11 Digital Marketing Strategies for Startups in 2020

Here's a list of 11 proven digital marketing strategies for your small business or startup in 2020. Increase your digital footprint for success!
develop small business startup strategy baton rouge
Table of Contents

Here’s a list of proven methods to increase your reach online

The early stages of your startup’s life can be the toughest. 

You have your business plan, your investment capital, your unique sales proposition, and a whole lot of desire to succeed.

The more you try to reach your business goals, the more you get bombarded from all directions. There are budgets to manage, finances and checkbooks to balance, and deadlines to reach.

The good news is that it’s becoming increasingly easier to turn your dream of owning a successful startup into a reality.

You see, almost everyone in the world has access to the internet, and your target market can be as big as you want it to be. As big as you can dream if you will.

If you do your marketing correctly, your startup will flourish, and you will become well-known among other small businesses in your niche. 

Building a digital presence for your startup is more than a necessity in 2020—it’s a strategic move to solidify your place in the competitive market. With a plethora of options available, it’s crucial to select the right mix of strategies that align with your startup’s vision and customer base.”

And now, here’s a list of startup marketing tools and techniques you can start using right now.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is leveraging the power of social media channels to promote your products or services and typically involves creating and sharing content on social media networks like:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Creating and sharing content through these social media channels (and there are hundreds more not listed) helps you reach your company’s social media marketing and branding goals.

You can jumpstart your startup’s online footprint by simply creating profiles for your business on these (and other) social media platforms. 

Creating these social media profiles is the first step that you can take in your digital marketing efforts to begin to build brand trust and influence with your target audience.

A solid strategy for your startup should consist of:

  • Setting goals
  • Researching your audience
  • Studying your competition
  • Creating content to market your products or services.

Content Marketing

The next tool in your startup’s digital marketing toolbox is content marketing. Content marketing is a strategic digital marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to a target audience online.

Unfortunately, according to our recent survey, only 16% of respondents said they allocated a budget to content marketing, with an average of 4% of the total marketing budget.

Every business needs to use content marketing to build a base of potential clients and customers. If you’re too busy to create your own content, consider using a web design agency or professional content marketer.

Don’t waste time writing content for competitive keywords. Shoot for the low-hanging fruit. Long-tail keywords with higher volume and lower competition.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

blaksheep creative seo startup agency in denham springs louisiana
blaksheep creative seo startup agency in denham springs louisiana

Search Engine Optimization is the discipline of using strategies, techniques, and tactics to increase the number of visitors to your website (web traffic).


SEO helps your digital marketing efforts by earning you a higher ranking on search engine results pages (SERPS) such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.

Ranking higher in the SERPS increases the likelihood that users will click on your website when searching for keywords related to your business and helps them realize that your startup is reputable and that they should give you their business.

Consider hiring an SEO specialist like BlakSheep Creative to help you with both your on and off-page SEO.

Keyword SEO is vital!

According to a recent study on click-through rates  by Backlinko.com, The #1 organic result is 10x more likely to receive a click than a page in the #10 spot.

Can you see high importance for your startup’s website to rank higher on search engine results pages? 

Pay-per-click marketing (PPC) – Google Adwords

PPC (or pay-per-click) advertising is a method of internet marketing whereby advertisers are paid a sum of money each time their ad is clicked.

This marketing strategy can help your startup generate quick revenue and can drive targeted web traffic through the placement of keywords in the Google Ads area.

PPC marketing is typically best used as a short marketing campaign spanning a few months.

When incorporating PPC into your marketing plan, you should analyze the effectiveness of each campaign and adjust keyword placements and budget allocation to maximize your investment.

You’ll also want to consider hiring a professional copywriter to make sure that your ad copy is well-written and poised to give you results.

Influencer Marketing 

influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers (individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche).

This form of digital marketing is highly successful because of the trust that influencers have built up with their following. Recommendations from them serve as social proof to a brand’s potential customers. (a modern-day equivalent of Michael Jordan wearing Nikes).

Let’s make it personal. 

Think about your industry and, chances are one or two names or people associated with your niche come to mind.

Chances are, those people would qualify as influencers.

Social media revolves around influencers. 

Anyone with a blog, YouTube channel, or Instagram account can rise from obscurity to fame almost overnight, with their posts reaching a global audience.

Remember the “Meet Me Outside,” girl?

What makes influencer marketing so successful is that it uses word-of-mouth to help you build a trusted brand. If their favorite influencer supports your startup, then they should as well, right?

Viral Marketing

Viral Marketing generates interest and (hopefully) sales of a brand or product via messages that spread like a virus (quickly and from person to person).

young boy pouring ice water for ice bucket challenge
young boy pouring ice water for ice bucket challenge

Think of it as influencer marketing on a micro-scale.

Each person who shares information is an influencer within their particular circle of friends. 

They share a message, then their followers share it, and on and on.

Viral marketing is not just limited to silly memes or quizzes on Facebook. 

Here are some other immensely successful viral campaigns:

  • The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
  • IHOP becoming IHOB
  • That Gold Dress (or was it blue?)
  • Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself

Web analytics

Web analytics is a must for any startup that intends to analyze, measure, and report its website data to understand visitor behavior and optimize pages to increase its conversion rate.

As a startup owner, simply by connecting a web analytics tool to your website, you can gain insight into your website’s visitors, where they are from, what device they’re viewing from, the time they spent on your site’s pages, and more.

This process of gathering and analyzing visitor data is known as web analytics and is an easy way to understand trends and measure the success of your marketing efforts.

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is the process of using the internet to promote your business.  

Websites are essentially billboards that carry advertisements for your company.

There are various methods you can use to deliver your business messages and advertisements, such as:

  • Web and Search Engine paid advertisements
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media Advertisements
  • Mobile App Advertisements
  • Affiliate Programs
  • Other Marketing Channels in the digital media space

Voice Search Optimization

Whether people are using Siri or Amazon Alexa, people are using their voice to search for information online. 

Because digital marketing is always evolving, it requires precision and a fool-proof strategy.  Don’t believe us?  Read our digital trends to look out for in 2021 to see.. Ever since Google’s Hummingbird Update, voice search has become more widely enhanced and intelligent.

Results can be more intricate because the algorithm now uses contextual data from the user’s voice and then displays it on the screen as search results.

It’s so important that we recently wrote a blog post on how to optimize your website content for voice searches.

Video Search Optimization

Your startup’s message is more than just words. Just like no one likes to read a magazine with no pictures, no one online wants to see a webpage full of only text.

Pictures and motion graphic videos are what make your website more appealing to your audience.

Adding videos to your website helps your startup grow in two separate ways:

Videos add appeal to your audience, lowering your bounce rate (visiting and immediately leaving your page).

Videos with keyword-rich titles and descriptions help boost your SEO efforts.

If you already have videos on YouTube, Vimeo, or some other video search engine, then make sure to optimize them with relevant descriptions, titles, and keywords to get the maximum benefits for your new business.

chatbot for startup digital strategy concept vector
chatbot for startup digital strategy concept vector

Chatbots and Beyond

Communicating by voice has gone the way of the dinosaur. People prefer to gather their information online, by their phone, or via email. 

Chatbots are great for your website and are actually one of our top digital marketing trends to look out for in 2021.

They give your visitors a way to ask questions, get more details, or get help directly from your website — at little to no cost to you.

We understand that money is tight at the beginning of a startup. You probably have a hard enough time keeping the lights on, let alone hiring support staff, or a secretary to field phone calls and answer emails requesting information about your product or services.

Enter the Chatbot.

Chances are you’ve encountered one and didn’t already know it. 

Have you ever visited a website, and a box popped up, asking if you needed any help?  

Or, have you ever visited a website for customer support and answered questions via a popup?

Bet you they were a chatbot.

What makes chatbots so appealing is that:

  • They’re cheap (often free)
  • They make your site seem more interactive
  • They can be preprogrammed to answer common questions

Conclusion:

Building a successful startup can seem like an uphill battle. You have to fight to beat your competition every day. The competition may be fierce, but the rewards are great! 

However, if you learn and apply these proven digital marketing strategies, you can become a victor!

Need help trying to wrap your head around this? Before you hire an overpriced and under-qualified local SEO company or an unskilled design agency, contact us, and we can help explain and determine how we can help you smash your goals.

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General Information

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Clint Sanchez

Clint Sanchez

Clint Sanchez excels as the Chief of Information and Technology at the Baton Rouge Fire Department and as a digital marketer at BlakSheep Creative. With over two decades in public service, he expertly manages technological infrastructures while also applying his creative skills in web, graphic design, and video at BlakSheep. His dual role demonstrates a unique blend of technical acumen and creative innovation.
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