Variety of Startup Marketing Approaches

Challenges and competition are common in a business. Slightly different if we talk about the startup business. As a start-up business, there are initial challenges that must be faced, namely building quality products and marketing them. These two things are the main thing. For the second, the strategy might be a little interesting. The reason is that startup users are those who are "literally" digitally. The approach is also different. Gradually according to each target market that continues to grow.

In the early stages, for example, e-commerce businesses, ride hailing, food delivery, financial technology, and several other startup segments will definitely take advantage of the digital approach to market their products or services. Blog posts, buzzers, paid posts on social media services, and other digital marketing channels will definitely do. Because these “digital society” will help spread their product information more widely.

In a report title Gartner's “CMO Spend Survey 2016 – 2017” states that digital advertising into the top three things for the allocation of funds in a company. Approximately 65% ​​of respondents, who are leaders in the marketing sector, said they would increase the amount of funds for digital advertising in the year 2017.

With reach which can be determined is one of the advantages of marketing through digital channels. This is considered more effective because it can reach the right target. The viral trend of news is also a way to introduce and include a product or service so that more people can talk about it both in digital activities and daily activities.

Conventional still useful

Although digital trends continue to grow, conventional marketing strategies can still reap benefits. With a different niche, the conventional strategy is aimed at grabbing the attention of people who are still "non-digital", or strengthening the information obtained from the digital realm because of broadcasting media such as TV, radio, newspapers, billboards, and marketing media. offline others still hold importance for the wide dissemination of information.

One of the startups that shares stories about its marketing strategy is Bukalapak. Bukalapak Senior Brand & Communication Manager Oci Ambrosia explained that Bukalapak utilizes several marketing strategies both offline and online. For offline it can be seen from Bukalapak's active promotion through advertisements on television, while for online it can be seen from YouTube videos or through social media.

“Through social media, campaigns can usually be more measurable, and we can quickly evaluate if the campaign is less effective. And this also depends on the target consumers / consumer demographics different. Use social media it has dependencies of many factors and targets audience become one of the factors for the effective delivery of the brand/message. But overall, social media and online presence it is very important for a company, as well as an individual to reach and reach consumers and audience extensively."

Some startups also have a similar strategy. Utilize online and offline simultaneously to increase people's understanding of their products. Most of them are engaged in the travel and e-commerce sectors.

Social media to build image

Besides Bukalapak, two e-commerce businesses with different niches namely Wearinasia and Tees also shared stories about their marketing strategies. For both, social media plays an important role. Wearinasia, for example, as an e-commerce company that has a quite unique niche, sells devices w, drones, and cameras, social media is used as a place to build their credibility in the digital realm.

"We use social media as a medium to increase credibility online, for example by providing voucher codes for those who take photos while pick up product (O2O service). And we also use it to inspire, for example by providing photoshoot results or product reviews," said CMO Wearinasia Andrew Gunawan.

However, one of the most effective marketing channels for Wearinasia is the catalog on their website. With an informative catalog and explain the product in detail, users can become more interested.

The Co-Founder and CEO also conveyed the same thing Tees Aria Rajasa regarding the use of social media. According to him, social media and partnerships with Google Ads and Facebook Ads are one of the most effective ways of marketing Tees.

"For social media we rely on creators to spread their designs to social media, the collective effect is much higher than the accounts social media The tees themselves. We make it easy for them to share, and encourage them by informing them of additional promos and benefits in advance so they can spread it to their friends early. For partnership, we do a lot cross promotion with fellow e-commerce [services] and other channels that have audience big," explained Aria.

Tees is also trying to find some new marketing strategies, one of which is by adding niche new product in Tees which is planned to be launched this year.

bias offline and online which is getting thicker

Many are familiar with the term cyberspace, an association for life on the internet, be it social media, forums, or other activities. In terms of the actual term "virtual world" is no longer appropriate to use. Because digital life, social media life, forums, and others are in direct contact with real life. What is discussed in the online realm is actually also discussed in the online realm offline. Vice versa. It is very possible that something that is viral in the online world (especially social media) becomes a conversation in people's lives. This is what makes startups invest to get into digital marketing.

This relationship between offline and online is what we are looking for. The funds that must be spent on advertising on TV or billboards are certainly different from those spent on installing paid articles or a group buzzer to market a product.

In the next few years, digital marketing will play an important role. It's just that conventional advertising is still used, especially to target new users who have not been completely or completely untouched by digital life.