by Saji Nair

As is the case with big corporate companies, SME/SMBs, and startups won’t be having a big budget to perform their digital marketing activities. The question is how do these plan the digital marketing activities with low investment and reap the maximum benefits? None, underestimate or question these companies’ preference in opting for online marketing. Though they won’t be receiving much traction out of these efforts in the initial stage, so as establish their brand, digital marketing is absolutely essential for them.

Digital marketing plan for startups should be evolved keeping in mind the four fundamental elements.

  • Reach
  • Act
  • Convert
  • Engage

Integrated Digital Strategy

Competition in online space is immense. As a first priority, startups by leveraging the potential of digital marketing should strive to create a niche for themselves. It is unfair to take on the big corporate competitors right at this stage. Hence, an integrated digital strategy to position and earn a reputation for the brand in online marketplace will be the need of the hour. An agile and strategic approach is needed for startups so as market themselves aggressively in the online platforms. Managing and optimizing the digital channels is very much critical for an integrated digital strategy.

How to reach out to customers?

These days there are many digital avenues to reach out to customers. Startups should leverage the power of content since it is one such source through which it is very much possible to reach out to customers. Publishing and promoting content across various online sources and subsequently sharing it will ensure greater reach for the brand. Search engines, blogs, and social networks are the channels through which content can aggressively be promoted by a startup.

How your business should fuel the decision-making process of customers?

Over the course of time, build trust and reputation for your brand. Imagine a prospective customer googling a query “High-quality athletic shoes”. The customer gets to see thousands of results. But then the customer clicks on the first few search results and zeroes in on a site to purchase the choice. What is it that has prompted to settle opt that particular website? It is the trust factor and the authority. As a start-up, let your content be inspirational and resourceful so that your business triggers the decision-making process of customers. Ensure your presence in groups and forums.

How your business should convert?

This is a very crucial stage in the customer conversion funnel. Startups should focus on conversion rate optimization. They shouldn’t afford to lose a single prospect. In order to gain an upper hand in converting the prospects, start-ups should invest time in analyzing the day-to-day metrics to understand the behaviour of the prospects and accordingly effect changes in the digital campaign. Incorporating a new strategy in the conversion process or tweaking the existing strategy should be made after carefully analyzing the user metrics. There are various factors like the uniqueness of the product, price and usability feature of the eCommerce portal that triggers conversion. Startups should invest a considerable sum in remarketing so as to witness a surge in the conversion process. Digital marketing plan for startups should also involve remarketing.

What are basic factors to be considered while devising a digital marketing plan for a startup business?

Profile of the prospects

Find out the type of prospects visiting your site and subsequently getting converted into a lead or sale. As a startup, you need to have a clear understanding of varied customer type. Most specifically, their expectations and preferences.

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Comprehensive competitor research

It is very much possible to evolve an integrated digital marketing strategy without taking into account the strategy of competitors. However, it is advised to identify the best performing digital tactics of competitors, get to know the loopholes in their digital strategy thereby capitalizing on their weakness.

Inferring the effectiveness of current state of business

Above everything else, get a clear picture of the current state of effectiveness of your business. Analyze the sales data against the investment amount, examine the ROI’s achieved out of every marketing effort and then go about in preparing the digital marketing strategy for your business. For a startup firm, planning is extremely critical.