Organic marketing offers a powerful opportunity for start-ups. Learn some of the advantages and key strategies of these techniques.
Launching a start-up should be a time full of excitement. You’ve poured thousands of working hours into your venture and are about to take the plunge, after all. Do your idea justice by investing in organic marketing strategies that will take your company to the next level. That doesn’t mean expensive billboards or full-on commercials, either. Quite the opposite, actually!
At its core, organic marketing is all about naturally attracting prospects to your digital storefront before ultimately converting them to paying customers. It’s both less obtrusive and more effective than traditional marketing. Some examples of organic marketing include blog content, email marketing, social media engagement, and search engine optimization (SEO).
As a whole, organic marketing strategies are key to developing an effective brand image and growing a sustainable business. For start-up companies in particular, organic marketing strategies are critical to attracting your target audience.
Let’s dive into the ins and outs of organic marketing—and how these strategies can set start-ups of all shapes and sizes up for success.
Organic vs. Paid Marketing: What is the Difference?
The two main types of marketing are organic and paid. Though both types can have the same end goal (boost traffic, conversions, and revenue), they take drastically different routes to get there.
Organic marketing uses techniques that naturally attract prospects while paid marketing pays for traffic.
Even if these terms are new to you, we promise you’re already familiar with the concept. Just picture Google’s homepage. As you peruse the search results, some are marked with the bolded word ‘Ad’ on the left side. This indicates that that website has paid for its spot on the search engine results page (SERP).
Whereas the other results on the SERP have earned their place through organic marketing. That means Google has deemed its content relevant and useful to your specific query.
Organic Marketing
Organic marketing attracts traffic to a website without paying for ads.
By crafting content that directly answers consumer questions combined with thoughtful SEO, these techniques position your site at the top of the SERP at a much lower cost than paid advertisements.
The key tenets of organic marketing lie in educating and engaging your target audience.
Whether in a blog post or your social media presence, all of your content should appeal to customers’ pain points while establishing your brand voice and positioning your brand as the solution.
Paid Marketing
Paid marketing—also referred to as outbound marketing—attracts traffic to a site through paid advertising.
Whether on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, banner ads, or sponsored posts, these types of cost-per-click advertising will generate traffic, but it’s a numbers game, so the traffic may not always be as targeted as you need to convert prospects into customers.
While paid marketing techniques can give you a huge boost in views, the numbers might not last without some intentional retargeting and a strategic plan behind the content.
To truly form a loyal customer base and reputable brand image, paid marketing can’t stand alone.
Which Is Better?
As you gain your footing as a start-up, you might wonder what type of marketing team to build.
Do you look for candidates with experience running Facebook Ads or those who have a portfolio of content writing? In the long run, both types of marketing can support business growth. However, alone, effective paid marketing may just be a pipe dream.
That’s because consumers have lost trust in paid advertisements. After years of annoying pop-ups and slow-loading banners that disrupt the flow of web browsing, it’s only logical for them to be fed up.
On the other hand, organic marketing is the beating heart of customer acquisition.
When you position a strong organic strategy at the core of your marketing campaign, you can sprinkle in some paid advertisements here and there to boost your reach. Focusing on organic growth will ensure that you attract quality prospects to your website, not just views for the sake of views.
Advantages of Organic Marketing for Start-Up Companies
It may seem like established companies have overflowing budgets to spend on marketing campaigns.
But, while finding capital may be more of a struggle for a start-up, there are clear advantages new entrepreneurs have in organic marketing.
That’s because what a start-up may lack in spending power, they make up for in hustle, creativity, and responsiveness. With the right attitude and strategy, humble beginnings and an unwavering spirit can give anyone an edge in the organic marketing game.
Leverage Your Personality
Though they might be more recognizable, corporations can often come across as robotic and inhuman.
In contrast, start-ups usually have a well-developed brand persona.
Thanks to the ground-floor nature of a start-up team, it’s easier to keep a cohesive and engaging brand voice. This charisma is a huge advantage when it comes to organic marketing because it’s all about nurturing real relationships with your customer base. Whether it comes through in your blog or through social media posts, a more personable brand voice is easier for consumers to connect with.
An effective brand persona will build a relationship with your target audience, which is foundational for developing brand loyalty. Additionally, people find it easier to root for an underdog, so don’t be afraid to play up your small business aesthetic.
Responsiveness
By definition, organic implies a living organism, and that’s precisely how any organic marketing campaign should act.
Responsive and alive, organic marketing is very adaptable to new strategies (just like your start-up company!).
Larger corporations will have more trouble pivoting to a new marketing campaign once they hit a roadblock. They will have to pass a message through several checkpoints before publishing anything.
The agility of a startup, however, frees you to take full advantage of market fluctuations or changes in search engine algorithms. It also allows you to respond quickly to current events or major industry shifts. Simply put, start-ups aren’t bogged down by bureaucracy!
Sustainable
Finally, organic marketing offers advantages to start-ups because of its accessibility and sustainability.
Best of all, you can deploy organic marketing techniques regardless of your cash flow. Posting on your socials, perfecting your SEO, and publishing content on your websites only cost the price of the software and expertise.
While they may seem slow to grow, effective organic marketing always pays off. It positions your business as a trustworthy industry expert without burning capital or resources.
In fact, with the right linking and content strategy, every piece acts as a new foundation to build upon. These techniques allow you to be self-sufficient and the earnings from organic marketing aren’t diminished by the expensive investment of paid advertisements.
Organic Marketing Strategies for Start-Up Companies
You’ve got a lot on your plate running a start-up, but that doesn’t mean you should leave the marketing to chance.
Even if you have the most incredible product or offer a revolutionary service, postponing your marketing strategy will only further delay the adoption and growth that your company needs to make the cut.
With limited funds, some start-ups make the mistake of putting marketing on the back burner. But, as mentioned, organic marketing doesn’t carry the price tag of paid advertisements. If you need some help finding a place to start, use these organic marketing strategies to start naturally scaling your start-up.
Develop a Long-Term Organic Marketing Content Vision
There aren’t shortcuts to sustainable growth. When you’re in the trenches trying to launch your start-up, it’s hard to envision it five years down the line.
But a long-term marketing strategy is critical to your business’s longevity.
Here are a few crucial tips for achieving success with your organic marketing strategy:
- Organize content with the pillar-cluster model to make your information logical for both consumers and search engine crawlers.
- Focus on ranking for lower-difficulty keywords (KD). Ranking for high-difficulty keywords is a hard space to break into. Start with long-tail keywords that are more relevant to your specific niche and better reveal search intent and will be more likely to achieve getting on the first page of Google search results.
- Publish quality content, consistently.
According to Semrush’s State of Content Marketing, two tactics that helped content advance in the SERP rankings included improving content quality and posting new blog content on your website consistently.
Experimentation & Adaptability
Find ways to add something new to the industry.
If you peruse the blogs of your established competitors, you’ll likely find rather stale content. Here’s where your creativity can come into play. Often, customer acquisition might not be the priority for bigger players, and they become complacent in their approach to inbound marketing.
This is where you can soar ahead. Conduct in-depth market research to get to know your target audience. This will help you shape your content according to your consumers’ needs, rather than just getting lost in the void.
Most importantly of all, start-ups enjoy the unique freedom to adapt at a moment’s notice and try new things on a dime. Take advantage of it and keep the experimentation process alive!
Network & Community
Start-ups have people power, and we mean that in two ways.
You have a staff of amazing hustlers and you have a relatable brand persona that your audience can connect to. Use this power to leverage your network and community through organic marketing.
For starters, guest posts are an incredibly powerful organic marketing tool. You can leverage your relationships with industry players to grow your reach. When considering who to reach out to, think about who your audience follows. If your target demographic includes Gen Z and Millenial women interested in wellness, partner with brands and influencers that offer health and fitness tips.
Don’t limit your interactions to collaborators, though. Communicating directly with your audience makes them feel valued and ultimately builds brand loyalty. That entails responding to comments on your blogs and interacting with followers on social media. Even if you start small, nurturing your community will pay off in the long run.
Dos and Don'ts for Start-Up Companies
Marketing your startup is how your gain traction and start growing your business.
While every marketing strategy looks a little different, here are some key dos and don’ts to follow when developing your start-up’s marketing and sales strategy.
- DO look for spending opportunities with a real ROI. Though there is truth to the old adage “You have to spend money to make money”, it does come with some caveats. For instance, your investment opportunities must give your business a chance at real conversions. Free marketing tactics like organic marketing attract quality prospects to your website by offering valuable and engaging content. Word-of-mouth recommendations and organic landing page clicks are not only free, but they are some of the most effective advertising tactics.
- DO embrace differentiation. Whether it’s your internal structure or brand persona, find the quality that makes you stand out from your competitors. It doesn’t have to be a crazy innovation, just embrace what makes your start-up different.
- DO set short and long-term goals. Be realistic about what you can achieve and take it one step at a time. Your marketing goals should be simple, measurable, and achievable.
- DON’T let your ego get in the way of success. Sometimes pride gets in the way of acknowledging when a particular strategy isn’t working out. Notice your marketing mistakes quickly and course-correct. Successful start-ups fail—embrace the flexibility of organic marketing and fail forward.
- DON’T overextend your budget on paid advertising. Treat paid marketing opportunities as a way to enhance the reach of your organic marketing tactics.
Partner With WriteForMe to Plan Your Organic Marketing Strategy
Organic marketing strategies are an extremely effective way for start-up companies to accelerate their growth. Not only will they save you money in the short term, but it also lays the foundation for successful business longevity.
Organic marketing strategies feed your garden of marketing techniques with fertile soil. Grab this low-hanging fruit to grow your business.
Contact WriteForMe today to request your complimentary, no-obligation customized Content Marketing Playbook.
Share your business story today!
Check out the WriteForMe podcast and Youtube channel to learn about exciting business stories from business owners around the globe slaying it every day!
Reach out to us for a guest spot opportunity to share your business story too.
Be our guest on the Business Ninjas podcast!