The vast majority of tech founders allocate their resources predominantly to the development and refinement of their product or solution with virtually no attention being paid to its marketing until it’s too late. Being first to market has little value if no one knows who you are. Building brand awareness prior to launch is paramount for start-ups looking to make an early and lasting impact. Often times a product hits the market with little to no fanfare. Meanwhile a larger company picks up on the idea, produces a similar product backed with a robust, comprehensive marketing campaign and beats the start-up launched product to the market. Making yourself known and building an online presence prior to launching your product will ensure your company doesn’t get crushed by larger entities. If people already know who you are, being first to market will carry weight. Here’s how to do it.
Website Design
Acquiring a domain name is the essential first step in building a professional website. The name should align with your company name and not be too long and cumbersome. Design is important. Building a responsive website loaded with dynamic content and calls to action will make your company legitimate and help you to generate and nurture leads. Keeping your navigation simple, paying close attention to page load speed and taking care of technical SEO is integral. Content on your static pages should be clear and concise, optimized for SEO and be produced by a reputable copywriter. High quality images, videos, fonts and graphics are all aesthetic pieces that will assist with building a resilient and memorable reputation. If you’re having an outside company build and host your site, be sure you have all the essential information necessary to keep your site up and running should you elect to have another firm fill that role.
Blog Content
Developing content for your blog is the most distinct and powerful method a start-up can implore to build SEO and strengthen your online presence. Your content should be both educational and entertaining with a focus on solving your customers pain points rather than promoting your products. Each blog should contain your target keywords as well as links to reputable and relevant outside sources. This dynamic approach to being informative regarding critical topics will encourage those you link to, to share your content. This would be inclusive of however, not limited to, a variety of different media including written blogs, videos and info-graphics which will help your blog stay fresh. Gathering links to your website is arguably the most effective way to improve your SEO. Consistently producing quality content and networking with other bloggers and publications will help you to ascertain those links. Including calls to action on each individual blog post which links to premium content offers will help you convert your visitors into leads. Having a library of eBooks, whitepapers and case studies is essential to ensure your company blog works as a lead generation tool.
Social Media
The first step is to build out your company profile. Social media is often the first tool used by start-ups to build brand awareness but simply posting a couple times a month is conventionally inadequate to attain the desired level of notoriety for most blossoming companies. Some key elements to an optimized profile include high quality images, logos, contact information and a mission statement. Developing a social media content calendar will help keep your posting consistent and fresh. You should aim to post four times per day across all channels using a mix of blog posts, industry articles, quotes, statistics, videos and graphics to make your pages worth following. Since the reach of company pages has declined significantly over the past year, using personal accounts to share blog articles to relevant industry groups has become essential to maximize your organic social media reach. Following and engaging with your customers will encourage them to follow you and engage with your posts, thus increasing your reach exponentially.
Trade Shows
Trade shows are a great way to increase exposure, find partners, gain customers and even establish financial backing. Whether you choose to present or simply attend, industry events help you to get your name and ideas out there. If you’re presenting, be sure to sharpen your sales pitch and show a detailed knowledge of your product and industry. Design your booth with a variety of visual elements that encourage attendees to stop by. Giving away small branded items and holding a drawing for a larger prize are great ways to generate leads and determine a potential customer’s interest in your product. Have written materials and business cards in large quantities as to put your contact information in the hands of as many attendees as you can. After the show wraps up, network with those you met with briefly. Once you return home, be sure to follow up via social media, email or telephone.
Paid Advertising
Paid advertising such as Google Ads or sponsored social media content should be used to complement your core marketing activities. Using paid ads on their own can be effective in the short term, but long-term success is developed through content creation and relationship building. Once you’ve developed your company blog and several pieces of premium content paid ads will prove to be much more effective when working in tandem with your original content. Paid advertising is great for finding highly qualified leads who are already at the bottom of the funnel, but they are unlikely to close unless the rest of your marketing efforts measure up. Buyers typically view 5-7 pieces of content before making a purchase decision so having quality content already in place is a must.
Conclusion
In summation, it is essential to build an intricate website which facilitates not only the product or solution being sold, but the content and problems which the product or solution is designed to address. This will advance the core function of the company without ever making a pitch. It is also necessary for any new entrepreneur to have an expanded presence beyond the digital presence they’ve created. They can accomplish this by making public appearances at trade shows and including videos within original content demonstrating a solution’s value through the very words of the hearts and minds of those which stand behind it. Once these approaches are perfected and working in conjunction with social media and a small but relevant amount of strategically placed ads; a company will climb out of the bottom of the search engine and into the imaginations of their ideal buyer personas.
