Starting a business is no simple feat. You have to develop a product/service, make it stand out amongst your competitors, and ensure it’s profitable. After that, you have to move on to the most important part: marketing and running ads.

It’s no secret that the best way for a business to prosper is through heightened consumer awareness. This is where marketing plays a big role: it gets your business viewership, which then leads to awareness and lead generation. 

Paying a marketing agency to run ads for you might feel expensive, especially in the beginning stages of your business. However, the  upsides to a good marketing agency could vastly justify the cost. Here are 5 of the best tips we have for marketing your startup.

1. Develop Your Marketing Strategy

Businesses have different goals at different stages of their life cycle. In the beginning phase, your key goal should be awareness.

General Market Products/Services

Think about the target audience you want to reach. If your business deals with products for general use, such as F&B, FMCG, or travelware, we recommend that you opt for Public Relations.

Public Relations helps promote your business throughout both the mainstream media and relevant media outlets. It’s the most effective way to ensure that everyone sees your product/service offerings, and a reliable way of attracting new investors.

Another benefit of Public Relations is that it can convert nonusers into users if the key benefit is appealing enough. Think about how the vast majority of citizens don’t frequent hotels - but they might think about a staycation if the location and rates are attractive enough.

Awareness isn’t limited to the founding of your company either - it could also be used for new product launches. At DIFY, we’ve worked with Pizza Hut to publicise its newly released Knotty Cheesy Pizza, with a reach of over 1.5m in just 3 months. This figure spanned 41 publications and social media channels, as well as 30 KOLs (Key Outreach Leaders; Influencer Marketing). If just 1% of viewers convert into users, that’s 15,000 new customers. 

Niche Market Products/Services 

On the other hand, if your business focuses on a niche market, we recommend that you opt for social media marketing instead. 

There are two methods of marketing through social media. One is to focus on organic growth, which is to continuously post content on social media and invite your social circles to like and share them. This method is free, but costly in terms of time and effort, and takes a lot longer to achieve fruition.

The other method is to run ads. Advertising on social media is regarded as one of the best ways to market your products and services, as you can tailor your ads to a specific audience. For instance, if your business deals with car parts, you can choose to target only car enthusiasts. 

We’ve successfully done this with one of our clients, PNKids, who wanted to focus on organic growth. We chose to target parents with an interest in nutrition and healthcare, as they would be the primary purchasers of the client’s products. 

Speaking of publications, social media marketing, and influencer marketing, this brings us to the next most important item.

2. Identify The Best Marketing Medium For Your Business

When The Coca-Cola Company expanded overseas, its CEO Muhtar Kent explained, “About 3.5 percent to 4 percent of the population of the world lives in the U.S, and we’re a consumer goods company. So we sell where the people are. It’s just math.”

Likewise, a wise marketing strategy would be to market where your demographic is. Facebook Marketing is particularly effective for those in their mid-20s to late 50s. On the other hand, if your target market comprises gen Z and millennials, your ideal marketing platforms should be Instagram and TikTok.

For example, let’s say that your company focuses on scratch-resistant pet apparel that you envision to be popular with youths. 

Influencer Marketing

If you want to utilise Influencer Marketing, an ideal marketing medium would be to approach [influencers with pets] who have [a large following on TikTok and Instagram]. This would put your product in the eyes of thousands of potential customers.

One thing to note about influencer marketing is that you’re not likely to get the same degree of detail in your marketing stats compared to running your own ads. On the flip side, a good relationship with the right influencer can grant your products repeated exposure (e.g the influencer constantly takes pictures with their pets wearing your product).

Social Media Marketing

Facebook/Instagram ads can also be run to [pet lovers] who like [pet apparel] and are [aged 28 and below]. This way, you narrow down your target audience to a very specific group of people who are more likely to purchase your products, saving you from the cost of random people clicking on your ads.

Social Media Marketing can be seen as the counterpart to Public Relations. If one likens Public Relations as a machine gun, where you aim for the highest number of hits possible, Social Media ads are akin to sniper rifles, taking aim at specific targets in return for a higher chance of a hit.

Google Ads

Google ads are similar to SEO marketing, in that they push your business to the front page whenever a user inputs a specific keyword. They’re an incredibly useful tool for browser-based businesses with a main market player as a competitor.

After you’ve identified the ideal marketing medium for your business, next comes all the hard work…

3. Decide On The Content You Want To Put Out

This portion is where most business owners give up on marketing, and outsource their marketing efforts to a third-party agency. 

Content creation is a vital part of marketing, especially if you’re putting out ads. It’s also the most time consuming part of marketing.

There are many types of content; there are video ads, GIF ads, post ads, EDMs, social media posts, and many more. Each medium demands its own specific field of expertise; for instance, the current trend for video ads is to include captions, as 85% of Facebook users purportedly watch videos without sound. 

More marketers are also migrating towards mobile gaming ads if their videos are short enough, as they offer a much better engagement rate.

Content also performs differently on different platforms. Facebook users prefer short videos and curated content, whilst Instagram users prefer high-red photos and stories/reels. Knowing what type of content to put out on each platform can improve your ROI significantly.

If you’re still set on doing the marketing yourself, the next bit is the part you can’t afford to skip.

4. How To Create Your Ads

You’ve done your research; you’ve decided on a marketing strategy, the kind of content you want to put out, and who to target. 

But now comes the part where you either make or break your ads: creating them.

It’s not good enough to just be creative. You have to show your market WHY your stuff is the best out there, and convince them to spend money on you - all while being catchy enough that people don’t just scroll past your ads.

Ad structure is easy in theory, but difficult to execute properly. Even after dozens of successful advertising campaigns, we still have to go through a rigorous testing process every time we take on a new client.

At DIFY, our general rule of thumb is to include:

• An attractive image 

• A strong lead-in with a qualifier

• A list of benefits

• An explanation of how you outdo the competition

• A CTA leading to your website

After you’ve finished creating your ad, all that’s left is to post it… right?

5. Campaign Structure

Many businesses run a single ad and wonder why it doesn’t go anywhere. They might experiment a bit with A/B testing, or run a retargeting ad - but without a proper campaign structure, you’re just needlessly wasting money.

For marketing, a proper campaign structure is the backbone of everything we do. It’s especially imperative when it comes to ad buying, as money wasted on ads barely does anything to build awareness. 

A full fledged social media marketing campaign would look something like this:

Here’s a condensed flowchart of our social media marketing structure:

1. Extensive A/B testing across demographics and interests to find winning ads

2. SEO copywriting for website 

3. A/B testing for website to gauge performance

4. Video ads to build reach

5. Target video watchers above x% view time

6. Retargeting drop offs

7. Launch ads targeting lookalikes

8. EDMs to recapture warm leads

As you’ve probably figured by now, a lot more goes into marketing than one would expect. A good marketing agency can help your business to explode in growth and profitability beyond what you put into your marketing budget.

Whether you’re keen on trying to run ads on your own, or intending to enlist a marketing agency for help, we’re always happy to help. We offer free consultation services for companies looking to get started on marketing, as well as Public Relations, SEO Copywriting, and Social Media Marketing services.

Drop us an email at enquiries@dify.sg to get started!