Top Marketing Strategies Every Startup Should Use for Rapid Growth

Everyone start-up wants more sign-ups, subscribers and users quickly, without paying much and thankfully it can be done without outspending everyone else. High spend marketing can surely bring more visibility at the initial stage but it does not establish the brand in the mind of the prospects. 

 

Examining the past we can find numerous start-ups which had unique ideas, were well-funded but had to shut down. Reason being - inability to attract users. The lack of innovation, creativity and experience in marketing ideas by following the same old traditional marketing strategies don’t work well all the time.

 

Some out-of-the-box thinking can provide huge results which might not be possible by spending a fortune too. Here are some marketing techniques to start growing your business like never before -

 

  • Build a presence on Social Media 

 

Social media platforms are available for free and make it easy for you to build a strong network. Statistics show that 2.4 billion people use social media already and by 2023, 3.43 billion monthly active social media users are expected. 

Social media can be mastered if you choose the right platform and invest time. Begin by establishing your business profiles on all major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram then start syndicating content that is engaging for the target audience. 



Even if you don’t consider marketing through social media platforms, ensure you have active profiles on all major platforms as the target audience considers it to establish the genuineness of your product.

 

Pro-tip : For an explosive growth of your start-up consider running a contest on the social media platforms. Some of you might not consider it, but running contests has been a fruitful strategy for many in the last decade. In the current scenarios, Facebook is considered the best platform to run contests, but I will suggest going with the platform that gets you the highest engagement”

   

 

  • Email Marketing

 

Email marketing is one of the few techniques you can use even before the launch of your actual product/company just to build a relationship with your audience and keep them engaged over time.

 

It is considered much more cost-efficient and easy-to-use than its traditional & current counterparts. Sources even claim an ROI of 4400% through email marketing. 



With email marketing automation in, email marketing has gained a higher pace in the last five year as with automation you get the ability to trigger personalised messages based on the rules you set. Basic reasons a startup should consider email marketing 

   

  • Gathering email addresses/leads are quite easy as there are multiple ways to do it
  • Cost-efficient and allows you to tailor different emails based on the different demographics

 

“Pro-tip : Getting leads is not a difficult task but ensuring the validity of the leads is important. Sending emails to junk email addresses can damage your sender reputation severely. Ensure to use an email verification tool before sending out the campaigns”

 

 

  • Content Marketing 

 

Content marketing includes - infographics, videos, case studies, white papers, guides and a lot more. It can fetch the desired results over-time if 

  • The content is worth reading and plagiarism free
  • It is promoted sufficiently 
  • Is talking about relevant matters that the public is not aware of already
  • Is consistent and interactive

 

If there are articles being written for the content marketing campaigns, why not invest time in improving them using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). 

 

SEO helps the visibility of your website on various search engines like Google, Bing & Yahoo and even improves the domain authority. As a start-up try incorporating a few basic elements of SEO to improve search ranking. Like using keywords, meta title, meta descriptions, internal links and high-quality original data.

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“Pro-tip: These days podcasting is considered the most beneficial method of content marketing. The personal touch available in podcasting cannot be compared with any other method. While people listen to your podcast they can feel your sense of emotion and get a better idea of your personality which builds instant credibility.”

   

   

 

  • Viral Content 

 

Content marketing is a known phenomenon and takes time to work, viral marketing is a technique that holds the power to generate massive traffic, sales and create online buzz for your start-up. It even works for brands that have faded away with time. 

Creating viral content is not easy, but the point here is to keep thinking about one every day, mostly relating to the trending topics. 

 

For eg: Burnol, a cream to heal your burns, took the opportunity to revive its brand on the grand ‘bhoomi poojan’ in India on 05/08/2020.


“Pro-tip: Keep it short. Long content has fewer chances of going viral. Consider a poster or video to create the content”

 

 

  • Referral Marketing

 

Nothing can do as good as referral marketing when it comes to developing a huge customer base or fan-following. It is a simple concept where you allow your customers to promote your brand which may or may not be in exchange for something.



It is highly recommended since 92% of the people believe in personal recommendations.

Though there are multiple review platforms, ‘word of mouth ‘ is something that works the best in building trust. For eg there a movie is rated 4.5 stars in a publication review but your friend tells you the movie is not worth the time or money. Who will you listen to?

 

“Pro-tip: If you do not wish to start a referral program from scratch, you can consider using tools available for it. In case you want to build your own referral program, ensure targeting happy & satisfied users. Providing them with something free will act as a cherry on the top”

 

 

 

  • Press Releases, featuring in a major publication

 

Consider this if you are looking for a major spike in traffic and have something newsworthy to report. Though not free, a press release is an inexpensive way to get your brand/startup mentioned in major publications. 

  • Try and pick up a good feature image
  • Include some relevant inbound links



“Pro-tip: To get the maximum out of minimum charges (or maybe no charges), start building relationships with known publications today. Engage with the editors, share their content but avoid being overly promotional. With these tactics, you increase your chances to get the spotlight.” 

 

 

  • Event marketing 

 

Together with online marketing, you may consider offline marketing too and the best way to do it is through conferences and trade shows.

 

In addition to attending events, you can try considering hosting an event too, as in an industry predicated with the competition, the in-person experience is considered the perfect opportunity for communicating a message.



Before investing in event marketing remember the following-

  • Establish the event goals
  • Look into the hosting events to showcase your brand 
  • Find event sponsors who see eye-to-eye
  • Leverage partnerships and engagements with media, speakers and fellow start-ups

 

“Pro-tip: Consider event marketing only if you are a smart talker and know how to engage people. Make yourself presentable and do your homework for all the questions which may arise”

 

Once a stronger stream of consistent revenue is generated, you will have multiple other expensive strategies and platforms to invest in or pour in more resources for the strategies working well for you.