How to Kickstart Your Business Marketing: Essential Steps to Begin

Starting a business can be an overwhelming experience.  Yes, it is exciting, but there are too many areas to be an expert in, including marketing.  If marketing doesn’t come naturally to you, then these steps might help.

Starting marketing for your business can feel like stepping into a vast wilderness without a map. With a strategic approach and the right tools, you can navigate it successfully.

Define Your Goals:

Let’s start at the beginning. What are your marketing objectives? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or expand your customer base? Setting specific, measurable goals will guide your marketing efforts and help you track progress.  An example of this would be to say that you’re currently at 100 followers and want to increase this by 10% in the next 3 months.  You have a figure of where you are now, you have a timeframe and you know what figure you’re trying to reach (i.e. 110 followers).

Know Your Audience:

This is where I see most businesses struggle. Understanding your target audience is paramount.

Who are your ideal customers?

What are their needs, preferences, and pain points?

Be sure to carry out your market research to gain insights into your audience’s demographics, behaviours, age range, interests, etc.

Craft Your Message, but know your values:

Before you start creating content, be sure to know your firm business values.  When you reflect on this, the values should come through in your marketing content.

Keep “on brand” with your message so that it resonates with your audience. Communicate your unique value proposition (i.e. what it is that you’re selling) and what sets your business apart from competitors. Your message should be clear, concise, and consistent across all marketing channels.

Create a Marketing Plan:

Firstly, make sure that you have a business plan.  After that, your business goals and objectives should be aligned to the marketing activity that you do.  You marketing may be on a shoestring budget to start.  That’s ok!  If you put a plan in place, you can do the marketing activities that you can afford.  But you can also map out the planned activities ahead for when you do have a budget. 

Do consider both online and offline marketing avenues, such as social media, email marketing, content marketing and networking events, to name but a few.

Set Your Budget:

Whether it is a little (or nothing!) or a lot, know what budget you have to work with.  The marketing budget should be based on your goals and resources. Spend your funds wisely across different marketing activities, and monitor expenses and analytics to see what it working and what is not.

Remember that marketing is an ongoing process that requires adaptability and flexibility. Stay informed about industry and business trends, experiment with new tactics, and know what is working and do more of that. This should all help you lay a solid foundation for your business. Good luck with your marketing ahead!