If you are a bootstrapping startup, the last thing you need is a significant expense on different tech and marketing tools to ensure your business growth. There are lots of free tools that will help you in this purpose provided you know about these and all those ways in which you can use these tools like a pro.
You can use a web analytics tool for that matter, and when it comes to web analytics, Google Analytics seems to the best amongst all. This free web analytics tool will help you in a lot of ways, such as providing you with a complete picture of your target audience that may include:
The number of people
The source of your target audience
When they visit your website and
Where they go to!
This tool is important if you want to know the health, performance, and functionality level of your website.
Google Analytics
The tool and its analytical data will enable you to delve deeper apart from helping you to optimize your website to ensure better results. Depending on the type of analytical tool you choose, the features may differ slightly, but in most of the cases, it will be much similar to the characteristics of Google Analytics that may include:
Going through the heat maps that are split according to the device type by clicking, moving and scrolling
Looking at the recordings of the behavior of the real visitors
Seeing and identifying the specific stages where your visitors are dropping off your site and
Providing you with proper insights regarding how the targeted leads generated are engaging with each page of your website.
All these analytical results will enable you to repair anything that needs a tinker so that you can improve the performance level of your site. It will also specifically help you to know the best ways in which you can structure the blog posts for your website.
Just make sure that when you do so, you use the user testers, which most of these analytical tools will allow and deploy the feedbacks you have gathered through different polls and surveys. This will ensure that you know straight from the horse’s mouth, precisely what needs to be improved.
WordPress blogging
If you want the best results and high growth of your startup, then you must focus on blogging. When it comes to blogging, WordPress seems to be the safest bet. This is due to several reasons and advantages such as:
You can use it for building your entire website
While you can use it to create the landing pages more efficiently and effectively
You can also enjoy the benefits of the myriad plug-ins that are on offer.
If you want a more left-field choice, then you should go for Medium. This is more of a social networking tool rather than a marketing tool. However, this can prove to be a great place to start your blog. The device will help you to build an audience and at the same time, use different networking tools to share the content of your website just as it helps those sites that share debt consolidation ratings and reviews.
Social media scheduling and email marketing tools
You can make the best use of social media channels for your startup marketing, you will have to schedule it properly. For this matter, you can use tools like Buffer or Hootsuite. Both these tools will help you in:
Managing your social media accounts more precisely and effectively
Schedule the time and frequency of your posts ahead of time
This will ensure that you publish your content just at the right time and for the correct type of people, over and over again.
As for your email marketing effort, which is another essential marketing technique that all startups should follow, you can use Mail Chimp. This tool will ensure that:
You send better email
Sell more product or service
Manage your email marketing more effectively
Nurture your leads in a better way and
Close the deals fast and just the way it is required to close.
This stool is very easy to use as you will get a lot of free email templates. You will also get a lot of customizable signup forms. These elements will help you to track the performance of your emails and get more accurate built-in reports.
As a startup, you can use the free plan of this tool, which is a perfect way for a startup because through this, you can send up to 12,000 emails every month to about 2,000 subscribers. A massive prospect for any startup!
Lean marketing techniques
No business, startup or established, online, or offline should neglect marketing their business and brand. Sadly, most of them do thinking that it is an expensive affair, which is not valid. Therefore, even if you are a lean startup, there is a way to go ahead as you can take up the lean marketing techniques to promote your brand and product. This too, will drive quite a significant and measurable result.
In reality, these lean marketing techniques followed using by one of the plethoras of free tools available on the internet will not only help you to improve your marketing strategy but will also ensure that you save quite a lot of money in the process.
If you are prudent enough and know the ways to use these tools in just about the right way, you will find that marketing your startup business is not all that difficult as you thought it to be in the beginning.
There are a few typical elements to keep in mind for lean marketing to ensure the current flow of your process. Start with what you do now and gradually build upon:
Your personas you are trying to engage with
Marketing process that will uphold iteration and analytics
Measurement of customer behaviors and interactions
A/B testing of marketing process automation and
A refined support process for launching and publishing.
Business marketing should be well planned and agile and data-driven and responsive just like your business so that you can ensure success within a short time frame.
CONCLUSION
Having a startup and making every possible thing to grow is difficult. But this article must have helped you by finding some of the best tools which are free and are very helpful for your business.
If you have some other tools which you want us to add in the blog, please do write to us we will add it.
How has your client relationship been? Are you a business that has a healthy client relationship? Let’s understand. We often tend to put all our efforts into attracting the customers or clients, but we forget to understand the importance of building a healthy relationship with them. This not only helps them in maintaining a frequent business but also in building the reputation of the company through testimonials. Hence, it’s always a necessity to understand the worth of the customer no matter how big or small the business might be. Let’s look at the few factors that could not only help your business grow but also sustain in this competitive world.
Reputation:
The reputation of your business is the first and the foremost thing to be considered when running one. This enhances your client relationship in so many ways. If you manage to have a great reputation, your customers are attracted on their own. People often are attracted by the measure of one’s reputation and also based upon their previous experience with them. So never take your customers for granted based upon who they are or where they are from. The reputation that you earn is going to stay with them and their acquaintances for long. All of these efforts are never going to go in vain. You’ll be known for your reputation and the quality of work you deliver. This not only reduces the marketing efforts but also gains some good amount of healthy prospects.
Attracting the customers or clients:
This is the first step in any business and is often the most considered one. And yes, you should be. Attracting your customers towards your business through various mediums is something that every executive should be proficient in. This earns you the customers from various parts of the world. If you’re not very aware of how this is to be done, let’s look at few of the most effective ways of doing this.
Leveraging social media:
Social media is the kind of a platform that’s here to stay. Billions of users every day are on social media. Sometimes they come to kill their time and sometimes to find their interests. You need to make sure to market your product in such a way that it helps them both the above ways and still remember your brand name for a long time. They should be able to find your marketing technique amusing and it shouldn’t seem like marketing at all.
The audience is so busy using the social media for the one reason that they don’t have to look at the ads and look at whatever intrigues them. If you still start showing them those boring ads, then they won’t really appreciate it. They’d rather choose to skip it. So, whenever you post your marketing video on social media make sure it’s either a funnier one or an innovative one. Usually, the funnier ones are easy to make and are shared widely around social media.
Specific marketing:
This is one way where you can show your customer that you care about them. Being specific and direct to your customer, not only shows how valued they are to you but also builds a great bond. This bond is further essential in spreading the talk and also for further business with the same client. Although this isn’t an easy thing to do for businesses with a lot of clients, you can still classify them into certain categories and send them the information specifically. For instance, if yours is an e-commerce site, and you have customers purchasing shoes, ties and shirts. You can classify them accordingly and send them their respective interests.
If you’d like to understand how you can specifically contact your customers for Email marketing purposes, visit here.
CTA:
Never forget this whenever you’re trying to market your product. CTA is the landing page of the product you’ve just been marketing. Let the customers who are receiving your market ideas, find a way to purchase them. If there’s no proper linking to the item, then the customer might lose the interest altogether and stop doing the business with you. They can also think of switching to somewhere else where they have been buying products frequently from.
Strong connection with the prospects:
A connection with the prospects can be the reason why your business can sustain in this competitive world. Unlike before, there are multiple businesses that might stand as a competition for you. This not only builds your customer client relationship but also helps you with further business with them and the ones they recommend. The process of recommendation goes a long way in earning you some of the most important and loyal customers.
Targeted content writing:
If you’re running a blog for your site and write about things unrelated to your clients that don’t help them, then maintaining such blogs is of no use rather than just to show off that you’ve got one. So before writing an article, make sure you’re writing something that benefits your customers. It should guide the customers to be effective and confident in doing business with you. They shouldn’t have to go to some other place to be able to understand your business.
Effective response rate:
A good response if what a customer or a client needs to understand their value. You need to show your customers how valued they are to you and your business. Responding to their messages and comments right away is the best way to go about it. Treat them with courtesy, offer your respect and help them in any way you can without deceiving them. These are the ways in which you’ll finally be able to keep your clients stuck with you.
Display of innovative ideas:
Come up with new and innovative ideas that could benefit your business and your client’s business in the best way possible. If you keep on upgrading your techniques and start using all the foolproof ideas, your customers will gain a great impression of you and would love to do further business with you as well.
Gain their trust:
Gaining the customer’s trust has always been the primitive aim of a business. Trust is something that’s very fragile and infectious. The better it grows, the worse it fails. If you don’t manage to have your customers trust you and your business, understand the fact that you’re doing something terribly wrong. Never blame your customers for the fault you’ve committed just to cover yourself up and protect your business. Apologize in the way that they deserve and start putting efforts. Else, you’d be losing some good number of prospects as well. There are certain ways in which you can manage to gain their trust and do an efficient business.
In time results:
When you produce a timely result to your customer, that’d be the start of gaining their trust towards your work. You need to ask for the appropriate time through your past experience and make sure you don’t ask for even a second more, later. Don’t try to put a finish time beyond your capability just to show off. Such kinds of practices are not appreciated in the world of business.
If you’d like to understand clearly how to manage and effectively use your time, visit here.
Efficient work:
Efficient work is something that the customer will appreciate every time using your product. If you’re a web developer, make sure you develop in a way that they don’t have to come back to you. Build it in a way with all the future requirements in your mind. Never let them feel that it wasn’t efficient enough for them.
Affordable services:
In this generation, anyone could produce results in the best way possible. The only thing that sets the best kind of people is their affordability. Make sure you don’t charge your customers a lot. Also, make it a point that you allow some discounts for your frequent customers to have their loyalty for you intact.
Feasible to reach:
An easy reach to you would go a long way in understanding your customer and their needs. If your developed, or produced product is not efficient enough, your customer should be able to reach to you for an upgrade. If the approachability is not feasible to them, that’d be the first negative impact you’d be receiving. Hence make sure you have enough resources to help and reach your customers with.
These are the basic things that an organization needs to follow, though some of these are cliched topics, still, many of us fail to follow the same. Do follow these things without a miss if you want to build an effective organization. If you’d like to get a few other things to maintain a healthy client relationship, do read this article.
In a country where startups were not as encouraged, some people came and changed the whole perception. That all you need to have is some belief to be able to do anything. Since our childhood, we’ve been enamored by the stories of how people make it big. Though you would already know the people about whom I’m going to talk about here, still I’d like to brief them all out for you. Because for those who need some push, these are the people you need to learn about.
1. Flipkart’s formation:
Credits: Wikimedia Commons
If you’re quite aware of all the updates around you, then you’d know for a fact that the IIT-D alumni are the ones behind this e-commerce giant. Working for Amazon, these two decided to quit and establish something of the same kind in India as well. Just like Jeff Bezos(founder of Amazon), these two also started their business selling books online. Later with the years passing by, Flipkart started selling almost every household things that a person could deliver to his/her home. Growing like this, now Flipkart is worth $17 billion and now it is among the top 10 e-commerce sites all over the world. Such has been the growth for this Indian company.
2. Ola’s run:
One more of those frequently twirling word in our mouths. There wasn’t any Uber before OLA. Getting a cab was expensive and used a lot of effort to get connected with one. Then came the OLA service and since then cab booking has never been so easy. Almost every city in India is now connected with the OLA Cabs. Such is the market OLA has gained in the recent years. Starting in 2010 by the two IIT-B graduates, Mr Bhavish Aggarwal and Mr Ankit Bhati, Ola has now turned into a US$5 billion company now.
3. Paytm’s cashbacks:
Cashback, the concept that has changed the way that online marketing deals with, in India. Such change has been brought into the Indian market and the only one who deserves the credit is Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Born in a small town near Delhi, he has managed to take his company to a net worth of $10 billion. That’s not it, last year a paytm bank has been introduced as well. Which will now probably take the worth of the company to a whole new level.
4. Zomato’s menu:
Credits: Wikimedia Commons
Launched in the year 2008, though this food marketing giant didn’t see an overnight success, but still took its own time until it became a known name all over the world. Deepinder Goyal had the job of pinning all the menus in the company he used to work earlier. Later on, he envisioned, how it’s going to be if he shows them all over the internet. His idea took its course but finally reached multiple souls. They have a presence in over 10,000 cities and 22 countries. This in itself shows the hype they’ve got.
5. Quikr’s here:
Credits: itsPotluck
Regular practice in the western countries which came out new in India. An online market for the used items. Who wouldn’t prefer cheaper items and for the very same reason, Quikr was established by Pranay Chulet. An IIT-D and IIM-C alumnus, who founded it with the initial name of Kijiji India, later renamed it to Quikr. Quikr didn’t take as long time before marking its place on the minds of resellers. This start-up has now raked in some millions of dollars worth.
6. Make My Trip’s:
Credits: Wikimedia Commons
An IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, the most coveted Bschool in India, Deep Kalra is the man behind this company. Starting in 2000 as an Indo-American travel consultancy, later on, established itself in India in 2005. From then on there was no looking back for this travel agency. Later on, it started providing domestic and international holiday packages, hotel reservations and bus tickets, etc.
7. RedBus’s acceeleration:
Credits: Wikipedia
Starting in 2005 with not so much of a pace. This company has now been one of those few startups that are considered to be rapidly growing in the business world. Mr. Phanindra, Sudhakar, and Charan are the co-founder and CEO of RedBus that’s now a known name to every person who’s fond of traveling by bus. Earlier to this, looking for a bus wasn’t that easy a task and there weren’t multiple options for the buses either. Now the Redbus has reached a position where its revenue is above $12M.
8. Hike’s hike:
Credits: Wikipedia
Scion of a billionaire, this Sunil Bharti Mittal’s son has all that not every other billionaire’s son would do. Educated and having a good insight of things, this businessman’s son has written a separate chapter for himself rather than being known as a son of Sunil Bharti Mittal. Founded in the year 2012, hike didn’t take much time before it hit every other smartphone user’s screen. Surviving against the messenger giant like Whatsapp is no piece of cake. It raised to a whopping $1.4 Billion in just 3.7 years since its foundation. Hike is the first company in India to be able to achieve that feat.
9. Pepperfry at home:
Credits: Wikimedia Commons
A company started by Mr Ambareesh Murty & Mr Ashish Shah, after together working for eBay, has gone on to become the biggest furniture place in India. Spread across more than 1000 cities in India, after being founded in the year 2011, it didn’t take a long time before Pepperfry established a name for itself. With a net worth of about 150 crores, it’s now the largest store for furniture in the whole country.
10. OYO rooms:
Credits: Wikimedia Commons
With about 4,200 hotels in 170 cities, OYO is the biggest budget hotel running firm, in the whole country. With just 21 years of age, Ritesh Aggarwal has become India’s youngest millionaire entrepreneur. Figuring continuing in college wouldn’t do him any good he dropped out of college. With frustrated parents’ pressure on one end, entrepreneur managed to rake in 360 crores in such a short span.
So what are you waiting for? Be inspired by these success stories and show your worth to the world as well. Don’t sit there and think, stand up and act and maybe one day your name could be among one of these.
