How to Start Your Own Business with Digital Marketing

I may not look like it, but I am a Marketing Major with certification for Inbound Marketing. In light of recent events in my life, I've decided to put my knowledge and expertise within the boundaries of business and marketing to good use apart from providing local consultancy services. And that's where this section of my blog comes in, Business and Marketing.

And since this is my initial posting under this category, I deem it only expected to make an article regarding how to begin. Herewith is an excerpt from yours truly on how starting a business today is supposed to be. Business and marketing are concepts which go hand-in-hand and continuously evolving. Although the principles remain the same, but the processes change.

It might have been more difficult to put up in the past, but technology has evolved to a point where everybody may venture into entrepreneurship with ease. The accessibility provided by the web allows ventures of all sizes to reach people all over the globe and do business. This is what tech-savvy people like to call as "Digital Marketing".

If you pay close attention to most of the advertisements that you see on a daily basis as you browse on your social media account, you would see that a lot of them are ads from entrepreneurs. These are people who started up their own businesses and are making great money out of it. And the best part is you can do that too.

If you are planning to start your own business today, you might be having some doubts and hesitation. However, it is safe to claim that YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL if you do it right. Below are a few key guiding considerations for your start-up. These are aligned with the four P’s of Marketing and are designed for digital business ventures.

1. Product - The decision on what you should sell is most important. This should be something of value for majority of the people. It could be food, clothes, tools, or even entertainment. However, it is highly recommended that you offer a product or service which you truly have a passion for. This way, you will have more focus and enthusiasm as you grow the business. This situation also helps you get into perspective to deliver the best quality of what you offer to the market. And in most cases, it's more fun.
2. Price - Naturally, you would want your price range to be highly competitive. There are numerous pricing strategies which may be implemented. This requires a certain amount of analysis but commonly for start-ups, product prices are typically slightly lower than major competitors. This is called penetration pricing as it attracts more customers from competing products or brands. In the short run, this helps you gain exposure as well. However, always keep in mind that the price should always be an amount which would give you a reasonable amount of profit.
3. Place - Traditionally, this would be selecting the business premises. But in digital marketing, this refers to determining where you should be selling. There are various "places" that are easily accessible for you. Right from the bat, you can always put up your very own website. Nowadays, establishing and designing your own site is quite easy. Almost all website development platforms have transformed themselves to become user-friendly. In addition, you can always opt in to make your products available through selling platforms like Amazon or E-Bay. Or better yet, why not both?
4. Promotions - This is something that requires the most effort and attention. Promoting your products or services requires careful planning and execution, and here is how.

• First, you just need to identify your target market and where they typically hang out in the digital realm. I'm talking about the platforms or websites that your prospects usually visit. These platforms could be social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In addition, there are also forum websites such as Reddit and media collection websites such as Pinterest. To make it short, wherever your target customer are, that is where you should be.
• Second, you need to make materials that will be appealing to your targets. This is something that needs some degree of creativity since these materials should go viral consistently. This is how you make your presence be felt in the digital community. This increases the number of audiences that you reach, thus increasing the number of potential customers you can do business with.
• Third, the materials must be designed to be intriguing enough to always have your target customers check out your website or products at the very least. Furthermore, offering something of value to your audiences in exchange for contact information may prove to be a smart decision as well. This is what digital marketers call as an “opt-in”.
• Lastly, once you have a list of target customers from your opt-in, it would be easier to further engage them, communicate with you, and of course close a deal.

In summary, digital marketing is ultimately necessary for businesses to grow today. Learning it and properly using it for your own start-up is the way to go. Good luck.