If you’re trying to start a business in 2018, one fact is certain: you need digital marketing.

69% of Americans hit the net several times per day. That includes 26% who say they’re more or less online during all their waking hours. Why not capitalize on these habits by spreading the word about your business online?

While most entrepreneurs realize this, far fewer know how to do digital marketing well. That’s where we come in. These tips on digital marketing for startups can help you get started.

Digital Marketing for Startups: 7 Tips

The great news for startups is that effective digital marketing doesn’t require the budget of a large, established corporation. Here’s how to can get the digital attention you need.

1. High Quality Doesn’t Demand a High Budget…Sort Of

The first rule of digital marketing is to have a great website. After all, most of your online marketing will aim to drive traffic to your site. When users get there, your site’s job is to convert them to customers.

Too many startups assume they’ll need to pay tens of thousands of dollars for an effective site. That’s not always the case.

The key is to make sure your site looks professional and has a great call-to-action. You can get that on a small budget if you stick with a simple site design with fewer pages.

Overall, if you have a small budget, go for a simple site designed by a professional rather than a complex site designed by a half-rate amateur.

2. Land In Their Inboxes

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective types of marketing around. You can subscribe to a low-cost emailing platform, which makes your e-blasts easy to design.

There are two key elements to a great email marketing campaign: a great email list and a strong call-to-action. You should start building your email list right away and focus on qualified leads like past customers.

It’s easy to add an email sign-up form on your website as well, so don’t miss that step.

3. Lay the Bricks of Branding Early

The sooner start working on your branding, the stronger your brand will be. You need to build those strong associations from the beginning to make a name for your business.

Your digital marketing is an easy and important place to incorporate your brand. Stick to your signature color scheme and visual elements. Don’t forget to keep your brand in mind as you create written content as well.

4. Topping Those Search Engines

Google sees an estimated 3.5 billion searches per day. How many of those searches will have your site on the first page?

Probably zero unless you start working on your search engine optimization or SEO. A large part of SEO is finding the main keywords you want to focus on and incorporating them into your content.

Along those same lines, search engine marketing or SEM is a must. This includes paid search engine ads like Google Ads. To many startups’ joy, you can create ad campaigns at any budget and adjust them with ease.

5. Venture Outside Your Own Site

While many aspects of SEO focus on your own site, you should practice some off-page SEO as well. The most important way to do this is with link-building.

Link-building means getting other sites to link to your site. For instance, you could reach out to a fellow entrepreneur and offer a quid-pro-quo. They post a blog that links to your site and you do the same for their site.

You can also offer to write guest posts for other sites and include a link to your site. Regardless, those backlinks will give your site more credibility in Google’s eyes.

6. Don’t Skimp on Content

We’ve talked about the role content marketing plays in SEO, but in today’s world, it goes much farther. With the amount of time people spend online, they’re using the web to look for all manner of information.

If you’re posting high-quality content on topics people want to read about, it’s a great way to drive web traffic.

Quality is crucial though because the internet is flooded with content. Readers today and discerning and will close a site if the content isn’t helpful or engaging enough.

Of all the steps you take in digital marketing, content creation may be the most far-reaching. It helps your SEO, brings in traffic, gives you more opportunities to rank on Google searches, and gives you something to share on social media.

7. Hop Onto the Video Marketing Bandwagon

Unless this is the first marketing article you’ve read, you already know how important video marketing is. Videos get higher priority on social media. They’re also engaging for viewers of all ages.

There are a few different types of videos you should be creating. Pre-filmed YouTube videos are great for showcasing your knowledge and letting customers get to know you. They also let you reach the massive audience that’s already on YouTube.

The other essential video marketing tactic is using live videos like Instagram live. For instance, Facebook Live videos get top priority on your followers’ newsfeeds. The casual medium is a great way to give customers a glimpse into your business and share the latest news.

Making the Most of Digital Marketing

The digital marketing for startups tips above can help any startup breathe life into their digital marketing efforts or get them off the ground. However, there’s one more important tip: each piece should fit together.

When you post a video on YouTube, you should promote it in your email marketing and social media as well as on your website. The same is true for blog content. Integrating all your digital marketing strategies together will make each of them more effective.

For more great tips to build your dream and make your startup successful, check out more blog posts for startup tips.