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Convenient Marketing Tools For Start-ups - Business - Nairaland

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Convenient Marketing Tools For Start-ups by johntaiwo123(m): 9:08pm On Feb 02, 2016
Entrepreneurs in the country are coming up with value-adding products and services regularly making the business environment very competitive.

However, it has been observed that they record poor performance when they are unable to create enough awareness in an environment where numerous businesses offer similar products.

Experts advise entrepreneurs to start small or with personal savings in order to avoid incurring huge debts from loans or from purchasing expensive machines and equipment.

According to them, the disadvantage in starting with huge capital is that the returns on the investment may be long-term. They add that sustaining such business while waiting to break-even and start making profit may be difficult.

Emerging trends in technology can, however, be harnessed to provide a cheap form of marketing, which will attract customers enabling the business to breakeven within a short period, experts say. In a survey by Citibank, it was discovered that nearly 40 per cent of small businesses don’t have a website, 62 per cent don’t send marketing e-mails to promote their business, and 84 per cent have not been using e-commerce.

But among the companies that have a website, 74 per cent say it is an effective way to increase patronage.

For a small business budget, marketing professionals have highlighted ways of creating awareness for what start-ups have to offer, without spending much money and still make an impact.

Utilise telemarketing Experts have identified telemarketing, which is marketing done via the phone, as one of the easiest and least expensive way to reach prospects and current customers.

According to them, the cost of reaching out to people via the phone is minimal compared with the cost of visiting them in their offices or home to deliver a sales pitch.

A business consultant, Mrs. Adebimpe Onasanya, says that it is more effective and cheaper to call many potential clients or current ones from the home or office in a short time. She explains that catalogs and sales brochure can be sent via mail or short messaging platforms on smart devices.

Highlighting the time constraints and inefficiency of in-person call, she says, “If you decide to make an in-person sales call, you have to fuel your car or take public transportation and you may be delayed on the road by the traffic. By the time you get to your prospects home or office, you may have to wait for the person to meet you. “You then present your sales proposal after which you start another journey to the next prospect.

All these will cost you so much money and time. During that period you could have made many calls too many prospects instead of spending your time and resources on a single person.”

However, she notes that if the product or service requires in-person sales meeting, because it need to be seen or tested by the prospect, the telephone can be valuable for scheduling in-person meetings.

Connect on social media

Onasanya points out that the social media is the cheapest but entrepreneurs need to make up their mind to be consistent. She says because it is called the social media, it means there is an interaction between the business owners and the audience so they need to build trust. With consistent audience engagement, Ihunweze says the assurance that the business is ready to stay will be established.

“One thing about the social media is that it attracts referrals,” she says. Onasanya added that the perception of the social media as cheap platform for marketing does not mean people you reach out to will show interest in your brand. She explains that because people get a lot of similar offers every day, it becomes difficult for prospective clients to make a choice.

Therefore, in order for your business to stand out among other offers in online marketing channels, the promotions and tactics must be highly creative, contain quality messages and fit the audience businesses are targeting,” she adds.

Content is key

In a content marketing survey by econsultancy, involving more than 1,300 marketers working for brands, agencies, and publishers, it was discovered that 90 per cent of respondents believed content marketing would become more important over the next 12 months.

According to the results, only 38 per cent have a defined content marketing strategy and 54 per cent of brands cited increased engagement as the number one value of content.

It was also discovered that more marketers will be sharing content on Twitter (69 per cent) than on Facebook (61 per cent) in the coming year. Experts say the result of the survey is an indication of the enormous value of content marketing.

A content advertiser, Drew Hendricks, says to attract the target market, the write-up on a website or blog should cater for the needs of the clients when they are searching on the web.
Content should be entertaining and informative.

The power of videos and pictures

Professionals say marketing should not only be limited to text on social media or on blogs but may be a mixture of infographics, videos or images.

A good mix of all these elements can engage readers and draw them in. They say the young generation in recent times is more attracted to visuals than reading.

It has been discovered that video is the future of content marketing, and more platforms are keying into it.

Various studies show more than half of companies are already making use of the medium – a figure that’s predicted to rise as more people realise the possibilities.

http://www.punchng.com/convenient-marketing-tools-for-start-ups/

Cc: lalasticlala

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