Contrary to popular belief, effective marketing doesn’t require copious amounts of time and money; it just requires smart strategy. For start-ups with resource constraints, marketing can be neglected, and not prioritised as an effective way to propel their business into the market.
However, in the competitive digital landscape, there is an increasing need for more efficient marketing, in order for these companies and their products to be successful. Without a carefully planned marketing strategy, costs can quickly accumulate while an ROI becomes ever more elusive.
Content marketing and remarketing are just two simple ways for startups to make their marketing activities cheaper, leaner and more effective.
Content marketing – simplifying the buzzword
Content marketing is arguably the biggest buzzword in marketing right now, and it’s easy to see why. Content marketing focuses less on pushing promotional messages to customers, and more on pulling the customer in with useful and entertaining information.
The possibilities are endless. Content marketing can be as simple as:
- blogs and articles
- videos
- newsletters
- social media posts and images
- quizzes
- infographics
- case studies
- podcasts
- webinars
- events
- magazines
- competitions
The success of content marketing relies on the relevancy of the content to the business, as well as time and place. By ensuring that the content carries currency, audiences are encouraged to engage more effectively, and therefore bring about stronger brand recognition and awareness. Effective content marketing that draws in audiences will result in increased conversions for the business.
When attempting to implement a content marketing strategy, follow these five simple steps as a guideline:
- Brainstorm potential content topics
- Create a content calendar
- Create the content
- Publish and share the content
- Prompt an action from the reader
These steps can assist in creating content marketing that is effective and beneficial for the business. This can be significantly more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods, saving you time and money.
Remarketing – what is it and why is it valuable?
With the mobile boom, the opportunities for businesses to reach new heights of user engagement are limitless…but so is the competition. By leveraging the online behaviours of audiences, remarketing can be employed as a powerful marketing method.
Remarketing is the most useful tool to engage with ‘bounced’ users through popular platforms such as Facebook and Google. It’s been used heavily by e-commerce businesses to remind shoppers they have items remaining in their cart, but the opportunities don’t stop there. Remarketing provides a way for businesses to re-engage and convert users by paying for ads to be shown in front of an audience who has already interacted with your site or app.
Remarketing can increase the average lifetime value of users by reaching only your most interested users at the right time, and on the most relevant platforms. Unlike untargeted and irrelevant display ads bombarding user screens, remarketing taps into consumer psychology and targets the users that actually want more information, based on their known behaviour. Viewers of the advertisement are alerted to the memory of the experience they had with your brand, thus encouraging them to return and continue their experience.
Paying for marketing is necessary for any business looking to grow. However, when money is spent on more targeted approaches, like remarketing, a greater ROI can be achieved.
For startups hungry for a hack, these two simple methods can boost the integrity of your marketing strategy, in a highly cost-effective and efficient way.
About the author
Logan Merrick is co-founder and director of Buzinga App Development, a leading Australian app development and innovation consultancy. Alongside Buzinga co-founder, Graham McCorkill, Logan has led the company from a two-man startup to an award-winning business in just three years.
