One of the first things you need to nail when you start a new business is the marketing. You need good approaches to getting your name out there and beginning to develop some brand awareness, and to reaching your target audience. Marketing in the long term is also important of course, but kick starting things with an injection of marketing activity when you launch is always a good idea.
Here are three simple things you can do to market your startup.
Have a Launch Event
Having a launch event is a great way to let people you already have in your network know you are officially open for business, and to get some initial attention. For some businesses, simply having a party to unveil your brand and inviting people you already know as well as some people you would like to build relationships with as customers, suppliers or partners can be a good approach. For other businesses, for example those that plan to market to the general public rather than B2B companies, it can be good to make your launch event something that will appeal to them like a sale. Check out Venue Search London for some great places where you could host your launch event in the capital.
Attend Trade Shows or Conferences
As well as holding your own event, attending big events or conferences relevant to your industry representing your new brand can be a great way to gain visibility and network. Annually there are all kinds of events, seminars and trade shows for just about every industry, so make sure you know the calendar of appropriate things and decide which you want to attend, and if there are any you could benefit more from having a stall at or attending as a speaker. Bring along lots of business cards and promotional material like brochures, or even corporate free gifts to hand out so that people can take away something that will remind them of your brand. Innovative thinking is welcome here, so if you have an idea to really make an impact at an event then work on doing that.
Use Facebook Advertising
If your business targets the public it can be harder to do your initial marketing on a face to face basis (though the first two approaches should also be considered because you can use them to grow a network that can help you in the future). You should therefore try and drive as much traffic as you can to your company website in your launch phase. One of the easiest ways to do this is by placing Facebook ads that target the kind of people you want to market to in terms of age, location, gender and so on. This can be a very cost effective way to get your first promotional messages seen and bring people to your website. As long as your ads have a strong message, it can be a very good way to catch the attention of a lot of people early on.
These are just three good, simple approaches to marketing your brand new business.
