Month: October 2019

7 Marketing Strategies Every Startup Should Know

Marketing is critical for any startup because if people are not aware of the startup’s existence, they will not buy from it. However, when done the conventional way, marketing campaigns can be very costly, particularly for startups. Startups can use non-conventional marketing strategies to reach their target audience and grow their business. These marketing strategies that ride on modern trends that include the use of postcards newsletter template builder, email templates, content creation, search engine optimization, social media, and landing pages.

Sometimes even promotional products, and promotional products of Personalized Basketballs. Startups need to use as many of these strategies are they can to promote their products and services. Here are seven marketing strategies that every startup should explore: 

  1. Sending Email Newsletters

Emails are effective marketing tools that can help startups attract customers at minimal or no cost. To use this strategy, startups need to build an email list of prospective and existing customers in order to send them emails that promote their products or services. You can do this through your website. For instance, you could include a newsletter subscription form on the website to collect email addresses from visitors. 

The other way of building an email list is by asking customers to share their email addresses directly, even if you run a podcast. To interest customers, ensure that you include non-commercial information on your newsletters. For instance, a startup could feature content such as infographics, videos, articles and guides that empowers its target audience on the newsletter.

  1. Use of Social Media Posts

At this time and age, businesses cannot underestimate the power of marketing through social media platforms. With more than 3.5 billion people currently using social media across the globe, these platforms are taking marketing to a high level. Startups can use social media to promote their products or services by sharing posts such as videos, articles, infographics, offers, and promotions with their followers. 

In addition to marketing products, social media platforms serve as great spaces for engaging existing and prospective customers to understand their pain points and feedback on how they experience the products or services being offered by the startup. Some of the leading social media platforms that each startup should consider using include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon. 

  1. Use of Blog Posts 

Blogs are great marketing tools that can give business startups the exposure they need. Statistics show that through blogging, businesses can generate up to 126% more leads compared to their competitors who do not blog. Using blogs, startups can position themselves as leaders in their industry and drive organic traffic to their sites through internet searches. 

The best way to create an effective blog is through publishing content that your target audience is seeking for or interested in. When such content is valuable, search engines will rank your blog highly on search results. This translates to high traffic as more people get to know about your startup. 

  1. Generate shareable content

Internet marketing thrives on sharing. This means that the content you create about your startup should be interesting and valuable to make your audience want to share. The more people share a piece of content, the more that content goes viral and reached more people. Some of the content formats that entice people, encouraging them to share include visual content such as short videos, infographics, images as well as blogs, stories, and articles.

 In creating content, consider information that is related to your business or is about your business. Of importance to note is that providing additional information to your followers or customers could entice them to become more curious about what you are offering. 

  1. Use Referral Programs

To grow your business fast, consider using the referral marketing strategy. This strategy thrives on allowing customers to promote your products or services to their friends and family. Most successful companies set up referral programs because people tend to believe in personal recommendations from people they know more than they believe company adverts.  

Every startup can reach more customers through a referral strategy by getting current customers to refer other people to the business. Find creative ways to encourage existing customers to refer their friends to your startup. For instance, you could offer customers who refer people to your business commissions, discount vouchers or coupons that they can claim in the future. An example of this could be ‘refer 2 friends and get free shipping the next time your shop’. The audience you attract through referrals can be a strong lead for your startup. 

  1. Hold a pre-launch event

When you are launching your business or product, create a buzz about it and let your target audience about it online and offline. One way to do this is by issuing raffles. Though this will cost you, it will entice them to get raffles and market the business. Through raffles, you can also encourage your audience to follow your business on different social media platforms. Once they connect with you on social media, you will be able to get their feedback about the products or services you offer. You will also be able to develop a contact list for use in future events or communication. 

  1. Use Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is a strategy that involves driving traffic to your website and other online platforms through search engines such as Bing, Google, and Yahoo. For this strategy to work, you need to focus on optimizing your website for the search engines so that people can find your startup without having to call you. 

Statistics show that every day, millions of internet use search engines to find stuff on the web. If you optimize content such as blog posts, articles, images, videos and social media posts for search engines, you will attract visitors to your website and begin connecting with them to grow your customer base.  

Since you will be driving traffic to your website, ensure that it is loads fast so that visitors can access it without having to wait. To achieve this, you need to avoid the use of many heavy images as those will slow the website. Instead, use images only where they are really needed. 

Simple Barcode Inventory System for Small Business to improve efficiency

Inventory control is an essential element of any business. By maintaining effective control over your inventory, you can minimize losses and increase productivity. 

An effective inventory control system in place allows companies to offer more accurate stock information, faster shipping services, and improved customer experience. 

Small businesses sometimes assume that they don’t require a comprehensive inventory system. Many believe that implementing an inventory control system will be too costly for a start-up business or SME. 

However, small businesses and enterprises can benefit from advanced inventory systems, even more than larger organizations. As small companies generally have less staff and fewer resources, anything which streamlines processes and enhances productivity is beneficial. 

Furthermore, an effective inventory control system needn’t be costly to implement. 

What is a barcode inventory system?

A barcode system is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to maintain control over your inventory. Put simply; a barcode is a visual representation of data. When you scan this information which a barcode scanner, it updates the data in the system accordingly. 

1D barcodes are, perhaps, the most familiar type. They consist of vertical straight lines and a series of numbers along the bottom. However, 2D barcodes are becoming increasingly popular. 

Usually square, they consist of dots and various small shapes. As 2D barcodes can hold more information than 1D barcodes, more businesses are upgrading to 2D systems. 

Using a Barcode Inventory System

To use a barcode inventory system, you simply assign a barcode to each product in your system. You can then print out quality labels with the barcode on and apply it to the corresponding product. When you scan the barcode, it will automatically update your inventory system. 

Similarly, you can achieve the opposite effect when using a barcode system too. By using a different setting, you can enable the system to deduct a product from your inventory when you scan the corresponding barcode. 

As you can see, a barcode system enables you to record stock as it enters and leaves your premises. More importantly, it increases the accuracy of your data and allows you to manage your inventory far more quickly than if you were to do it by hand. 

What are the benefits of a barcode inventory system?

There are numerous advantages associated with using a barcode system to monitor your inventory, including:

Efficiency

Printing barcodes on to quality labels and scanning them allows your inventory to updated in record time. This will streamline your processes and increase productivity significantly, thus freeing up staff members for other tasks.

Functionality

If you introduce a new product, you can simply add a new barcode to the system and update your inventory. Similarly, if you discontinue a product line, it can be removed from the system in seconds. With the ability to make swift changes, the functionality of a barcode inventory system is second-to-none. 

Flexibility

Barcode inventory systems can be used on all types of products. Regardless of what packaging materials you’re using, quality labels will ensure that you can adhere barcodes to products of any shape or size. 

Reduced costs

When you manage your inventory manually, it can take a significant amount of time. Whether you’re doing this yourself or assigning staff to the task, it will cost you a considerable amount in terms of productivity. 

Switching to a barcode inventory system ensures the job can be done more quickly and by fewer people. As a result, you can minimize your outgoings, cut your wages bill and reduce overall costs.

Accuracy

Manual inventory management inevitably leaves the door open for human error. However, conscientious your staff are, they will make mistakes from time to time. 

When using a barcode inventory system, however, you can minimize these inaccuracies and maintain comprehensive stock information at all times.

Real-time data

Depending on the system you choose, you can access real-time inventory data when you use a barcode system. This means you can check stock levels and locations whenever you need to and access the latest information. 

Keeping track of your stock in real-time negates the possibility of ordering or producing too much and minimizes waste, thus reducing your costs even further.

Implementing a barcode inventory system

Small businesses, in particular, need to operate as cost-efficiently as possible. With the right packaging materials, printing equipment, barcode scanner, and quality labels like Zebra Printer Labels like the one from enkoproducts.com, you can implement an effective barcode inventory system straight away. 

Barcode inventory systems make life easier. They increase efficiency and lower costs, which is why they are an excellent investment.