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Why Online Marketing is Important for Startups Opting for online marketing enables the start-up to run campaigns specifically targeted at the right audience.

By Mani Dhanasekar

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Almost everyday, a new brand or company is launched. For an individual, it becomes tough to know which product or service is better. Start-up companies must be aware that in most cases they compete with thousands of businesses when they launch their new start-up.

According to many studies and surveys, a lot of small businesses and start-ups focus on their marketing strategy but majority of them fail within two years of their launch. This happens mainly because most of them make mistakes when it comes to choosing the right strategy to market their product/service. Online marketing can be a big aid for a start-up as it is a cost-effective way of building brand awareness, generating traffic and creating a customer base. Here are six reasons why this practice can be an asset for your start-up.

The Low-cost form of Marketing

For a start-up, insufficient funding and resources is a common challenge. There are different forms of expenses for a start-up which are unavoidable, like registration fees, office supplies, raw materials, location charges and many more. Spending a major amount of the budget on marketing is not a great idea. Hence for a start-up, the best form of marketing would be an online option where not much investment is needed. Opting for a space in a newspaper, hoarding, radio or television could be very expensive for a start-up as compared to going the online route.

Multiple Channels to Market Your Product

A start-up should understand that online marketing is not just limited to social media platforms. There are multiple channels like PPC, Blogs, Email, SEO etc. and each channel has its own advantage. With the help of email marketing one can explain about the product or service in detail. One can display the ads on various search engines. Online marketing strategies include social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, mobile marketing, display marketing and by effectively implementing these marketing techniques, the start-up can boost its brand presence and thus increase the brand value.

Target the Right Audience and Understand the Customers Better

Opting for online marketing enables the start-up to run campaigns specifically targeted at the right audience. It does not work on the "spray and pray' method, typically adopted by the traditional mediums. Many online and social media platforms give elaborate analytics on the audience which can be studied before crafting the next campaign. This ensures you reach your end customer in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Better Engagement With Customers

Unlike other forms of marketing, the online marketing technique is the best way by which a business/brand can interact with the potential customers. It connects you with the customers directly and allows you to engage with them in real time. It opens a way for conversations, discussions, and feedback. It gives customers a sense of personal connection with the brand/business.

Building Reputation Online is Easier

Conventional media is very expensive and not feasible in the long run for a small, bootstrapped business. Building and managing your reputation online is easier. Consumers are habituated to use the internet as a pre-purchase research medium and tend to buy once they have read good reviews about a product or service. Leveraging the online medium for building your reputation is easy and inexpensive. All that a business need is a presence on the reputed forums.

Innovative Techniques

Online marketing is an ocean of innovations and techniques. New possibilities are being innovated in online marketing every day. It gives a business more options to explore, to reach out to the customers and market the brand in unconventional and modern ways.

Mani Dhanasekar

Founder, Hosting Raja

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