Blog

BLOG IDEAS © by owenwbrown

Don’t have a company blog? According to Hubspot’s 2011 State of Inbound Marketing report, you are now in the minority. From 2009 to 2011, the percentage of businesses with a blog grew from 48 percent to 65 percent. Why the up tick? Companies are citing the below average costs of this medium, in addition to the high success rates. Fifty-seven percent of the companies included in the study have turned a blog generated lead into a customer. Those successes came from frequent blogging – 78 percent blog daily! If that isn’t enough to persuade you to start your blog today, here are some other important reasons.

 

  1. SEO, SEO, SEO. Blogs help Search Engine Optimization. With Google Panda, Google’s new search ranking algorithm, new and fresh content is essential for better rankings. In fact, businesses that blog get 55 percent more website traffic. Keep your posts unique and informative.
  2. Lead your industry! Establish yourself, and your company, as leaders in your industry. Posting insightful and relevant content elevates you as an expert and thought leader. Reporters often use blogs for information and citations and, as an industry leader; you will become a “go to” for them.
  3. Credibility and Trust. Interestingly enough, blogs are seen as a more trusted and credible source than official company press releases, ads, and articles, because they give a visitor more insight into who you really are – more than any “Meet the Team” or “About Us” section on your website might reveal. Your blogs will have more of an impact on the choices that your customers make, and are likely to help encourage them to the conversion point where the next step is a purchase.
  4. Customer Involvement. Blogs are thought provoking and elicit a customer response and comments with calls to action or questions at the end of your post. The better and more consistent your content is, the more often your customers will be coming back for more. Consistency creates loyalty.
  5. Reach New Customers. One thing that a blog does is increase traffic. Blogs should include an easy “share” feature that allows visitors to quickly share the post on any of the major social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Digg, Stumbleupon, and more. When your content is shared, new customers learn about your site.

 

These are just a few of the top reasons why your company should start blogging. No matter what your final motivation is, it is important that you think it out and have a strategy! Define your goals and establish a commitment to posting with a predetermined frequency. Also, check out this Mashable article on how to get started with a company blog. So, what’s stopping you? Get writing!

 

Have you recently started a company blog? What experiences have you had?

 
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Building a Social Media Marketing Plan

Published on February 4, 2012 by in All, Marketing
Social Media Marketing for Businesses

Facebook © by miss_rogue

Do you have a social media marketing plan? Chances are very good that you don’t. In fact, one survey suggests that 60 percent of companies are using social media without a plan. Many small businesses set up social media accounts because it’s expected but they aren’t sure how to proceed from there. They inconsistently tweet, post a Facebook status here and there, share something on a LinkedIn group, then think that social media doesn’t work. They’re right!

Social media is failing to meet some small business owners’ expectations for several reasons:

  • expectations often include unrealistic sales figures,
  • goals within each network are not clearly defined, and
  • social media isn’t being properly integrated into an overall marketing strategy.

In essence, social media won’t work without a plan in place.

If 60 percent of companies don’t have a social media plan, then the other 40 percent do. A recent report from Red Rocket Media predicts a 41% projected increase on social media spend in 2012. Also, according to the study, small business owners planning to direct more resources to the channel will do so in hopes of boosting follower or fan engagement.

So what are the top social marketing investment areas for 2012? Another survey, sponsored by Awareness, Inc., found that companies are investing in presence, frequency, and processes. More specifically:

  • 70% are increasing their presence across social marketing platforms;
  • 59% are increasing the frequency of content publishing;
  • 50% are focusing on more robust social marketing management; and
  • 45% are focusing on monitoring.

By now you have your 2012 strategic marketing plan in place, so take a look at it to determine your corresponding social media strategy. Social media should not be used in place of traditional marketing; it should be used as an additional tool to support your efforts.

Consider why each social platform was originally established and develop your strategy around leveraging the strengths within each technology. Read this article from the Harvard Business Review, outlining how your marketing can keep pace with the major social media platforms. Define your audience and outline the best way to reach them. Set your goals and determine how you are going to measure success. Plan your frequency and content, keeping it consistent and informative.

Social media marketing, when done with a well-developed plan, should help you grow your business, strengthen your brand awareness, and improve customer loyalty.

Do you have a social media marketing plan? What works best for you and your company?

 
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