Ninety percent of the startups fail within First two years according to SBA. The main reason behind this is the lack of efforts which are required to promote a startup among the target audience or using wrong methods for its promotion. In this article I would be discussing the tips which you should take care of while planning your promotional Campaign.
Identify Your Target Audience: – This is the most important thing you should take care of while promoting your business. Identify the audience which would be interested in buying your product depending upon the location, gender, age etc and then advertise about your product on places online or offline where your target audience is mostly found. For e.g.: – It could be Some Forum or community online or offline where you advertise about your product.
Establish yourself as Brand: -Everybody likes to buy Branded Products. Hence try to establish yourself as Brand. Wear t-shirts imprinted with your brand and encourage your employees too to wear your company t-shirts while going to client meetings etc. Create a Professional Website and Participate with your audience in various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook etc
Educate your Clients: – More you educate your customers; More they will buy from you. Your Promotional Campaign Should not only contains a sales pitch but it should also answer the common questions and problems which your customers are facing. Your Promotional Campaigns should tell them about the advantages of buying from you.
Freebies and Giveaways: – Everybody loves getting things for Free. Try giving out your services or products on trial basis for free so that you can get a chance to convert them to customers in Future. Also you can distribute some promotional items which your potential clients use a lot. For e.g.: – If you are selling Computers, You can create custom Flash Drives Printed with your logo and distribute them among your customers. So every time a person would use that flash drive he would think about your brand.
Local Directories and Magazines: – If you provide services in a specific area then you can get your business added in to various Local Directories like Yellow Pages, Local Magazines and Newspapers. Since Most of the people these days use search engines to find any information you can add yourself to Online local listings, Google Local Results, Yahoo Local Business Directory. Most of these directories are free and can get you good number of customers each month.
SEO and Online Promotion:- SEO is the process which helps to increase your website visibility in various search engines. Since Most of the people prefer to buy online these days and use search engines to find products you cannot ignore Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your site. Also you can use Paid advertising Methods like Google AdWords to advertise about your Website Online.
Each Business is Different and needs a customized Promotional Campaign but these general tips would definitely guide you to plan an effective promotional Campaign for your startup.