Promoting your start-up in a new market is very easy if you get it well from the start. As easy as it is, you still have to be very careful on the methods you use in promoting your business. If not, your marketing campaigns will not convert into sales.
When I started my fast moving consumer goods business, I didn’t make much sales in the first few weeks. But everything changed when I started promoting my business. I created sign boards, fliers and even used the word of mouth method to a large extent. Before long my turnover increased, as my sales plummeted through the roof.
Do you have a new startup? I can almost bet you do. Then promoting your business should be one of your major goals as it is one major way to ensure you make good sales.
If you are wondering how to go about it, don’t worry anymore. Below are 5 ways you can promote your start-up when you enter a new market
- Choose social media engagement over old school advertising.
If you are into a small scale business that fits into people’s personal needs, you can run a campaign on your Facebook wall, Instagram and Twitter showing pictures of your work, and why it is wise to patronise you.
Any method of connecting with people and prompting sharing is valuable. But you will have to post regular updates, interact, and be interesting. Chances are; 10 out of 100 people will get in touch with you. They will always need what you have to offer.
- Run an email marketing campaign
You can buy bulk emails and send your advert to about 5000 emails at once. These emails should be short and sweet. The message line must be captivating to avoid reader deletion. Anything from product updates, special pricing and discounts, and corporate news can be sent here. Somebody out there must get back to you.
- Determine what your marketing objectives are
You need to make sure your marketing objectives are built on the knowledge you acquired during a SWOT analysis because the information can help dictate those objectives.
SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. If you learn during your research that there’s an untapped market that might be interested in your products or services, you can be the first among your competition to reach out to that audience. Essentially, it helps you establish your place in the market.
- Establish a clear selling point
What’s the thing you think you do better than anyone else? Is it that your goods and services are much more affordable than that of your competitors? Do you offer a money back guarantee on your services?
In my own case, I added free delivery to my services. So all you needed to do was to place your order over the phone and I will deliver your goods at home. That alone made me to get a lot more customers than I envisaged in the beginning.
Are you wondering what your selling point is? You can start by answering some of these simple questions.
- What resources do you have that give you an edge over your competition?
- Do you already have a loyal customer base?
- What do your customers say about you?
The answers to these questions are all geared towards helping you identify what your selling point is. Your selling point, if it is unique and enticing enough can promote your business and get a lot of customers for your start-up.
- Be careful about placement
Contrary to what you might think, people do look at ads, and when they do, the information they get registers in their subconscious. But before you start placing ads, you need to be careful about where your target audience are so that you don’t waste a lot of money.
For instance, if your target customers are known to be more of radio listeners than TV watchers, you don’t have any reason placing your ad on the radio. Before you start promoting your business, pause and determine who you really need to see your ads.
In my own case, I targeted house wives who I was sure would need a lot of consumer goods. Because of that, I printed 1000 fliers and went to a particular primary school every afternoon and shared my fliers among these housewives.
The same thing applies to online promotions. Platforms like Facebook make it possible for you to choose who you want to see your ads. You get to chooses between locations, demographics, vocation, etc.
YouTube is another alternative. You can select a target audience for your ads and elect banner, in-stream video, or display options.
Your products and services appeal to a lot of people, that doesn’t mean you should spend your time and money trying to reach everyone. Determining an audience can help you distribute what limited resources your startup has.
image credit: flickr
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