In this undeniably competitive business climate that startups such as HotWifi has to navigate, it seems that marketing has been of significantly blatant roles. As the COO of an emerging brand, I have been considering a plethora of scientific methods to boost our company’s marketing power in order to attract a wider and more diverse range of potential customers which surely will lead to better and more powerful brand image and brand loyalty.

Crafting a marketing plan is a long, detailed process. You won’t perfect your strategy overnight. But here are four steps that you can take right away.

• Begin with a good strategic position. Define your intended audience and learn where they tend to congregate online.
• Content marketing is key. Brainstorm several kinds of topics about which your staff can be authoritative, then identify which types of content—for example, blogs, white papers, infographics, videos—you are confident in creating.
• A good PR strategy can help you enhance your reputation. Work on your relationship with the local media by reaching out and emphasizing the human interest elements of your business.
• The final ingredient is “viral” potential. Consider how you can build social sharing right into your product or service

As the COO of HotWifi company my elite team and I implemented the following methods:

   1. Send Emails

Email marketing is an essential strategy for attracting customers to your startup for little or no cost. Once you have a prospect or customer’s email address, you can send him or her emails to promote your startup.

To take advantage of this marketing strategy, you must first collect prospects’ email addresses. If you have a website for your startup, consider placing a newsletter signup form on it. Alternatively, you can ask customers directly for their email addresses. The key thing to remember is that you must diversify your emails with non-commercial content like guides, how-to articles, videos and infographics. If you only send advertorial emails, subscribers will probably opt out of receiving your newsletter.

   2. Start A Blog

Blogging is a powerful strategy that can help your startup generate the exposure it needs. One report found that businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads than their competitors without blogs. With a blog, you can position your startup as a leading source while also attracting organic search traffic to your site.

The secret to creating an effective business blog is to publish content that your audience wants to read. If it’s valuable and worth reading, search engines will reward your hard work by ranking your blog at the top of the search results. And when your blog ranks high, it will attract more visitors — meaning more people will learn about your startup.

   3. Post On Social Media

Statistics show that more than 4.2 billion people use social media, so it’s important to incorporate this channel into your startup’s marketing strategy. As your business’s presence on social media grows, more people will see and recognize it. Furthermore, most social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, allow business owners to pay for traffic and exposure. With Facebook Ads, for example, you can create ads that appear in users’ news feeds or in the right column of the Facebook website.

It takes more than just a profile to succeed with social media marketing. You must post engaging, relevant content that gives users a reason to follow your account. And once you’ve attracted followers, you should encourage them to stay by responding to their questions and comments.

   4. Use Paid Search Advertising

Paid search has become a popular advertising channel for startups. It allows business owners to buy laser-targeted traffic from search engines like Google and Bing. Google AdWords and Bing Ads are two of the leading paid search networks, both of which feature keyword targeting with a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model. Using either of these networks, you can create custom ads for your startup that appear in search results when someone searches for a keyword related to your business. If your startup sells enterprise-grade cybersecurity software, for instance, you can target keywords like “cybersecurity for enterprise,” “enterprise cybersecurity software” and “enterprise anti-malware.”

The most appealing feature of paid search is its CPC pricing model in which you are only charged when someone clicks on your ad. Ten thousand users may see your ad, but if no one clicks, you aren’t charged. Of course, you’ll generate plenty of clicks if you create relevant and engaging ads, but you are still only charged by the click, simplifying the process of optimizing your paid search campaigns for a higher return on investment (ROI).

   5. Sponsor An Event

Finally, sponsoring a local event can help get your startup on your prospects’ radar. You’ll pay the event’s organizers a small fee to become a sponsor and promote your business with signs, stationary, banners, booths and other marketing materials at the event. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement that’s highly effective at driving sales when done correctly.

Business owners should sponsor events that are relevant to their operations or what they offer. If your startup business is a mobile health and wellness app, for example, perhaps you can sponsor marathons and 5K and 10K runs. If your startup sells anti-malware software, on the other hand, maybe you can sponsor cybersecurity and other information technology (IT) events.

As the COO of the HotWifi,I know marketing is essential for all businesses, but it’s even more important for startups. Unless people know about your startup and what it offers, they probably won’t buy your products or services.

We come across all types of businesses. Most all of them are concerned with growth, but none are more hungry for growth than startups. Whether it’s the next big SaaS company or a new chain of Thai ice cream shops, startups are a completely different animal when it comes to marketing.

Since marketing for startups is such a unique case, this guide that my team and I have been implementing should give founders a good place to start. As your business grows and expands its presence, it may attract customers through word of mouth. Until that happens, though, you should prioritize the above marketing strategies to spread the word about your startup; In a nutshell Through Effective PR.

It’s not just your own content that will define your reputation, though. Professional media can also be an asset to your business.

Erica Swallow writes in “10 Essential PR Tips for Startups” that if you can build good relationships with the press, you can get favorable media attention that will help enhance your brand and increase your visibility.

Try picking up the phone and pitching your business to the local media.

“It can be challenging for unknown startups to garner press attention,” Swallow points out. “Budgets are tight, relationships with journalists may not be that strong, and explaining a new concept is difficult. Good press, though, can be one of the biggest drivers for startups looking to grow their user bases, and as a result, a pretty important component for success.”

See if you can sell a local newspaper or broadcast reporter on what’s compelling about your business. Show the human angle—demonstrate how your product can make a difference in real people’s lives. If you can do that, you just might get some positive mentions in the media, which will boost your brand slowly but surely.