When an entrepreneur decides to launch a startup, multiple challenges and roles to be filled will arise. While you might be a natural talent at some tasks, such as finance or project management, you might lack some skills in other areas, too.

Marketing often turns out to be one the most difficult skills to improvise if you don’t have specialized training and knowledge. Of course, marketing is not rocket science.

Thankfully, it can be learned pretty quickly. But most entrepreneurs just don’t have the time to sit down and follow a course, so they opt for trial and error instead.

Marketing Strategies That Work

So, what main tips that you can use straight away to improve your company’s marketing strategy? Here are the 5 key marketing tips to decrease the learning curve.

1. Market to the right audience.

   Any skilled marketer will likely tell you that marketing to the right audience is the make-or-break factor of a campaign. Before planning your marketing strategy – if you haven’t yet – take the time to discover your target audience through demographics (e.g., age, gender, income, education, occupation, household size, marital status, home ownership, country, state, city, DMA, zip code, etc.) and consumer insights.

   Create a demographic profile of who you’d like to reach and ensure to collect data from customers using online surveys (to compare your intended profile against the actual buyers of your product or service). Informal data collection through simply talking with customers can help you understand what kind of people they are and how you can approach them on a larger scale, through your marketing efforts.

2. Create compelling content.

   Whether you’re selling bags or smartphone applications, content is the key to success in terms of lead generation and brand authority. Once you’ve chosen the best marketing channels, create content that is original and relevant for your customers. Be creative, communicative and witty.

   Try to develop your brand voice, style and tone as early as possible. If writing is not your forte and you don’t have a copywriter on board yet, consider hiring a ghost-writer or a freelance professional copywriter to help you with content creation.

3. Show your face.

   Your business is not only a product or service; it’s a brand and it represents the work and effort of you and your team. That’s why you should always try to show customers who’s behind the product or service you are offering.

   Think about making a brand video of your startup, or sharing behind-the-scenes photos of your office and team activities on social media platforms. People will feel more confident and you will quickly earn their trust by showing that your business is not just a web page or a logo.

4. Engage your customers.

   A simple marketing tool to gain new leads and keep your retention rate up consists in engaging your new (and potential) users on social media. But hey, don’t be the typical business just promoting its product! Try, instead, to give your customers content they actually want to see, read or find interesting to share. Post a promotional messages sparingly. Remember: Be kind, useful and fun, too.

Don’t Forget Early Stage PR

Many startups believe that marketing is just about paid advertising, or great online initiatives like SEO. But they forget that actual communications play a big role in marketing, that’s why you should try to focus on PR since the beginning too.

“Public relations … is a form of marketing that focuses more on the relationship of the entire company and the people including their staff and the community. This means public relations is more focused on developing the public figure of the company.”

PR can be a very powerful tool to support your marketing campaigns. Consider media outreach and submit pitches to targeted TV programs, radio stations, magazines, newspapers, websites and blogs that report on your industry. See if they are interested in sharing your brand, business or products with their audience.

This article has been edited and condensed.

Maria Rosaria Di Lecce is a Marketing Manager at Equidam, a Rotterdam-based business, leader in the business valuation technology for small and medium companies. Connect with @Equidamtweets on Twitter.

© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.