If you’re running an early-stage startup, marketing may not be front of mind. You’re most likely more consumed with trying to build your product and ensure success. However, you should be focusing at least some of your energy into creating a strong marketing campaign. And, contrary to common belief, marketing can be affordable and scalable.
For those of you with smaller budgets, marketing in the early stages of your startup’s growth has many proven benefits—like helping you be more effective with customer acquisition and sales.
Here are three easy ways you can use marketing to help your startup grow:
Content Marketing
Unlike paid advertising, content marketing is free.
To get started, you can easily create social media accounts for your startup and start posting. Develop a content calendar that you can follow and stay consistent. Try linking to your website to help push attention to your product and online sales.
Keywords
Using keywords can help you reach your target audience.
When developing your keywords, you will need to be diligent. First, you should identify keywords that make sense for your product. Second, do weekly reviews of where your website pops-up on search engines when using your keywords. If your website ranks in the top five on a results page, then you’ve created a strong SEO strategy.
Geo-targeting
Try targeting local support by implementing geo-targeting.
Geo-targeting is a marketing method that determines the geo-location of a website visitor and delivers location-specific content. This tool can be especially helpful if you are trying to target people where they are currently located by offering them tailored products and services.
Tell us what free marketing tools you like to use @StarterNoise.
Derek Rundell, is a successful business leader, operator, and serial entrepreneur. Derek has founded, managed and sold businesses in the technology, media and finance industries. He sits on several boards and serves as an advisor/investor to numerous established businesses and startups. Startups are Derek’s real passion, and in addition to building his own portfolio of technology, media and financial ventures, he invests in and mentors startups and entrepreneurs. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and helping other businesses succeed.