For people to know about your startup and what it offers, you will have to market it. Marketing is very essential for attracting customers.

Nothing determines the growth of a business than the number of customers it is able to attract. A startup is more concerned about its growth than any other type of business. Therefore, startups require to do extra in marketing to ensure that they hit their targets.

Commonly, a startup will find it hard to attract customers since it is yet to create a brand name for itself and people are yet to even know it exists. For big companies, marketing is easier since they already have a name and customers know them for their products or services. For a startup, you will require to do more to get to that level.

Below is a simple guide on how you should go about marketing your startup:

• Email marketing

You do not need much to send out emails. You only require a smartphone or computer, an email address and internet connectivity. The only cost you may incur is subscribing for internet services.

However, to send out emails, you will need to get the email address of prospective customers. One way of collecting email addresses is by creating a website for your startup and coming up with something like newsletters that require people to sign up. Then anyone who signs up shows they are interested in your services or products.

When sending out the emails, you should try and personalize them as much as possible. You can do this by addressing the customers by their names.

Also, you will need to diversify the emails. Do not send out too many advertising emails. You can spice them up with user guides, newsletters and even links to videos.

• Blogging

Another thing that can really attract customers is a blog. Blogging creates a lot of exposure for your startup. Businesses that run a blog have been found to attract over 100% more customers compared to those that don’t run blogs.

To maximize the traffic to your blog, you can use Search engine optimization (SEO) and also ensure that you post what your customers would love to hear. With the right content and SEO, the blog will rank high in searches; meaning anybody who searches will have a higher chance of click the link and thus end up getting more traffic.

• Paid search advertising

With the paid search, you will be guaranteed that your adverts will appear where you want them to appear and even hit the targeted customers. You can use Google AdWords or Bing As which are keyword based and charge per click, so when the ad is clicked you are charged (Cost-per-Click).

However PPC (pay-per-click) can be expensive. You might not make enough revenue from the campaigns fast enough to recover from your campaigns and might end up bleeding from your Ad spend

• Social media posting

Over 2 billion people use social media today and that gives you a great chance of making your startup known to a majority of them.

Some social media channels like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter have even provided devised ways to ensure businesses get as much traffic as possible by introducing paid exposure and traffic.

However, it takes more than opening a social media account. You will have to post interesting and thought-provoking content that will attract customers and also respond to their feedback to ensure that you are able to keep them.

• Sponsoring events

Sponsoring local events helps in making your startup known within your locality. You can contribute a little amount of money for the events and request the organizers to allow you to put up posters, signs or banners about your startup.

You can also give out coupons with your contact and logo on them.