India is a Startup economy now. You find the number of startups coming up every year. This is a great time to be a start-up! But the Billion dollar question is: How many of these startups will remain standing once the initial set up is done?

1. Marketing for Startups –
Indiaisa Start upeconomynow.You findmore numberof start upscomingup everyyear.
As perKPMG (https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home.html) the numberof startups increasedto50,000 in
2018 from7,000 in 2008.
Many more technologicallyadvancedstartupsinthe areas of Artificial Intelligence,Machine Learning&
Blockchaintechnologiesare beingcreatedinIndia.
Thisis a great time tobe a start up!
But the Billiondollarquestionis: Howmany of these start ups will remainstandingonce the initial set
up is done?
Businessisnotjustaboutstartingup withthe latesttechnologybutitall boilsdownto: Paying
customers.

2. source: atomicdust
One of the lethal mistakesmoststartupsmake isto believeinonlyproductdevelopment,theywork
extremelyhardtobringa productwhichhas all the necessaryfeaturesthatthe foundersthinktheir
customersneedbuttheyforgetall aboutstrategiesregardinghow toreachthe endcustomer.
That is where Marketingcomesintopicture!
If you lookat any start uporganisationcharttoday youfindFounders,Technical staff &if the start upis
consumerorientedprobablyaCustomersupportteambutyou neverfinda MarketingManager as part
of the earlyorganisationchartwhichmakesabsolutelynosense.
Marketingismore importantto start ups thanestablishedcompaniesasyourcompanyisnew & nobody
knowsaboutit soMarketingis the pushthat will getyouSales.
As explainedsuperblyinthisarticle: https://medium.dave-bailey.com/why-founders-fail-to-market-
their-products-f7c15935c81 Foundersdon’trecognise the needformarketingfortheirstartups& by
the time theyunderstandhowimportantMarketingisitstoolate!
Thisis one of the reasonswe see somanystart ups windingoff theirbusinesswithinthe first5yearsof
startingup.
In today’sblogwe will share the “MarketingGuide forStartups”whichyoucan follow tomake yourstart
up successful.
MarketingGuide forStartups:
source:societyoftouristguides.org.sg

3. Strong Foundation:
1. Define your Product:
Simple Enough right??? Do you know how many Founders don’t know how to articulate the top
5 things that their Product or Service does best!
Not because they are not hands on Founders but because they don’t know how to explain to
others what their Product or Service can do.
Articulation is the key to making your prospects appreciate the fine features you have to offer.
The best example for articulation is “Steve Jobs”.
source:wikipedia.org

4. Steve Jobsisnota technical guy,he CAN NOTcode buthe isan inspirationformanyfounders.
Why?
Because he couldmake hisaudience fall inlove withthe productsApplelaunched,everytime he came
ontothe stage he fireduphisemployees&customers.
Simplybecause he couldexplainthe mostsophisticatedtechnologyinthe simplestof words.He would
nevertell youthe inherenttechnologyaboutanew feature - He justtoldyouwhat the new feature
meantto you - Customer!
That is whatyouneedto masteras a Startup Founder.
Eitheryoudo it or finda goodpartnerwho can articulate whatyourproduct isall about - Technical
Jargonwon’tcut it.
2. Define a Core Audience:
Once you knowhowto define yourproductinthe simplestof terms - Define aCore Audience.
Its easiersaidthandone.
As Foundersof Startupsmostpeople don’tknow whotheircustomersare,theyare confused&are
eagerto testtheirproductso theydon’tdefine anycustomerspecifically.
Theytry to Market to All - Endingup Marketingto None whichleadstolotof frustration
source:netaffinity.com

5. As a Founderyoumightthinkthe more Audience youhave the betteryourconversionratesof gettinga
paidcustomer.
That is nolongertrue.
“Specific is Terrific”
Whenyouhave a “DefinedAudience”youcancreate:
1. A communicationmessage thatresonateswiththem
2. You can choose a Marketingmediumthatwill helpyoureachthem
3. You can Targetthembetter
4. Be Accessible onplatformsthattheyare on
Spread Awareness:
Nowthat we have laidouta FoundationletssegwayintoMarketingpart.
1. Social Media:
Social Mediaisstill the mostefficientwaytospreadawarenessregardingyourproductorservice.
Why?
Simple - Be where the crowdis& Social Mediachannelshave peoplewaitingtoconsume yourproduct
or service
The onlyimportantthingthat youneedtowork outon is - Which PlatformisRIGHT for yourproduct or
service?
Most Founderscreate accountson all the available Social Mediaplatforms - hopingthatmore number
of accountswill lettheminteractwithmore people
Endingup withputtinguprandommessagesonmultipleplatformsonce in3 months& expecting
miraclestohappen
Finallytheygetfrustrated &give upthe whole ordeal assumingsocial mediaisnotworkingforthem.

6. FirstlyfindwhichplatformisRIGHTfor you:You can go throughour “BeginnersGuide toSocial
MediaMarketing”(http://brandingbypixels.com/Portfolios/social-media-marketing/)
Social Mediahas changedradically - the inherentfundamentalof social mediaistonow share quality
contenton a regularbasiswhichcan be usedas conversationstartersrather thanpostrandom
messagesata regularinterval.
So stickto your messaging&to youraudience whichbynow youwouldhave definedthrough
“Foundation”stepsabove.
2. Build a Keyword List:
Most PlatformsexceptforFacebooknowadaysallow youtofollow specifichashtagsorkeywords.So
whynot make the most of thisfeature foryourown Startup.
Make a List of Keywordswhichare relevanttoyourProductor Service.Youcan researchthese on
platformsforfree oryou can use a productlike HootSuite (https://hootsuite.com/)

7. source: keywordtool.io
Hootsuite has both Free & Paid versions you can Pay for a month list down all the keywords
relevant for your business & start posting content on social media platforms.
These keywords are mostly relevant for 3 months, you can then go back & get more keywords
from other marketing tools.
As you starting using these keywords you will be able to monitor which keywords are working
out for you & which are not getting any traction.
You can slowly start eliminating those keywords that are not bringing any traction.
Tip - Don’t overdo it. Don’t use too many keywords assuming they will get you traction. You
need only the RIGHT audience not EVERYBODY so be very clear!
3. Website:
Many Startups don’t invest in a website which seems very strange to me. They think its not
important to have a website they think Social media is a better alternative for a website.
Well, we disagree.
Simply because “Social Media” is a “Leased Media” you don’t control it & fundamentally if the
social media platforms loses its credibility like Facebook did (read Facebook’s Data scandal
story here: http://brandingbypixels.com/Portfolios/fb-privacy/) your followers might leave the
platform & thus leave you.
A website on the other hand is your “Own Media” which mean you control the data flow, you
control what to show to which audience depending on what they click on the website.
Combine it with an intelligent Sales Funnel you can convert all those visitors into Leads to follow
which can then be converted into Paying Customers.

8. WithCMS platformsyoucan buildgreatlookingwebsiteswhichare relativelycheaper&come withlots
of featureslike:
1. Chat Plugins
2. Pop upsetc.
We have covered “Top5 CMS PlatformstoBuildYour Website 2019” youcan read ithere :
http://brandingbypixels.com/Portfolios/top-cms-platforms/
So make use of these platformstobuildthe perfectwebsite foryourbusiness.Youcanalsoreach out to
us if youneedhelpbuildingawebsite foryourproductorservice on
sirisha@brandingbypixels.com
4. Google:
You can Love or Hate it butyou can not ignore it - That isthe powerof Google.

9. Google isthe world’sbiggestsearchengine somake sure yourproductor service ranksongoogle.
Why?
Simple Scenario - Let’ssayyouwentto a Networkingevent&metfew people thatyouthinkare
relevantforyou. Youexchange cards& have a pleasantconversation.
You come back home feelingoverjoyedbecause thesepeople have mentionedtheywillkeepintouch
Nowthe otherpersonwhomighthave reallylikedyourconceptwill notkeepyourcardinhand& type
your complete websiteurl,he will probablytype yourcompanyname ingoogle.
If he doesnotfindyouin the firstpage of google he will take the paintocall youor pursue your
companyanymore.
Thisis the age of “DwindlingAttentionSpans”once the attentionisdivertedthatprospectisgone.
So make sure your presence isfeltongoogle - youcoulduse these mediums:
1. ProperSEO on Website
2. OptimisingSocial MediaProfiles
3. WikipediaPages
4. Google Ads
5. SEO:
Havinga Website withoutOptimising forSearchEnginesislike openingastore in a lane full of stores
withouta name board.
There are 2 Billionwebsitesonthe internet,how canyouexpectyourwebsite torankingoogle if you
don’ttell google whatyourwebsite isabout?
SearchEngine Optimisationisthe mostused& the mostmisunderstoodconceptof Digital Marketing.
People thinkSEOiseasy& once an agencyis hiredithardlytakesa monthto see results.
That is nottrue
Evenwitha properagencyit takesanywhere from4 monthsto 6 monthsto see consistentresultsfor
SEO.

10. A properDigital Agencywill alsoexplainthe conceptof ContentMarketingtoyousoyou as a business
alsoparticipate increatingconcept.
Brandingby PixelsisHyderabad’sTopSEOcompany,some of our successstoriesinclude:
Ranking ourpreschool client consistentlyin the first page of google within
3 months without spending a single rupee on ads.
Reach out to us if you a website which is not ranking in the first page of google on
sirisha@brandingbypixels.com
6. Advertising Budgets:
We see a lotof reluctance fromstartup companiestoadvertise abouttheirproductsorservices&I
don’tblame them.
Most of us entrepreneurscome intobusinessonlybecause of ourpigheadednessotherwise we would
have beenina regularjobearninggoodmoneyforour efforts.
source:lucep.com
But it isthisdrive & thisstubbornattitude thatmakes ustake the leapof faithto buildsomethingthat
we will be proudof.
That attitude of ourspropelsusto thinkthat our productor service isunique &people are cravingforit
so we don't needtoadvertise whichismuchfartherfromthe truth.

11. No matterhowgood the productor service youstill needtocoininsome budgetsforadvertising.
For example,lookatcocacola:
Coca Cola is a $31 Billion revenue company as of 2018 & is the market leader in
the soft drinks industry but in 2018 alone it had an advertising budget of $4 Billion.
That is the extent of seriousness that Coca Cola has towards advertising. If an
established market leader has no qualms about advertising then as a start up you
should also understand the importance of sketching up certain portions towards
advertising.
7. Google Ads:
Now that we have advertising budgets chalked out in the above step, let us try to
understand ways to advertise about our product or service.
The biggest audience in the world is on Google so its a no-brainer that we should
definitely leverage this platform.

12. source:udemy.com
Google ads (previously google adwords) provides with options to target your potential prospects
using:
1. Keywords (Remember you already have listed these down in Foundation step 2)
2. Demographics (Age, Gender)
3. Location
The bestpart of Google ads isthe Reach butit isverycostly.
If not plannedproperlyyouwillnotgetanyvalue foryour moneybutonlywastedclicks.
Many people thinksince the platformitself helpsyouwithoptionsyoucanrunthese adsby yourselves
but itis imperativetohire anagencywho can helpyoumake the mostof yourad spend.
Don’tlookat theirconsultancychargesas an expense astheywill getyoumore targetedclickswhohave
higherratesof convertingthanyourunningthese adsby yourselves.
Usingour Google Adwordsstrategywe have beenable to:
Increase the admissionrates ina preschool from20% to70%
8. Social MediaAds:
One another platform which is a cheaper & more targeted option is “Social Media Ads”.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn provide you an opportunity to target specific
audience depending on their “Interests”, “Life Events” etc. which are very helpful if you are in
start ups which have very niche targets.
Another point for opting these platforms are the “Brand Awareness” campaigns like “Traffic”
are much cheaper on these platforms than on Google.

13. Start with a lower budget, create enough traction, study what sort of ads are working for you &
then increase your budgets.
Also you can hire a digital agency who will run optimised ads for your brand on these platforms
9. Create a Blog:
We talked a bit about Content Marketing when we were discussing SEO. Blogs are part
of Content Marketing strategy & are the best way to express yourself as a “Subject
Matter Expert” & to engage your audience that you drive through traffic ads on google or
social media.
source:cancapital.com
As humans we still like to engage in conversations though these conversations have
moved to platforms like Social media platforms, whats app screens etc.
The best way to create rapport with your prospective clients is to engage with them on a
conversation by choosing topics that elicit such response.
Blogs are a way to do that. Blogs also give you an opportunity to optimise your website
for new keywords & drive relevant traffic to your website.
So make the most of this tool.
I hope these above Marketing Strategies have been useful.
For any Digital Marketing requirements for your start ups feel free to drop in an email at
sirisha@brandingbypixels.com
We would love your comments on this blog so please do leave us your commentsbelow.