Startups are risky, but exciting. They are painful, but a great learning experience.
Building a succesful startup means minimising risks and avoiding the mistakes made by other startups. One among the many areas of a startup’s journey is the way it builds its brand – especially online.
Here is a list of the most common Digital Marketing mistakes OR, as we like to call it, “Sins” committed by Startups while building their business:
- Great Marketing Ideas. Horrible Execution
Marketing inuition and concepts are one thing; executing an affective Digital Marketing plan is another. Execution, in this case comes down to minimising common errors and maximising return on investment. But how do you know what to do, if you do not know what to measure and how to measure? Building a framework for effective digital marketing execution requires a dedicated focus by the founders themselves, enabled with the tools of self-execution OR a decision to outsource it to a marketing partner that acts as your ‘extended marketing department’. That ensures excellent execution. - Cool Websites with the Search Engine “Shutters Down”
Are you building a beautiful website in the internet jungle that no one can find? Because with the abesence of an in-built Search Engine Optimisation strategy within your website development plans, that is exactly how it will turn out. You will be left wondering why no one is visiting your site OR why are the visitors that do, “bouncing” out so quickly or not engaging deeper into the website. Simply put your website content needs to be “Google Friendly” in many ways, so that it has a high chance of your website ranking SERP (Search Engine Result Page) ranking. - Great Social Media, Zero-Fundamentals
Good looking Social Media costs are nice, but have you wondered why not many people within your follower base are reacting to it? Well its because Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms ‘know’ that you are a commercial enterprise and they are out to get your advertsing money. You also need to be clear about your fundamental reason for being on Social Media. It works best if you’re trying to use Social Media to establish and build your brand – think of it like a replacement for TV or Print. In a few cases, it can also generate leads for business. But if you do not know how to evaluate these leads, convert them and optimise the campaigns, your wallets are going to be emptied by the big boys of Social Media.
- Underestimating the Power of Digital Marketing for Team building
Companies around the world are effectively using Social Media to augment their HR strategies – to attract and retain talent. Whether you like it or not, your prospective employees are more likely to check out your social media pages, before they visit your website. So the questions to ask yourself are, “what image about the company am I conveying to my prospective and current employees?”, “How can I leverage it to job applications?” - Going with the Gut, instead of Data (in measuring Marketing)
The beauty of digital marketing is that provides a wealth of information about whats working and whats not. But not knowing what data to analyze OR incorrectly analying the data that is presented will lead you to make decisions using your “feelings” or “gut instinct” rather than the actual data – this is a hugely risky proposition for most startups are likely accounts for a huge percentage of their ‘burn-rate’. As a result most savvy investors in startups now look at online marketing data to see how the company is performing. - Underestimating the Power of a Digital presence
Some businesses believe that having a brand presence online is optional OR something that needs just “some basic attention”. That is no longer the case. Your competitors will win the perception battel and steal your customers before you are able to gain any kind of credibility. A smaller competitor may “look like” they are the same size as you OR worse, even bigger than you. Taking this seriously is therefore key to dominating the online ‘share of voice’. - In-house or outsource Digital Marketing – When & How.
As you grow your business, knowing when to run things in-house and when to outsource can make the difference between startup survival and startup growth. Outsourcing too early will be a waste of your time and money resources and outsourcing too late can be hugely distracting from your real business goals. The startups that succeed understand the timing of this decision.