Digital marketing creates equal opportunities for all startups. It gives smaller companies the same tools as their bigger competitors, so it doesn’t matter if you have a small budget or a lean team provided that you have the right strategy. Using digital marketing, you get the chance to reach potential customers at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.
Now, let’s see how digital marketing can benefit your company. Here’s what it does.
Digital marketing helps startups access customers beyond their immediate location. You can reach the right people regardless of geography through paid advertising or SEO. For example, you can create region-specific ad campaigns that cater to cultural nuances. A SaaS startup might use localization strategies, such as translating their website and ads into multiple languages.
Traditional advertising often casts a wide net which results in wasted resources on uninterested audiences. Digital marketing helps eliminate this inefficiency. It allows you to focus on your most relevant target audience. Paid advertising like LinkedIn ads lets you target ads based on location, job experience, education, or even company growth rate.
Strategies like email marketing and content marketing offer you ways to capture and nurture leads at a cheaper cost. You can, for example, use pop-up forms to capture leads on your blog, then target these leads with automated email campaigns. Over time, they’ll receive personalized content, and these nurture campaigns will hopefully convert them into paying customers.
Unlike traditional marketing methods, digital marketing offers immediate feedback, meaning that it allows for tracking different metrics for each strategy. For example, you can track email marketing metrics such as click-through rate, open rate, conversion rate, or bounce rate. When you run Google ads, you’ll view metrics like clicks, average cost per click, impressions, cost per conversion, and many others. This data will help you know which strategy is working and which isn’t.
These were the main benefits of digital marketing for startups. Now, let’s review some of the most effective digital marketing strategies most fitting for businesses that are just taking off.
While there is a wide array of digital marketing strategies at hand these days, some usually work better for startups than others. Here’s what we recommend you to consider.
Email marketing is a direct way to connect with your audience. There’s no algorithm that will interfere with your reach so your message is almost guaranteed to reach your audience’s inbox. It’s “almost” because 16.9% of all emails remain undelivered or get filtered out by spam filters. Nonetheless, email is still the best way to communicate with your audience in terms of reach.
That’s why 59% of marketers have rated email the #1 channel for generating leads, admitting it was more effective than PPC, SEO, and organic social media combined. Here’s how you can get started with email marketing for your startup.
Start by collecting emails from people genuinely interested in your product or content using pop-up forms or embedded forms. You can use lead magnets like free guides or special discounts to encourage signups. In most cases people won’t mind giving you their email address in exchange for a discount or a well-researched report.
You can create these pop-ups from scratch and customize the color, design, and fonts to your liking. But you can also use Selzy’s sign-up form templates to save time:
Not all subscribers are the same. So, segment your list based on demographics, behavior, stage of the customer journey, and other parameters to make your messages more personalized and relevant. For instance, Selzy’s segmentation tool allows you to organize your audience according to 70+ customer segmentation criteria:
Next, create visually appealing emails that are on brand to make your messages instantly recognizable. Even if you’re not a designer you can use our templates as a starting point. You can also create your own designs using the drag-and-drop email builder, add CTAs, and generate AI images. Selzy’s AI email assistant can also help you write subject lines, body text, CTAs, and provide feedback on your entire email:
PPC is an advertising model where you are charged each time a user clicks on your ad. It operates through an auction system where advertisers bid on specific keywords relevant to their business. For example, if someone searches for “best CRM software,” ads from companies targeting that keyword will appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs):
The placement of these ads depends on the bid amount, ad quality and landing page experience. And the main advantage of this strategy is that it doesn’t take time to see results. Ads can start generating clicks within hours of launch.
PPC isn’t on Google search alone — you can run such campaigns also on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, and YouTube. Each platform has its own ads campaign manager. You can also experiment with placing ads from the founder’s personal account instead of the business page:
SEO involves optimizing your site for keywords your target audience uses to search online. The more keywords you rank for the more people will see your content and be aware of your brand. SEO and email marketing can also work hand in hand. While SEO brings in traffic, pop-up forms can be used to collect emails. Here are a couple of ways you can start implementing SEO:
Start by identifying keywords relevant to your audience. Use tools like Google keyword planner, Semrush, Ahrefs or SE Ranking to find terms your potential customers are already searching for. Long-tail keywords, which are more specific phrases, often have lower competition. This makes them ideal for startups.
For instance, instead of targeting “marketing software,” you could focus on “affordable marketing tools for small businesses.”
Take note of patterns, such as content type (listicles, guides, or videos) and the topics covered. For example, if most results for “best project management tools” are list-based, your strategy should include a similar format.
There’s nothing new under the sun. The topic you’ll be writing on has been covered by others. So it definitely is difficult to try to be different with SEO. But you can be better. You could cover the subtopics that most of the articles do but with a twist like including real-life examples related to the topic.
This strategy uses influencers to promote a product to a target audience. Over time, influencers have built trust with their audience, so when they promote a product, the endorsement feels authentic since it’s from a trusted source. No wonder 56% of people have purchased a product after seeing it used by an influencer. Here’s an example of a partnership a startup named HockeyStack did with one of the big names in B2B:
But choosing the right influencers might be the biggest challenge with this strategy. There are a ton of influencers each with a different personality and brand image. You can use platforms like Influencity or Upfluence to find influencers that fit your brand.
ABM tailors campaigns specifically to high-value prospects. This strategy involves collaboration between marketing and sales to identify key decision-makers in these high-value accounts and understand their pain points. You can then run outreach campaigns to these accounts through email or LinkedIn.
When you focus on these accounts, you’ll be targeting those who are most likely to convert, which is a great way to optimize spending. Here’s how you can get started with ABM:
You can present your product as highly relevant when you run ABM campaigns tailored to each account’s specific needs. This might increase the likelihood of closing larger deals. And this personalization is the reason why 74% of ABM campaigns drive significant or moderate revenue growth.
Founder-led marketing is exactly what it sounds like, it’s when the founders step up as the faces of the brand, sharing their insights to build connections with customers. It’s not about the corporate-sounding content we see from business pages; it’s personal and all about creating relationships.
Why the shift? We love to read stories from real people. We scroll past posts from company pages so we can read the ones from people we follow and industry experts. Founder-led marketing lets you build trust from the ground up because it’s coming straight from the people who created the brand and believe in it the most.
And the results speak for themselves. Passetto generates $10 million a year because of the founder’s LinkedIn content and podcast. Databox got more than three hundred sign-ups in one month just from the founder and the marketing team posting on LinkedIn.
Individual representation is effective for the same reasons why founder-led marketing is: people love to read content from their peers and real people.
With employee advocacy, the entire team — not just the founders — becomes part of the brand’s voice. Employees share company content, insights, and their own experiences on platforms like LinkedIn. Here’s an example of a BDR from Oyster HR sharing her insights:
Her followers know where she works and that goes a long way to build some brand awareness for the company when she posts consistently. This company-wide involvement in digital marketing is the reason why 65% of companies see an increase in brand recognition after implementing an employee advocacy program.
Here are some recent marketing trends you might want to consider. While not being full-blown strategies, these tactics can help you achieve better results.
With AI, marketers can generate everything from blog outlines and social media captions to email copy, videos and images. AI makes it easier to do certain things that would otherwise consume tons of time. That is why according to SurveyMonkey 56% of marketers say their company is taking an active role in implementing and using AI.
However, AI-generated content isn’t perfect right out of the box. Most marketers use it as a starting point rather than a means to produce a finished product. For example, AI might draft a blog outline or suggest ideas for social media posts, but these outputs still require human oversight for fact-checking, editing, and making the content more on-brand.
On the SEO front, Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) are reshaping how users interact with search results. These AI-powered summaries organize answers into cohesive narratives which can reduce clicks on organic links.
According to HubSpot 2024 state of marketing short-form videos rank number 1 for ROI and is the most used media format by marketers in their content strategies. These videos cater to audiences with shrinking attention spans and an appetite for easily digestible, highly engaging content.
Videos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have fueled this trend. What makes short-form video so effective is its ability to deliver content in a convenient format. For instance, you could use a 30-second video to highlight a product’s key features or share a compelling customer story. According to the report mentioned above, this trend will continue as 56% of marketers using TikTok will increase their investment next year.
According to TikTok, 70% of TikTok users say it’s easy to purchase items via shoppable ads. Viewers no longer need to click a link, navigate to an external website, or go through a multi-step checkout process. Instead, they can interact with the video by tapping on a product to view details or completing a purchase without leaving the platform.
At its core, interactive content thrives on personalization. Formats like quizzes, polls, and augmented reality can help you create personalized experiences for your audience. For example, a fitness startup could use a quiz to recommend workout plans based on the users’ goals. Likewise, an e-commerce furniture store could use AR to allow customers to “try before they buy” with virtual furniture designs. This participatory nature also keeps users engaged longer.
According to data by Mediafly, buyers spend an average of 8.5 minutes viewing static content and 13 minutes viewing interactive content. Also, interactive content sees 52.6% more engagement than static content.
All that said, you have to remember that simply picking the right digital marketing strategies and following relevant trends is not enough. To really make things work, you need a comprehensive strategy. In this section, we’ll explain how you can create a digital marketing plan for your startup step by step.
Knowing your target audience means more than just broadly defining it — it’s about understanding these people’s daily challenges. What problems do they face, and how can your product solve them?
For example, if you’re launching a task management tool, your audience might include freelancers frustrated by disorganized workflows, or small teams looking for collaborative solutions. So you’ll build a detailed profile of these personas to ensure that your marketing efforts resonate with their needs and habits.
The next step is to create specific goals and measurable KPIs that will guide your strategy. Your objective might be to increase website traffic from 10,000 visits per month to 80,000 over a period of 12 months. KPIs you could track include traffic source, sessions, search impressions, bounce rate, time on page, and keyword ranking. This will help you stay focused and also allow you to evaluate whether your tactics are working or not.
Now, it is time to choose the right channel. Being a startup, you might not have the luxury of running campaigns across every available digital marketing channel. Instead, it’s important to focus on the few that make the most sense — that is, channels that align with your target audience and support your specific goals.
For example, if your startup targets B2B tech companies, LinkedIn might be the best channel to connect with your target audience. Or if you have an e-commerce store and your objective is to build brand awareness among amateur athletes, platforms like Instagram or TikTok could be more effective. Later on in this article, we’ll discuss choosing the right channels and strategies in more detail.
Your marketing plan could include a budget that accounts for paid campaigns, content creation, and tools. However, you can start by evaluating free or low-cost channels like organic social media or SEO alongside paid options like PPC ads or sponsored posts.
You’ll have to decide how much of your budget to allocate for experimentation versus proven strategies. Proven strategies are those with a track record of delivering consistent results for your business or industry. For example, if SEO has steadily brought in leads at a low cost over the past year in your industry, it’s likely a proven strategy. Experimental strategies are the not-so-common approaches like Reddit ads. So you might spend 70% on tried-and-tested methods like Google Ads and SEO and 30% on newer channels to explore untapped opportunities.
In content creation, one size doesn’t fit all. Blog posts, for example, are typically optimized for search engines, often targeting keywords. And these posts are usually long-form articles.
On social media, however, users want quick, practical tips and engaging visuals. People on Instagram or X(Twitter) aren’t usually there for longreads — instead, they’re looking for bite-sized advice, compelling images, or concise videos. For example, if your blog covers “5 Ways to Improve Customer Retention,” you could turn it into a thread on X covering the main points only.
Running campaigns isn’t a one-time thing. It involves tracking metrics like engagement rates, click-through rates, and conversions — whatever aligns with your goals. This will help you identify what’s working and what isn’t.
For instance, if you’re running an Instagram ad campaign but notice a high bounce rate on your landing page, it might signal a mismatch between the ad’s message and the page’s content. So you’ll have to adjust accordingly to improve results.
Digital marketing for startups doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. It’s about focusing on what works for your audience and your goals and not trying to run all strategies all at once.
Start by understanding your audience, picking the right channels, and creating content that speaks to them. Then, keep testing and adjusting as you go. You can run strategies like SEO, PPC, email marketing, influencer partnerships, and ABM but it all comes down to how well you meet your audience where they are.
