Marketing has changed at a rapid pace. Some marketers even believe that marketing has changed more in the past two years than in the previous 50 years.

Most startups these days have adopted digital marketing. But not all the weapons that digital marketers have in their arsenals are equally effective. Some digital marketing strategies hit the bullseye, while others don’t even come close.

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1. Email Marketing

Despite predictions of its death in the marketing world, emails are still around and delivering a handsome return on investment to marketers.

In a recent survey conducted by Demand Metric and the Data & Marketing Association, it was concluded that email marketing had an impressive ROI of 122%.

That was four times higher than the other marketing channels which were analyzed. Those channels included paid search, direct mail, and social media.

Though email marketing is highly effective, not all startups are able to harness the true power of email marketing. But some brands have excelled at email marketing.

2. Social Media Marketing

Social media has become a powerful marketing tool these days.

According to a Social Media Examiner’s report, 90% of marketers confirmed that social media is important to their businesses. And 89% of marketers indicated that their social media initiatives have generated increased exposure for their companies.

The following is a list of the benefits offered by social media marketing:

• It increases exposures and traffic.
• Social media marketing develops loyal customers.
• It improves search ranking and generates leads.
• It establishes thought leadership.

3. Pay-Per-Click Marketing (Google AdWords)

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a method of using search engine advertising to bring visitors to your website. PPC is a powerful marketing tool to generate sales-ready leads.

Pay-per-click advertising offers many practical advantages, such as:

• You can reach your customers at the right time with the right ad.
• High ROI as you will have to pay only when an interested person clicks.
• Control over how much you want to spend.
• Data and insights to help sharpen other marketing strategies.

PPC campaigns exhaust the budget quickly. So it requires a certain kind of expertise to engineer a successful campaign that generates more conversions than clicks.

4. Search Engine Optimization

There are hundreds of websites in your niche alone. How can your website come up on the top when potential customers search for the keywords relevant to your business?

This is where search engine optimization (SEO) plays a decisive role.

If your website ranks high in search results when your potential customers search for the keywords related to your products or services, it leaves an impression that you are a reputable company.

5. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a highly effective tool for startups to grow their brands. And the best thing is that it’s inexpensive compared to traditional marketing channels.

• Most customers have become immune to traditional marketing channels.
• Influencer marketing is less expensive than other promotional strategies.
• Influencer marketing is easy-to-implement.
• Word-of-mouth aspect of influencer marketing builds trust for your brand.
• Customers will engage with your brand because of the authenticity of influencers.

6. Content Marketing

Content marketing has become a must for businesses these days, whether you are working in the B2B or B2C domain.

90% of B2C organizations are extremely/very committed to content marketing, and 88% of B2B marketers agree that content marketing is an important part of their marketing programs.

By adopting content marketing strategies for your startup, you can:

• Increase visibility for your brand.
• Build lasting relationships with your customers.
• Boost brand awareness and brand recognition.
• Build credibility and authority.
• Create thought leadership.

7. Retargeting Ads

Your potential customers might not be convinced when they first visit your website. They need one or more nudges before they actually become your customers.

Retargeting ads do the nudging.

Retargeting is a means of marketing in which you show relevant ads to those who have previously visited your website.

8. Viral Marketing

As a startup, there’s no better way to create a strong buzz about your brand than going viral on the internet. Creating content that goes viral can make your business an overnight success.

9. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be treated as a sibling of influencer marketing. It too relies on the influence of people to bring in sales. Which is why you should consider integrating it with your influencer campaign.

You recruit affiliates for your brand to draw in leads for you. They can be thought of as salespeople who work on a commission basis. This commission is entirely up to you to decide. Whether you pay them according to the sales they generate or on a flat fee per product basis.

Affiliate links which are customized links you provide your affiliates with. They share the link with their social media circles who, in turn, can use the link to visit your site and make a purchase.

10. Referral Marketing

One of the best ways of promoting your brand is by letting your customers do it for you. Launching a referral program can be one of the best bets in such a situation. You can share a referral code with each of your customers, and they can share those in their circles.

When anyone from their circle purchases from your brand, you can provide a freebie or discount to the referring customer. This can motivate them to refer more people and help you grow your startup.