I’ve read piles of articles offering tips for starting a new business. But they mostly seem to provide only high-level recommendations. Only a few spell out the concrete things you need to do to create great marketing.  

Before the virtual front doors opened to my new business (ahem, Digitile), I realized that there was a metric ton of work needed to market my baby.  

New businesses across the globe are tasked with common marketing objectives. Drive awareness first, then move prospects through the buying journey. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Despite my vast marketing experience, I realized I haven’t worn every hat, let alone all piled on my head at once.  

For instance, I’m an email deliverability expert, but I’ve never written and designed an email nurture campaign. Before I started Googling “modern responsive design email marketing templates” I spent a goodly chunk of time researching best practices writing email subject lines and landing page headlines. So much to learn, so little time…

As an early-stage startup, one of my goals is to share Digitile’s story to simplify the road for others considering starting a new business.

First, above-average marketing is a connected, customer-centric experience. But what exactly is a connected, customer-centric experience?  

We live in a one-click society. Social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are mainstream. This means businesses really need to be comprehensive with their digital marketing strategy. It’s important to leverage data between these channels to personalize and tailor marketing assets to customers.

To develop the right messaging you have to put yourself in the shoes of buyers and users. I’ve outlined how to systematically empathize with the consumer in Things you Need to Know to Market a New Business.

Relatable Marketing

If you’ve started a business, you’re likely in your own target market. Here’s an easy exercise to help you develop a content strategy to find the type of content you need to engage your audience and the whens, wheres, and how-oftens. Identify a few people in your target market to complete the following matrix.

Table Legend:

• Content-Type – Standard content type for the social channel.
• Content-Length – Length of content your audience is willing to digest and invest time with. For example, I’m willing to invest more time reading a longer article on LinkedIn than on Facebook.  
• Device – Where your audience accesses the social channel. This helps you think through asset design requirements.
• Time of Day – How often your customer accesses the channel. This will help you think about when to launch campaigns.
• Frequency – How many times a day or week they access the social channel. This will help you gain a sense for how often your content has the chance to be seen by your customers.

After you finish this exercise, use it as your content strategy guide. The matrix offers insight into the type of content you need to capture your audience’s attention, where they’re likely to view your content, and when. Ultimately, the content strategy framework will help you prioritize and focus your marketing activities with a streamlined purpose.

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