First of all, congrats from an Entrepreneur to another Entrepreneur (This page is written by me, Aji, co-founder of Techshu).
Excited, Digital Marketing for Startup
Take it step by step, here is a possible sequence:
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Build the profit blocks
- Get your website right (have right CMS as you will need to add/edit a lot of content) - Will cost between $250 to $2000 (Depends on how much you want to invest on, I will say go for $500, have a good looking site, don't be too choosy, it will cost more. If you need really classy stuff expect costing of over $1000)
- Get your social media presence right, reserve your brand name. A creative image etc (It will cost around $100 to $500)]
- Get your emails, get the forms, upload documents etc
- Take a good 25 hours consulting with some good consultant. We charge very low here as we have special love for Entrepreneurs (We charge only Rs 20,000/ $500 for consulting startups). This is very important, the consultant will understand your business, will put a plan for you, will educate your. After the consulting you should be in a place to make right decision. You need to spend good time, it is must, it will pay huge dividends. If you can attend some courses, attend that too. It pays off really well. Attend the right courses. There are many videos available. We will also be putting more videos on the website.
- Maintain the profit blocks (Either you can do it inhouse or use an agency with clear milestones)
- Investment on right business goals
Digital marketing for startups, According to me:
- Have a content adding plan (Don't invest on SEO, link building etc), invest on adding really useful content. Techshu.com has over 4000 pages now.
- Get links from wherever possible (and whenever possible). I got links when I went for speeches. Must see http://www.slideshare.net/ajinimc/iimc-talk-on-digital-marketing-by-aji-issac-ceo-techshucom
- Build a base on social media (Will cost anything between $100 to $1000, depending on the industry), have your profile very strong on social media, the first few years, the owners and the team is the company.
- Keep updating your blog post or pages on social media using your own profile and company's profile
- Focus on Local and very niche keywords where you feel conversion ratio will be higher. We are #1 for SEO Kolkata, PPC Kolkata, Local SEO Kolkata, Email Marketing Kolkata, Social media Kolkata and so on (It gives us good visibility in our area), then we get our business from some very niche keywords like questionnaire, packages (our target is agency).
- You must invest on conversion improvement (See whether people will buy you through website, making people believe through website takes time. You need to impress the visitor with knowledge, team, clientele, case studies, testimonials etc)
- You must invest on paid ads to see how it will work for different keywords, if the conversion ratio is good, you must invest on ads. At Techshu, we are investing on ads now as our conversion ratios are good.
- Keep making partnership in the initial phase, affiliates etc. This helps a lot to cut down upfront payment issues, you pay when you make money. https://www.facebook.com/TechShu/app_190322544333196
- One of one sales will matter a lot for startups, website will help you in offline sales.
- Also participate in different forums and communities where you can get sales. Consolidate it on websites.
We will keep adding more here. We are keeping the comments on here for your queries.