You could plan to market your small new business to increase your customer base. Everything is in place. Your budget, employees, and products are all in check. But marketing for startups isn’t easy. It requires meticulous planning and foresight.
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A survey by Goldman Sachs shows that black business owners face challenges accessing business capital and funding. Regardless, the owners are optimistic that things will get better.
What Is Marketing?
Marketing is all the activities your company undertakes to sell your brand to customers profitably. As you do this, you’ll be using appropriate messages to attract potential customers to your brand. You could use marketing to maintain loyal customers.
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6 Mistakes to Avoid When Marketing for Startups
Are you ready to create an effective marketing strategy for your black brand? Here’s a list of 6 mistakes to keep away from.
Failing to Create a Customized Marketing Strategy for Your Small Business
Marketing for startups needs you to identify what makes your black business tick. Is it your customer care? Or packaging and quality? Find out and let it be at the forefront of your marketing strategy.
What distinguishes your brand from the next is what will attract customers to your doorstep. And this is part of your customized strategy. Let your strategy be unique to your business model. Don’t copy the strategy of your competitor. But you can borrow an idea or two from these competitors and partner with the current objectives of your business.
Dismissing the Power of Social Media When Marketing for Startups
The number of people using social media globally has increased over the past few years. Statistics show that the numbers may reach 5.85 billion by 2027. See the image below.
As a black business owner, you can’t afford to ignore these figures. You don’t like Facebook? That’s fine. But you have to suppress these feelings for the greater good of your brand. You need to use social media to your business advantage to increase your customer base. And you don’t just post anything. You post material relevant to your business and customers. Posts that will sell your products and services profitably.
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Avoiding Mainstream Markets
Now that you’re a startup, make networking your focus. Big markets may look daunting, but you need to penetrate, and the best way is through networking.
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Despite the challenges that black businesses go through, especially African Americans, as shown by Intuit QuickBooks, black people show resilience. Connect with people doing similar business as yours. Learn from them as you enter the mainstream markets. Make long-term relationships and build solid communities, and you’ll slowly see the fruits of your efforts.
Ignoring Your Customer’s Feedback
The statement “the customer is always right” makes sense if you want to have a thriving black business. By now, you have a clear picture of who your customers are. Thus, ignoring the feedback could put your business at risk.
They know what they need. So don’t force products or ideas on them when they don’t add value to their lives. For instance, if your customers complain of poor quality products, and instead, you lower the price, then you’re on the wrong track. The thing is you need to find out what is happening in production and make plans to improve the quality.
The ultimate thing is to listen to what they have to say about your offerings, then tailor your products and services to meet their needs.
Shying Away From Creating Evergreen Content
Black Friday is amazing, right? But it’s short-term. And that’s fine. But you need to produce content that will be relevant for several months or years to come.
And why is this important? Evergreen content proves that you’re not going away anytime soon. Your brand is here to stay. Loyal customers feel better when their favorite product provider shows longevity. That’s a business that displays it cares for its customers’ needs.
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Seeking Fast Results From Your Marketing Tactics
As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” So, don’t expect your black business marketing strategy to produce fruits overnight.
Even with a good social media strategy, personalized emails, and the use of influencers, it’ll take time before you get those numbers of followers you seek. If you customize the marketing strategy to your business and your customers’ needs, there’s no need to worry. Sit tight and monitor the implementation of the tactics. The results will start flowing soon. And if this doesn’t happen, reevaluate your marketing tactics to see what you could be doing wrong.
Marketing for startups, and especially black businesses, may take time. But that’s okay. As a black business owner, use the points here to increase your reach and have a thriving business.
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