So you know that Marketing is an essential ingredient to the success of any business.  To Startups, it is more important than you think. Startups live and die by their ability to gain customers and grow base. Customer acquisition is not only mandatory to start generating revenues but it is also a validation tool to your startup idea and business model.  Needless to say, revenue generation is a factor of many things;  Valuable product, Product/market fit, team dedication among many others. However, the Marketing aspect can’t be underestimated. After all, the best product in the world can’t make it without reaching its target audience; A.K.A the right Marketing.  Pinterest – the third largest social network behind Facebook, Twitter- has admitted that It was Marketing not engineering that contributed to its stellar growth ; says founder; Ben Silbermann

Startups are usually bootstrapped  . Reeling under extreme resource constraints (Time, People, money), they make the mistake of delaying or even ignoring promoting their ventures. Luckily; some Startups realize that promoting their businesses as early as possible – as when the product is not out yet- is important. SEO; Search Engine Optimization is a good way to get some organic customers through search engines and it should be utilized. It is complicated though. Not only so,  due to time, money constraints but it is also due the algorithm change/update GOOGLE keeps on adding. Infact, some go further to say that, search engine favorites big brands over others .

 Now thanks to Social Media, Marketing has become easy and relatively affordable and their reach is outstanding. The un-targeted reach; that is. The issue arises when you solely rely on social Media to let your target customers know about your superior solution . In most Social Media platforms, unless your customers know and type in your actual name, the chances are you are not coming up on the search results. Even if you are lucky to have a name that includes matching words to the search term, you may get lost by going unnoticed with the huge number of matching results all vying for the searcher attention. Blogging is another tool, when used effectively can really be of a great help to businesses.

It is a fact. For Startups and Small businesses, Growth hacking is born. Another effective and efficient way to market your Small Business and Startup -that is gaining popularity in the West – is by joining online Communities. Online marketing Platform by definition encompasses directory listings, SEO, CRM –Customer Relationship Management tools- that allows your business to get found. These online communities provide a valuable tool to businesses to learn, interact with other businesses as well as with their potential customers and above all to gain customers.

 The trick here is to ensure as a -Startup founders or Small BUSINESS OWNERS- having an integrated Marketing campaign that takes into account the above tools discussed. And as always, seeking advice from mentors, subject matter experts should always be exercised

Mohammad Alsayyed.

Co founder and Managing Director of Trending5000.com , The Middle East online Marketing platform exclusive for Small business & Startups that allows your business to Get discovered, Get famous and Get leads!