5 Digital marketing strategies for Qatar start-ups

Do you know which digital marketing strategies you should adopt to boost the visibility of your start-up? Okay first things first. What is digital Marketing?
In a layman’s language: Digital marketing involves educating your customers and target audience on the value of your product or service through the use of channels that have a digital foundation such as Web sites, Social media platforms, Banner placement, email marketing, mobile marketing, SEO, pay per click campaigns, Web TV, SMS, billboards etc.
Most people confuse digital marketing and internet marketing-internet marketing is simply a section of digital marketing.
At least 70% of Qatar start-up companies have embraced digital marketing strategies although not all of them have worked. Some have been a hit while others have been a big miss and that’s why we’re going to share with you 5 reliable digital strategies you can use to successfully get your name into the marketplace.

Social media marketing

As stale as it may sound, social media marketing within Qatar is still a powerful marketing tool.
By narrowing down on which social media channels your target audience is in, you can increase your start-up’s exposure by actively engaging in these channels.
Social media marketing will also improve search ranking and generate leads, establish thought leadership, develop loyal customers because individuals interested in your offering will like or follow you.

Search Engine Optimization

Today’s consumers are more aware of what they deserve. Most if not all, conduct online searches before purchasing a product or service. Therefore, generating content, either on social media or your website that uses relevant key words will help you appear among the top in search results. Consumers are also on a lookout for education. Thus, as a company, you should heavily invest in generating educative content. Always aim at sharing new insightful content rather than constantly promoting your product.

Influencer marketing

How many times have you purchased something simply because somebody you know or look up to or follow on social media purchased the same item or service and made a positive comment about it?
Influencer marketing is not only cheap, but can be very effective if well executed. This is because the word-of-mouth aspect of influencer marketing builds trust for your brand, and, customers will engage with your brand because of the authenticity of influencers!

Content Marketing

Content is king! You better make that your mantra moving forward…
Why is content marketing still considered effective?
When you map your content strategy to follow the different stages of your buyer’s journey, you create useful content that your target audience will love to read since it will solve their problems. This eventually builds trust and,

  • Increases conversion rates.
  • Increase visibility for your brand
  • Builds lasting relationships with your customers
  • Boosts brand awareness and brand recognition
  • Builds credibility and authority
  • Creates thought leadership
With time, content marketing will also contributes to your organic SEO.

Email Marketing

Again email marketing is another channel that grants you enough space to continuously reach, interact with and educate your target audience on the value of your product or service. Through email marketing, you can track the open, bounce, and click through rate of your campaign. But, to ensure that your emails are read,

  • You should use short, catchy, engaging, and benefit-rich subject lines
  • Optimize your emails for mobile devices (most people read emails on their mobiles)
  • Use persuasive language that’s straight to the point
  • Break up text so that it’s easy to scan through

Although we feel that the above mentioned channels are great to start with, we understand that all start-ups have different needs and what will work for one business may not work for the other. Therefore, it is recommended that you keep exploring until you find what’s perfect for your business.

The most important thing is to understand that:

At the beginning, nobody will know who you are, why you exist, or why they would ever want your products/services. So the very first thing you need to do, before promotion, is to actually figure out what people want! That sounds trite and simplistic, but it saves a lot of headaches and assumptions.

You need to make sure there’s a viable market out there before you launch your start-up because, that’s the market that will hold your business and springboard you to success.There’s no shortage of techniques to try here. But it’s important that you figure out how to satisfy your potential customers first. Then hopefully they’ll be more inclined to give you access to their eyeballs, which might earn you your initial customers.

Happy Reading!