There are four essentials in digital marketing for a startup.
A fair amount is going to depend on budget but if you understand these four things you are well ahead of the game, the dogs and your competitors.
Startup Websites
This is the hub of what you do. Where you refer to your products or services.
You control your website.
Make sure you are the sole owner of the domain name. With that, if you fall out with a designer / developer or hosting company you can move your site on.
Name Servers
With control of the domain name you can allocate the ‘Name Servers’ essentially sign posting where your website is located.
Don’t be tempted by Wix or SquareSpace. They work (and offer a fixed cost) but they will never be able to offer the flexibility and optimisation possibilities of other Content Management System.
O’ and you’ll look like thousands of other websites. Always look to be original.
If you want a fixed cost then do go down the Wix rout but bear in mind it will wise to have your own hosting once you have the budget.
First and Second – The Hub
With control over the website add an email list. Add a process, marketing ideas to gain as many relevant email addresses as possible.
Your Website + Email list = Your Hub
This means you have the most control on your ‘fate.’ You’ll have more control than over your social profiles (which are still important).
Yes. Organic reach is down, so you may not get as much organic traffic as was once possible. You’ll need to supplement with some form of adverting online.
Third – Targets, Measurement & The Dashboard
You’ll have targets and you’ll want to measure where you are. A simple spreadsheet for your targets and where you are now, the benchmark, is going to stand you in good stead as the tactics from your digital strategy take hold.
A dashboard is a simple spread sheet. Usually broken down into:
- Targets per week
- % of target met
- Website visitors (broken down by the main channels)
- Social following (and more importantly social engagement)
PLUS
- Health Check (links into the website, clicks via Google)
- Brand Terms (how many searches are there for your brand name)
That’s just the basics but you can adapt to your own needs. In time you’ll be able to work out what is working for your business and relevant patterns to purchase and lead generation.
Fourth – Content Marketing for a Startup
I do loath the word content. It is jargon. But it does act as a shorthand for the most important part of the startup journey.
Digital marketing is about technique. For example how to optimise a website (so it appears in search) or how to set up a Google Ads or Facebook Ads campaign.
What makes the difference is the content you produce. All these techniques need content to a degree. From a long form page of several hundred words to a tweet, from an Instagram video to a graphic.
Get the Hub sorted. Then measure what you do including your content.
Think about the content originality. How are you different? That originality combined with the Hub and measurement is what digital marketing is all about.
So, now you have your starting point for understanding digital marketing priorities.
If you have any questions please get in touch.
Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash
About Conversion Detectives
Conversion Detectives is a full service digital marketing agency in Hertfordshire near St Albans.
We find the best quality traffic for your website and convert more of that traffic into sales or sales leads.
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Digital Marketing Strategy | Creative Content Marketing | Email Marketing | Lead Generation | Content Strategy |
Social Media Marketing | Startup Marketing |
SEM | Video Marketing | Shopify Marketing
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