Every startup business runs short on funds, and time. When you’re a founder and you’re spreading your time thin, how do you do ‘enough’ to keep the marketing plate spinning? These are the 6 essential startup marketing steps every effective startup needs.

1: Create a Brand Guideline

One of the first startup marketing steps is to create your brand guideline. Brand guidelines are clearly defined standards and rules that communicate how your brand should be represented.

These guidelines include:

  • Fonts and text sizes
  • Colour palette to represent the brand
  • Tone of voice
  • Choice of language (which language grammar you are using)
  • Design elements such as icons, logos, imagery, photography to use, an explainer video, and brochure
  • Business card design and text

This is important as it ensures that your startup is communicated correctly internally, there’s nothing worse than a business with no consistency. No one wants the wrong logo to be posted on a platform, as it will lead to the audience being confused about what you represent. In fact, one study has shown that users make their initial impression of the appearance of your website in 50 milliseconds. This means that it is essential your brand guidelines and visual design are both consistent and flawless.

Your startup’s brand guideline also needs to be easily understood by all of your employees, that’s why I advise you make it easy to read. Additionally, this modern era is technology-based, so I encourage you to make your brand guideline digitally accessible. It’s not only easy for people to access, but it’s easy to adapt and change if needed.

web design template

2: Make Templates

Templates are useful tools that will help streamline your marketing efforts efficiently. Once they’re made, they can be copy-pasted and filled in to promote to your desired audience. It will make your life so much easier. You can create templates for:

  • PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Email (and email) signatures
  • Social media posts

It’s an efficient way to get your business looking professional and boost your team’s productivity.

3: Tell your Brand Story

Storytelling is integral to a startup’s marketing strategy, it’s a powerful business tool that every brand should master. It’s human nature for us to like a good story, especially one that pulls at our heartstrings. Every brand has a story to tell, so it’s really important that as a startup you tell it well. If you succeed in telling a good story, it could win you the loyalty and respect of customers, and in turn, generate profit.

The most successful companies in the world such as Apple, Tesla, and Google have stories that instill a bigger purpose and meaning into their choices and products as a business. A study shows that there are benefits to successful storytelling. It shows that businesses that communicate value and purpose can have a profit performance ratio 750x higher than companies without shared values, which is so beneficial.

People would much rather buy products/services from an empathetic business, than businesses that don’t show their empathetic nature. For example, the top 10 most empathetic companies in the Global Empathy Index, are known to be the most successful and profitable companies in the world. So, there is a clear benefit to presenting your human nature while storytelling.

networking social media concept

4: Build a Presence on Social Media

There’s a common phrase ‘the power of social media’, as it is one powerful tool. Similar to storytelling, social media is a tool to be used and an essential one for your startup marketing strategy. It’s predicted that by 2023 there will be 3.43 billion monthly active social media users worldwide. A tool that half of the world uses, your startup needs to use it’s social platforms effectively.

Social media platforms can help you to communicate and connect with your customers, while also creating an awareness of the startup itself. 73% of marketers say that social media marketing has been effective for their business.

It’s important to have a social media presence and to tailor it to your target audience. So, conduct some research on how to effectively use social media platforms, and research your target audience. Once you have done that, combine them both to use the strategies you think will reach your target audience.

Having a website landing page is essential while promoting on social media. People who want to buy your product/service need to have somewhere to go to get a sense of your business. This landing page doesn’t have to be much, but it’s important to exist if you want to sufficiently connect to customers.

5: Create a Proposition Template

A proposition template is crucial for a business to achieve investments and get clients. In the proposition template, you need to make future investors see why they should choose your startup over others. What makes your startup so special and different? What need do you fill?

You have to first state what your startup is. This could include what industry your startup is in? Who your target customers are? How will your product/service help your customers? And more. I recommend adding interesting statistics surrounding the need your product/service is filling. For example… Over x% of individuals feel like they don’t have sufficient x, our product is aimed to overcome this by… Show that people need your product/service.

Communicating your values, and your purpose is vital. If you promote diversity in the workplace then you need to make that clear in your proposition. State what your commitments are, as we have said previously people must see the human in the business.

Finally, state what you are giving your customers. How will this help them? That is crucial.

6: Read our Ingredients Book

At Newton Day we’ve created an ingredients book to help startups like YOU get started on their marketing. Contact us to find out more.