Marketing and sales are essential for any tech company to succeed. But it's more challenging for tech startups, given the high competition in the market. For them, launching a new product always comes with pressure and a lack of resources. Budget matters in marketing, and unfortunately, most startups may not have the wherewithal to invest in it.
The good thing is, there are ways for tech startups to spread the word about what they are and why they've gone into business. Of course, it won't be easy, but it's not entirely impossible. With the right marketing strategy, tech startups can get customer's attention and acquisition.
However, it's worth pointing out that most tech entrepreneurs get overwhelmed with marketing nowadays. To prevent that from happening, we're highlighting how any tech startup can create an effective marketing strategy.
Specify Your Goal
Marketing would be useless if you don't know what you want it to achieve. It is you who will define success by the goals you set for your business. For many tech startups, these goals often center on raising brand awareness and acquiring customers. However, you have to make every goal accurate and measurable.
It's not enough to say you want to acquire a lot of customers. Have a specific target number or percentage of customers you want to sign up to your platform or use your product or services. As much as possible, narrow down your big goals into smaller ones so that you don't get overwhelmed. Also, remember to prioritize the goals that are most realistic for you.
Determine Your Budget
There are a hundred things you can do to market your tech startup. But before anything else, it's important to consider how much you can spend on your tech startup marketing. To do this, you must go back to your business plan. You will need to estimate your marketing cost and how long it will take before you turn them into a profit.
Ideally, the amount you should spend on marketing depends on your projected sales figures. But regardless of the amount you set aside for marketing, you must spend it wisely. Make sure that it will reach your target customers and sales. Doing this can help you make adjustments to your marketing strategy without overwhelming your resources.
Identify Your Target Customers
Whatever the type of your startup is, identifying your target customers is crucial. Your marketing strategy won't work if you don't know who you are reaching out to. Thus, take enough time to consider the potential users of your products or services.
Below are a few questions you can ask yourself in determining which crowd to target with your marketing.
What kind of tech product and services are you offering?
Who will most likely respond to your promotions, products, and services?
Who do you think will benefit more from your tech product or services?
Whether it's a company, buyer, or user, defining your target customers is the cornerstone of your marketing. Once you have an accurate picture of your potential customers, you can better find a marketing strategy that'll effectively get their attention.
Build A Personalized Content
Most tech businesses tend to write extensively about their products and services. Although it's necessary to talk about them, focusing your content on your products and services may cause people to turn away, especially those who are not yet near to the buying stage. Building content that connects you with your prospective buyers is vital.
Personalize your content by learning more about your target customers and aligning your business niche to their needs. It may also help to look at the content and posts that are doing well in the tech world. You may visit different top business media outlets and see how they engage customers in their content. But make sure to build your unique voice and message.
Use The Right Channels
It is vital to use the right channel to promote your content to your target audience. Else, you may not be able to reach out to them. Note that there are different mediums in sending your message, and you need to know which one your target customers spend most of their time on.
That's why you must take the chance to identify your audience and understand them. Specific information such as their age, looks, and interests are also beneficial.
Highlighted below are the different channels that are essential to any startup marketing strategy.
Website
A website is a versatile marketing tool that will help you communicate with your audience. It can serve as your online store where you sell your products, offer your services and provide people an overview of your business.
Email Marketing
Email marketing sounds like old school, but it still works. Nothing can generate more sales quickly from your existing customer base than email marketing. It is also the most effective way to nurture leads for B2Bs and on big ticket items. But startups need to secure a list of valuable contacts who will have a genuine interest in your business. You can do this by adding a form to your website to gather email addresses from visitors.
Social Media
Nowadays, social media is not only a social networking platform. It has also turned into a powerful marketing tool for various types of business. Many startups depend greatly on their social media marketing plan to promote and sell their products. But note that there are multiple social media platforms, and each has unique characteristics. You only need to identify which ones suit your products and services best.
Content Marketing
Content marketing relies on acquiring customers by creating high-quality content that they will actively search for. Unlike promotional messaging, the goal of content marketing is to provide information that people truly care about. It is the most cost-effective way to get the word about your tech startup.
Traditional Marketing
The main focus of many startups today is online or digital marketing. However, offline promotion can still bring plenty of value. A business card, brochure, or postcard still works as long as it gets people talking about your business. Besides that, word of mouth remains one of the most effective marketing instruments for startups.
Measure Your Marketing Effort
Because startups usually have limited funds and resources, it is crucial to measure the outcome of your marketing efforts. Every money you spend towards marketing is supposed to lead you to tangible and measurable results. After all, the whole point of creating a marketing strategy is to achieve sales and drive your business revenue.
There are various ways to measure your marketing effort, depending on your marketing goals and strategy. But key performance indicators (KPI) and business outcomes are some of the common metrics that many businesses used to gauge their marketing success.
Takeaway
Creating an effective marketing strategy doesn't happen overnight. Although thorough planning and research are essential, it may still not guarantee your desired outcome. Even successful tech businesses experience failure in their marketing strategy now and then. Thus, give your business enough time to find its voice and place in the market.
