“For a start-up organization, digital marketing is the bridge to rapid and massive growth. Digital marketing has an effort – scale ratio which is impossible for traditional mass media, particularly for start-ups/ SMEs. A strategic and well-designed digital marketing strategy is a MUST for every entrepreneur who wants to succeed,” says our expert of the month Anshuman Chaturvedi.
His personal credo is “Execution = Everything”. A seasoned digital marketing strategist who spent more than a decade leading and managing digital marketing for global brands in UAE, Middle East and India.
What are the most popular elements of a digital or online marketing campaign for a start-up or small to medium organization?
Start-ups and SMEs need to have a nimble and flexible approach to meet growth and performance goals while keeping a continuous eye on brand building.
For the purpose of managing these dual objectives, I would recommend the following simple yet important must have’s;
- Website: A simple website but one that is well aligned with your creative and key communication theme. This will allow for a central location where customers can find authentic information, contact details and links to other channels.
- Measurement and Analytics: Before we begin employing any digital marketing activity we should be armed with an objective it will serve, linked to a metric and target that represents the objective well. Startups should ideally strategize short-term to mid-term measurement strategies, along with campaign/ activity level KPIs.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Start with brand-based keywords and keywords that are specific to your products and services offered. SEM is a crucial skill and can surely be self-taught, experimenting with small budgets and strategies as you begin.
- Social Media and Content Marketing: Activate your brand on social platforms (inclusive of LinkedIn) and use social to “communicate” and add value to your community. While a start-up may not participate in heavy online advertising, social media ads are recommended using small budgets, given its easy to pivot strategy and budgets.
- Online Reputation Management: Depending upon business type, there is always a generic or specialized platform (often free) where your customers will rate and review their experience. Be sure to actively interact with them and respond to them, grooming overall rating of your business.
- Web PR: Partnering with reputed industry/ market publisher and having them amplify your brand voice can often be an incredible and free-of-cost method of getting your audience to reach you and position your business.
Top three benefits of a strong digital marketing strategy for a business.
1. Digital marketing has an effort – scale ratio which is impossible for traditional mass media particularly for start-ups/ SMEs.
2. Most digital marketing exercises are extremely nimble in terms of budgetary control and deployment which means you can change timelines, execution strategies and planned spends on the go.
3. The accountability and ROI focused appeal helps marketers use Digital to stay focused and productive on bottom line KPIs.
There are reliable metrics available for appraising all key digital strategies with internal or industry benchmarks available within the business.
What is the start point to build a digital marketing campaign or plan? What do you recommend for someone who is just setting up and who may not have the budgets to invest in running campaigns or hiring a consultant?
Entrepreneurs and small business owners should definitely plan their digital marketing objectives and KPIs so that they can get more done with planned investment.
Regardless of how they engage on creative, media and content it is very important to learn performance management and define digital success that facilitates business growth.
About Anshuman Chaturvedi
His personal credo is “Execution = Everything”.
A seasoned digital marketing strategist who spent more than a decade leading and managing digital marketing for global brands in UAE, Middle East and India. He is extremely passionate about building storylines across real data and stakeholders that benefit from it. Currently serving as Associate Director Regional Data and Analytics Lead at MRM McCann .
In his current role he leads the team and works with the General Motors brand, customer experience, creative, media and analytics functions for developing data driven insights and optimizing analytics operations, connecting the dots between 3 brands, 8 markets, 11 dealers and 8 creative media and solutions agencies.
