For many entrepreneurs, going digital is often the best and cost-effective way to promote their startup.

For one, it is more affordable to place social media ads than have a billboard. Second, you can measure how many views and conversions your online marketing campaign made. Third, digital marketing allows you to target people who are interested in your products or services.

This goes to show that online marketing evens the playing field between a startup and an enterprise. The only caveat is that getting results takes time.

But if you want to gain marketing momentum, here are six steps you should follow to build a digital marketing strategy on a budget:

Step 1: Identify Your Marketing Goals

Marketing allows you to scale a business. However, figuring out what actions you need to take if you do not have goals can be challenging.

As such, it is vital to identify your marketing goals first before you run any campaign. The most common type of marketing goals are:

• Conversion or generating sales.
• Leads or accumulating sign-ups.
• Awareness or letting people know that your startup exists.
• Retention or ensuring that your users will not jump ship.

Identifying your marketing goals will make it easier for you to move backward and determine what steps you should take.

Step 2: Collect All Data

Gathering data about your target market and competitors informs you where your business stands.

If your target users are professional female millennials, data can help you make many informed decisions. This includes knowing how your services can help them and how you can make them aware of your startup.

Meanwhile, data also gives you an insight into your competitors. It lets you know what makes your business unique and what marketing approach they implement. That way, you can emulate what works and improve upon what is not.

Step 3: Determine Your KPIs

As mentioned earlier, digital marketing allows you to measure the success of your campaign. But how would you measure it?

Enter: Key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs are numerical metrics that you need to track to measure the progress of your campaigns. So, if your marketing goal is to drive conversions to your startup, your KPI can be the number of paid users you get every week.

But keep in mind that KPIs are numerical. Meaning, you should put a number and timeline for it. For example: 100 paid users per week.

In case you do not know what number you should target, we suggest setting a baseline of at least two weeks.

Step 4: Develop Your Content

Now that you know your marketing goals and how you should approach your target market, it is time to craft your content.

However, keep in mind that content is not limited to blog posts. Content also includes YouTube and TikTok videos, social media images, and your online ads.

If your goal is to build awareness for your startup, perhaps publishing blogs posts and guest posts are what you need to do. But if you want to generate conversions, you will need to run an online ad campaign.

The key here is to determine which content format can give you the results you need.

Step 5: Set Your Parameters

The beauty of digital marketing is that you can launch multiple campaigns to achieve a goal. For example, you can run online ads, social media ads, and guest posting to attract leads to your startup.

But how would you know where the leads came from? This is where parameters come in.

The most common way to set up your parameter is to use Google’s Campaign URL Builder. All you need to do is copy and paste your sign up link and set the following:

• Campaign Source (e.g., online ads or guest post)
• Campaign Medium (e.g., social media, PPC, website name)
• Campaign Name (e.g., lead generation for Spring 2021)

These parameters will be visible on your web analytics data. As such, you can measure which tactics are bringing you the most leads.

Step 6: Measure Your Campaign

Why is it important to measure your campaign? Because you need to know whether it allows you to reach your marketing goal.

This also explains why you need to identify your KPIs and set your parameters. As cliche as it sounds, you cannot fix what you cannot measure.

If you do not measure your campaigns, you will never know if you are investing your money in the right place. And knowing whether your marketing campaigns are bringing in sales can be challenging.

Simply put, measuring your campaigns for desirable results allows you to decide whether it makes sense to go on with it. Otherwise, you can pull the plug on your campaign or tweak it.

Let Digital Marketing Bring Traffic to Your Startup

There are various digital marketing tactics that you can implement to promote your startup. And you do not even have to pay a dollar to make it happen! If anything, it will not cost you an arm and a leg.

It can be blog posting and guest posting, social media ads, influencer marketing, or email marketing.

As such, we suggest that you experiment with one strategy at a time. That way, you can determine which campaigns are giving your startup the best results.

But remember: Make sure that your campaign and the KPIs you want to measure align with your goals. That way, you can gauge whether the tactics you are implementing are bringing in desirable results.