Joydeep Dey

How To Create A Marketing Strategy In 4 Steps For Your Tech Startup A brief and simple marketing strategy for tech startups to get started down the right path Successfully building a new IT business requires strategic marketing. And crafting a marketing strategy, especially for a new company, is a daunting task. As a starting point, this brief and simple marketing strategy could be used by any tech startup to get started down the right path. Similar to the 5-Why Technique used by Toyota for problem solving, if you just honestly try to answer four basic questions regarding your startup business (What – Whom – How – Where) the picture would gradually emerge and things would start falling in place. Read on to find out how. Step 1: “What” To build up your IT business, you need to know exactly what you would sell. “What” refers to the specific product or service you are offering. So, what exactly does your business do? Web design, Managed services, Network management and Software development, these are all vague responses. Here, being vague doesn’t work because convincing customers means being crystal clear about what you offer. Pick a specialty and communicate it clearly. Step 2: “Whom” The next step to consider is whom to sell. “Whom” obviously refers to your customer (target customer). It’s important to know who, specifically, buys your products or services. That’s because knowing your buyer persona – that is, your ideal customer profile – provides a detailed picture of who you’re trying to reach. And the market research you do to determine this, should give you a clear understanding of what motivates your buyers. Because to address their wants and needs you’ll first need to know what those wants and needs are. Once you know which people to target, you could get even more specific by taking into account the size of the organization, as well as its priorities and challenges, and then tailoring the marketing message accordingly. Step 3: “How” Successful marketing efforts require a honed message (marketing message) that clearly states the value of your product. Once you’ve nailed down what you sell and whom you’re targeting, you’re ready to start spreading your marketing message. So, back to that seemingly simple question, “What do you do?” It’s essential that you’re prepared with a clear and crisp response, and that means honing your IT marketing message. For instance, you might say, “We provide a cost-effective newsletter tool for companies that want to communicate more effectively with their customers to generate repeat business.” And remember, it’s essential to give specifics and avoid generalized responses. Don’t just say that you do programming and design (that is very generic). Get specific. A good description will detail the benefits a customer will reap from your service (value proposition). Fancy features aside, what the buyers need to know is if the product can offer a simple solution to their problem (solving business problems). That’s it. And always close with an offer, whether it be a follow-up phone call, an article you found or wrote, or even a free trial. Next, use your network to connect with new prospects and ask potential customers plenty of questions. Networking is the key. Once you’ve made contact, keep asking your prospective customer questions about their wants, needs and problems. This will prevent the customer from missing out on a needed service that you offer. For starters, you may ask what types of things go wrong in their dayto-day operations and whether they want to change them and then find where your product or services fit in (product market fit). Step 4: “Where” To reach out to your potential customers, you must create an effective website, write blogs and engage in social media. The first step is creating an effective website for your business. Also add to it educational material, case studies and informative content. Remember, your potential customers came to you looking for useful information that can solve their problems. And finally, don’t forget to utilize search engine optimization, or SEO. This is a service that will rank your site higher in search results, thereby making it easier for customers to find. It’s also important to write blogs that build your reputation as an expert. Blogs are an excellent way to put your expertise on display, to make yourself stand out on search engines and to engage in dialogues with potential customers. Lastly, use social media to engage your audience. The best part about this is that you can feed your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn with content straight from your blog. But it’s also important to update your LinkedIn or Facebook status with links to articles you find interesting. After all, other people might like them too and will remember you for the helpful information you post. There are a few other marketing tools that can help you boost your IT business. In fact, e-mail newsletters are a fantastic way of keeping in touch. Seminars and webinars are also great tools, both of which allow you to position yourself as an expert in your field. Giving seminars is a great way to display your knowledge to a target audience, and also a helpful method for reaching new groups. And finally, it’s also important to know where your ideal customers hang out and what they read. This will put you a step ahead and dictate which networking events you should attend. And of course you know “Why” to sell in the first place, don’t you!! .