So, you’ve secured all the funding you need, you’ve got a great business plan, and your product or service is ready to be launched. Now the only thing missing is customers! Every business needs a strong base of customers or clients to carry on existing, and yours is no exception. When you first launch though, no one’s going to know who you are! To turn this around, you’ll need a strong marketing strategy early on in the game. No matter what you’re selling, this is one thing you can’t afford to neglect. Here’s how to get your marketing off to a great start.
My first big tip is never to get too attached to one form of marketing. This is a mistake that’s made by a shocking amount of business owners. That’s one crowd you certainly don’t want to join! No matter how great some of them are made to sound, there’s no perfect marketing technique. From live entertainment to PPC campaigns, every marketing tactic has its own strengths and drawbacks. To give your business the best chance possible, you should have a marketing plan that’s made up of a number of different tactics. Set yourself a tight budget for your initial marketing, and then spread it as thinly as possible. If you invest all your money in print ads and nothing in digital marketing, or vice versa, you’ll only be holding yourself back.
If you’re running a local B2C business, then make sure you don’t neglect a round of mail-outs when you start trading. In this modern age of SEO and clever banner ads, a lot of business owners see mailing campaigns as a relic from the past. In actual fact, these are an incredibly effective way to get the word out about any local business. Get a professional brochure or flier printed in bulk, and then start getting them through letter boxes. If you’re looking to pinch some pennies, you may just want to include it in all your local, outgoing mail. You were sending something anyway, so there’s no need to worry about the cost. Even if they don’t need it immediately, attractive print materials are a great marketing material to have. These will provide something tangible your customer base will have ready when they come to buy from you.
While print media has its own strengths, this doesn’t mean that you can ignore the digital arena completely. In fact, if you’re running an ecommerce store or a remote service, you should be relying more on digital materials than traditional ones. Before you even start to trade, you should have a professionally designed website and a visible social media presence. If you’ve been putting this off, then consider the fact that all your competitors are already doing it! More and more people are using the web as their first port of call for any business. If you’re not coming up on their searches, then you’ll be losing out on a huge amount of business! Social media has also become another popular way to find a particular product or service. When you’re visible and popular on social networks, your customers will wind up doing a lot of marketing work for you. At the very least, your business should have a page on Facebook and Twitter. Use these to tell your customers about new products and promotions, and resolve any complaints before they become too public! From there, you can complement your digital marketing through professional SEO and PPC management services.
Finally, be sure to send out a few press releases. Wherever you are, I’m sure there’s some newspaper or news site that publishes small, local issues. A new business launch, complemented by an open day, always makes interesting news for these kinds of publications. If the launch of your company has created a load of new jobs, then this is going to be even more attractive to journalists! When you get close to your opening, draft a well-written and engaging press release, then send it to your publications. Obviously, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be published. Because of this, it can help to draft a few different pitches with different angles, and submit them all at once. If you’re not going for a local audience, then other, business-orientated news sites could be a good alternative.
Take these tips on board, and your business will get off to a great start. Marketing conventions change all the time, and can be hard to pin down. However, a few proven techniques always help in your early stages.