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Engagement is key to growing your market and keeping customers happy

Transformative and cost-effective content marketing can be a viable means to customer acquisition and retention

How can startups survive when the market is already filled with expert monopolies? What are the best possible ways to build your image, to generate influence, and to build power?

The secret to this is “transformative and cost-effective content marketing.” Crafting the right content marketing strategy is tricky for established companies, but it is much trickier for startups due to budget constraints. Startups should have a clarity and objectivity about strategising their content marketing methodologies.

Great communication makes a great brand

As a startup, if you are laser-focussed on acquiring customers and hacking a substantial growth within a short span of time, powerful content marketing can be the only way.

Key advantages of content marketing

  • Easy brand building

  • SEO

  • Keep customers engaged

  • Expand reach

  • Build trust

  • Raise reputation

  • Attract investors

  • Consistently be active on social media platforms

You don’t need to have big capital investment to engage your customers. There are few cost-effective content marketing methods.

Well-tested strategies in content marketing

Start a blog

Startups are like blank pages. But, a blank page gives enough space for a writer to be creative and to define who you are. Ideally starting a blog should be the first attempt to connect with the audience. It is crucial to your visual identity. Blogs have the power to stimulate your potential customers to interact with you. You can include anything right from a well-written story, a video, an audio or even an Info-graphic.

Example: Airbnb uses storytelling to be in the top

Airbnb, the company which kicked off as Airbedandbreakfast.com back in 2008 with just one air mattress that the company use to rent out, has grown into a multi-billion dollar travel and hospitality service company today. The company takes an interesting approach to storytelling to connect with its customers. To stand ahead of the pack, the company uses storytelling as its key strategy.

Also read: Content marketers, here’s what you need to create a rock solid content strategy

Infographics

Infographics can be a powerful marketing tool for small businesses and startups. As the name suggests, this type of content lets you represent your idea via graphics. Believe me, you can save both treasure and time this way. Visually wired, the method guarantees engagement and you are assured to go viral. There are countless tools available today in the market which can help you or your design team take complete advantage.

Google spills 20 million search results when the term “infographic” is typed out

Style and design of infographics keep varying, but one thing that keeps the brand up is simple and effective information design.

Example: Uber

UBER used infographics to promote their idea of uberPOOL. It was so self-explanatory and at the same time fixes the attention of readers quickly. The infographic went viral.

Videos

About 74 per cent of online traffic today is from video. Marketers can reach the audience visually without any geographical barriers.

  • Keep your video short

  • Film with quality equipment

  • Customise video to fit any social media platform

  • Release them at the right time

Example: Game Theory

Mathew Patrick, founder and president of Theorist Media, a digital media production and consulting company, is best known as the creator and narrator of the YouTube webseries Game Theory. Patrick started his video series with nothing and today the series is subscribed by more than 5 million users. The series has more than 160 videos today. This is a typical example of how a small startup can grow by just using videos.

Social media micro-content

Social media micro-content is the most cost-effective, short, impactful and visually creative content that looks great on multiple devices. They are scalable. Approximately 89 per cent of marketers cite micro-content as an effective channel to reach a wider audience in short span of time. It can be anything from mere few sentences, audio, charts, images, one-minute videos or even an infographic.

Example: Amazon CloudFront

Here’s an example of micro-content that’s easily sharable:

Emails

Worldwide use of emails will cross 3 billion users by end of 2020, says a new study. With profound impact on the readers, emails still stand as one of the best means of communication that can keep both prospective and existing customers within your loop. Personalisation, relevance, and timing stand as the top factors to consider while sending emails.

Example: Dropbox

Data from Dropbox indicates that personalised emails have had better impact than those generated in bulk.

So, go ahead and get your messages reach your customers in the right way and at the right time.

Memes

Conceived and conceptualised by Richard Dawkins, Memes let you to conveniently discuss a piece of thought. This method lets you share ideas via the internet in a not so serious way. They can propagate faster. Memes can be an image, a phrase, a video, a familiar character, a person, an event, a GIF, a word, a sign representation, a comic strip, or anything else.

Also read: Definitive steps to a content marketing strategy your customers will love

Example: How Mashable used meme marketing via Grumpy Cat

The examples cited here are proven ones followed by these startups.

As you can see, there are plenty of options outlined here. Choose the best ones that fit your business. One brush cannot be used to paint the entire picture. Be wise and follow a strict budget plan. The idea is to generate leads quickly and convert them into your customers in a cheaper and efficient way.

To wrap

Every day we see a new trend going viral and new set of advice popping up for startups. There is a lot that businesses don’t understand or rather get confused with. To cut through this intimidating wall of noise, a place which is bombarded with information from all corners, survivors are those who make a difference. “The key to catching bigger bags of quality fish is using the right bait and then feeding it correctly!”

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