Startup Marketing: 7 Effective Digital Marketing Hacks
Marketing is one of those key areas that can determine your startup’s success. It doesn’t matter what products or services you’re selling, as long as you know how to present them in a way that’s appealing to your buyer persona, then you’ll be able to grab their attention.
A buyer persona is simply an elaborate definition of your target customers. When you have a clear understanding of who they are, you’ll be able to create products and marketing messages that speak to them on a deeper level. Make sure that you take some time to create one for your startup. It will serve as a blueprint for all your key decisions moving forward.
This article will go over 7 digital marketing hacks that can genuinely transform your startup within months. Modern-day marketing is all about creativity and winning your battles on the internet. The average consumer spends more time online than anywhere else.
7 Digital Marketing Hacks to Rapidly Scale your Startup
1. FOMO marketing
FOMO, or “fear of missing out”, is the anxiety we feel whenever we imagine that we’re missing out on something exciting that may never happen again.
FOMO marketing entails purposely inducing that anxiety in consumers to get them to make impulsive purchase decisions to avoid “missing out”.
How it works is simple: you just need to create an exclusive deal that expires in a short amount of time, or is only available to a set number of people, and then advertise it aggressively to your target audience.
For example, if you’re looking to get people to buy tickets to your event, you can offer a free cocktail only to the first 100 people. Here’s an article that goes over 11 creative FOMO marketing strategies.
2. Build social proof
Social proof is the idea that we are all wired to copy one another. Our brain prefers to copy what another person is doing than to figure things out on its own simply because it’s easier and more efficient.
If you take a look at nearly every successful brand in the world, you’ll notice that their success is to some extent built on a foundation of social proof. iPhones and iPads are so wildly popular and it’s not just because of their features – but because people deem them to be “cool”, and would very much like to be seen with them. Owning an iPhone is almost like a fashion statement.
The idea behind social proof marketing is getting other people to talk about your products on your behalf. You can do that through influencer marketing, referral marketing, and by getting your startup published in popular publications. Here’s an article that goes over some social proof marketing hacks.
3. Target decision-makers on LinkedIn
There’s no greater platform on the internet to target key decision-makers than LinkedIn. If you have a B2B business, you can use it to search for people who match your buyer persona, and then do a cold outreach.
LinkedIn allows you to search for people based on factors such as location, job title, and even organizations they work for. For example, if your target is a marketing manager located in London, you can search for the keywords “marketing manager” and then use the location filter to add “London”. Within seconds you’ll have a list of people who match your buyer persona.
Now all you’ll have to do is scan through each profile to determine whether they’d be a great fit for your products, and then send a connection request, along with a short message introducing yourself. Make sure to resist the urge to start selling right away as that can put people off.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn Marketing
4. Proactively collect ratings and reviews
A lot of internet users make their purchase decisions based on reviews they read online. Having an abundance of positive reviews is by far one of the best ways to show credibility and social proof.
You can easily start collecting reviews for your startup by asking for them from your friends, family, customers, and essentially anyone that’s had some experience with your products. You can also automate the process by adding the request in “thank you” emails after a purchase.
If you have a physical establishment such as a restaurant, make sure that you have a Google business page. Whenever people visit you, Google will automatically send them a request for rating and reviews.
5. Build an online omnipresence
Having an online omnipresence simply means being in all the places on the internet where your buyer persona is most likely to go search for your products or services.
For example, if they do a Google search, you should have a website that’s been optimized to show up among the top results. Most people only visit websites on the first page of the Google search results.
If they go on Facebook to research products, your page should be among the first they see. If they go read reviews on Yelp, you should have a page there. If they use Google Maps to find local businesses, you should have a listing with directions to your establishment.
Think about all the platforms your customers are likely to use while researching products, and then aim to be present on them. The more times they encounter your name, the more familiarized they get to it. Consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they have some familiarity with.
6. Host contests on social media
This is another great way to build social proof and get people to actively talk about your brand. The competitions can take many different formats depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.
For instance, you can get people to share your photo or use your hashtag on Instagram for a chance to win a prize. The more lucrative your prizes, the more people will likely participate.
Let’s say you have a page with only 200 followers, and then only 10 participate by sharing your photo, it could get seen by thousands of people from within their network. If each of those 10 people has around 500 followers, your reach could be as high as 5,000. Now imagine the possibilities if you can get hundreds of people to participate in your contests.
7. Give out freebies
Giving out free things is a fantastic way to lure people to try out your products or services. Uber offers free rides to first-time customers to get them to download the app and try it out without any risks on their part. And since most of its first-time users end up becoming repeat customers, the cost of the free ride will eventually get recouped down the line.
Just like Uber, if you truly have confidence in your products then you shouldn’t hesitate to give out free things to lure first-time customers. The freebies can include samples of your products, limited-time trials, gift vouchers, coupons, etc.
