As a Start-up, you know it is important to engage with your
high value consumers wherever they are online. As a graduate student in the
Northwestern Medill Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program with an
interest in content marketing and online visibility I have found two articles
to share with you that you will find interesting and helpful.
Ever wonder where your customers hang out online and how to
reach them? I summarized two articles I found below and included 3 tips on how
your Start-up can gain leverage online and reach your target markets to grow
your business.
Nathan
Yerian from Adhere Creative, a marketing and brand development agency,
wrote an article titled: 5
ways to reach your target market online. In this article, Nathan
emphasizes that audience engagement is crucial to reach your target market. He also
discusses strategies to gain a competitive advantage in the online marketplace
such as building a persona of your target market which is the first key step.
In a Biz Journal Publication titled: 5
steps you must take to reach your target customer, author Spider
Graham goes deeper in how exactly to
identify who your ideal target market is. Spider says that it is important for
companies to know that “everyone” is never your audience and that getting
specific is what will help you grow your visibility in the long run. He
suggests to start with identifying demographic points and slowly move towards
what beliefs, opinions, and attitudes your target audience has. Identifying your
target audience will make it easier to find the right channels to communicate
with your target audience once you identify them.
After reading these two articles and from my graduate
studies in the Northwestern Medill IMC program I have three action items you
should consider in the next couple months to grow your online visibility and
business.
3 action steps to
grow your online visibility and business
1.
Do
Interviews: Find out your customer’s interests through conducting a minimum
of 3 live interviews with your ideal customer.
2.
Write
articles: Blog about your customer’s interests through creating powerful
content and post them in places where your customer hangs out.
3.
Get
testimonials: Create real life testimonial videos or stories to display on
your site from past clients or people you have helped with your expertise.
Before taking the 3 action steps I listed above be sure to
identify your target audience first as Spider Graham mentioned in the article
discussed above. After that jump straight into the 3 steps and you will be well
on your way to greater online visibility!
Author Bio
Aditi Ramchandani is a marketing and branding specialist for
entrepreneurs looking to build online visibility to grow their business. She
helps businesses amplify their brands so they can amplify their lives and
businesses! She is currently a Masters student in Integrated Marketing
Communications at Northwestern University and graduates in December 2015. Website: amplifywithaditi.com Twitter:
@amplifywithadit Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/aditiramchandani
One of the methods I chose as a new start-up, was to not only blog from my personal website, but use an internet revenue-sharing company to write a blog about the type of business I run in order to direct the right audience to my site. It also allowed me to add poll-style questions - ideal for gauging the market.
ReplyDeleteRegina Morales @ Sonic Response