Particularly in the founding phase of a startup, the focus often initially lies on developing the product. Technical optimisations are constantly being driven forward with the aim of developing a market-ready product. Nevertheless, startup teams should not neglect the marketing of their innovative products. After all, a successful marketing strategy is essential for startups in order to bring a company's vision to the world.
Why does good marketing pay off for startups?
Startups benefit from starting to build up marketing within the company at an early stage. This gives your brand recognition value and increases the chances of reaching your target group. With a well thought-out marketing campaign, potential customers can build trust in your startup and customer loyalty can also be strengthened.
Target group analysis: Define your target group. What are the needs and interests of your potential customers and what behaviours do they have in common? Creating personas can be helpful here
USP: Clearly define what the unique selling point (USP) of your offer is so that you can differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Goals: Set measurable goals that you want to achieve through the marketing measures. This could be, for example, an increase in sales by a certain percentage or the acquisition of a certain number of customers
Channels: Choose the right communication channels on which to market your startup. Depending on the objective, this can be various social media, but also email marketing or SEO texts
Budget planning: Determine how much money you want to spend on which marketing measure
Content strategy: Regularly create high-quality content that appeals to your target group and that you play out via your communication channels
Monitoring: Regularly check how successful your marketing activities are. Based on this, you can further expand and optimise your marketing strategy.
Even if your startup does not yet have a large budget for marketing, there are some favourable measures that you should definitely take.
The classic: Email marketing: With creative email campaigns, you can reach a large number of people with little effort. With special programmes, you can design your email adverts and coordinate the dispatch, it couldn't be easier😉
Social media, best media: Social networks have great potential to expand the customer base for your startup. Choose the platforms that best suit your brand. Lifestyle products, for example, fit perfectly on Instagram or TikTok, while more B2B-oriented service providers could place themselves on LinkedIn. There are also numerous online tools in the social media sector that will make your marketing planning easier.
Text yourself to success - with SEO: SEO is short for "search engine optimisation" and refers to the possibility of having your startup displayed high up in search engines with cleverly placed web content. The better your content is tailored to the search behaviour of your target group on Google and other search engines, the higher up your website or offer will be placed in the search results.
Get support: Collaboration with marketing professionals:
Do you want to stick to what you do best and leave the marketing part to communication professionals? Then look out for an (online) marketing agency or freelancers who can support you and your startup in the areas of marketing and PR. There are agencies and service providers that specialise in individual sectors and areas (e.g. science communication) as well as more generalist communicators. It can also be helpful to hire an agency from the same city or neighbourhood, as they are usually more familiar with local networks and the regional press landscape.
IT in the startup phase
Most important IT topics and tips in the startup phase
hei.Hamburger Existenzgründungsinitiative
Search engine optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) with a focus on technical, content and external optimisation
Handleskammer Hamburg
Social Media Guide
https://www.fid.uni-hamburg.de/social-media-leitfaden.pdf
Online-Marketing Guide
https://www.selbstaendig-im-handwerk.de/downloads/News/das-kleine-online-marketing-1x1.pdf?m=1493108499
Actively market yourself
Cost-effective advertising of your own product/service
Firmenhilfe
Promotion of trade fair participation in Germany
Information on public funding for the participation of German companies in trade fairs and leading trade fairs in Germany
AUMA_Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.
Promotion of trade fair participation abroad
Information on public support for German companies participating in selected trade fairs abroad
AUMA_Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.
Consultancy funding
Funding programme for entrepreneurial know-how for small and medium-sized enterprises that have already been founded
Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle (BAFA)
Counselling & Coaching
hei. Seminar programme ‘Advertising’ and ‘Internet & Social Media’ – Schedule
Overview of all hei. dates and seminars from the hei.scheckheft programme The hei.scheckheft programme is a compilation of various seminars that are relevant for founders. Participation in the hei. seminar programmes is subsidised with a voucher of € 500.
hei. Terminkalender
Platforms for industry overview
Dealroom
Global database with figures on the ecosystem and information on startups, innovation, high-growth companies, ecosystems and investment strategies
Dealroom platform (English)
Startupdetector
Collection of all new and current startups in Germany and information about the entire startup ecosystem
startupdetector
Crunchbase
Dashboard with data for investor search or market research
Crunchbase (english)
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Last accessed: December 2024