The world of business, known for its ruthlessness, has in recent years seen the rise of a niche that transcends all previous notions of ruthlessness: startups.

Success in the startup world is select. The blessed few who make it to the top, who have nailed a few great startup ideas and have stayed at the top, have reached their heights because of the simultaneous success of multiple factors, not the least of which is how they market themselves to a crowd that is becoming increasingly aware and picky about their loyalty.

Nailing your marketing campaigns will contribute immensely to the life and morale of your business. 

1. Brand Development

Let's face it: most other businesses could offer the services you do. It's very rare that there's a business that delivers a unique service or product to you. What then is the differentiating factor? Brand.

Not simply the business idea. The best way to develop a segment in a tough market is to distinguish yourself from your competitors. It could be a tag line, a logo, a mascot, a gimmick – something that makes you stand out from the rest of the dull crowd. Whatever you decide will stick with you and be behind the company's growth every step of the way.

2. Digital Advertising

Today, the battle's on the internet, on social media, right next to the customer's personal life. The shifting of the battleground demands different tactics. The internet offers powerful and persuasive methods to win your target audience over, but only if you direct the campaign with sensibility. 

The most common, but potentially the most effective, method is ad campaigns on social media, like Facebook. Social media allows you to narrow your advertisement visibility to just your target audience, or to reach out to entirely new section of the market. It's great for winning customers and hopeful experimenting. Google AdWords is another excellent place to start.

3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

You've got to stand out and be on the top of people's minds. In the modern world, part of that equation means ranking high on search engines. And in order to rank high, you're going to have implement some Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques. 

Apart from the more general aspects such as maintaining active social media presence, updating your blogs, it also means building links that lead back to your site. The more genuine links that lead back to your site, the more trustworthy Google and other search engines consider your website. Hire an SEO expert to aid you in this.

4. Target Audience

This is just as important in the digital world as it is in the real one. You're still dealing with people, after all. Identifying your target audience should be one of the preliminary steps in your marketing plan.

You'd be wasting resources by simply casting as wide a net as possible and hoping for the best. Fishing smartly, which Facebook will let you do with its powerful advertisement tools, is the approach to be taken. 

5. Conversion Rate Optimisation

It's necessary to constantly improve your marketing campaigns – figuring out why a campaign hasn't worked, what caused a decrease in customers and what's bringing in sales, and generally, what's working and what isn't.

You, as a marketer, have to help design strategies so that customers will commit actions on your website that help you reach your business goals. 

The most fundamental technique in CRO is split-testing. You give two different experiences to two groups, for the testing of a particular element – let us say the checkout process – and you determine which group has returned a better conversion rate. You can then determine which checkout process experience was better. Of course, it's a little more complicated than this, but it's the gist of it.

There's also the ever-reliable feedback form, which you should pose to your customers. There's nothing more direct and straightforward than a regular questionnaire.

Success in marketing doesn't come easy, but at least the tools are available for your use. Put them to good use, keeping in mind what you've read here. Remember, if you've got the startup idea and if you've got the marketing, you've got the crowdfunding.

What do you think about the difficulty of running a startup? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Article & image source: http://www.ivyclique.in/article/Start-up-Essentials/Business-101-5-Key-Points-That-Should-Underpin-Your-Start-ups-Marketing-Plan/NDM2Mw==/MTIy

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