How much are start-ups selling through the digital media

Food start-ups are the new wave in the food and restaurant industry today. In order to cut cost, tech platforms are gaining ground these days with start-ups catching the right pulse of the customers. But, have you really wondered, how these start-ups are marketing their product right to the customers when they have born out of the need to cut the real estate cost. And yes, marketing through internet especially, the social media has become the new less- put in affaire by these home developed brands.

With, this medium as the cheapest medium to get initial grip, social media has become a tool which has tremendous potential for gaining the business. New generation technologies like social media, mobile and analytics are increasing rapidly by consumers and employees.

According to a 2014 Ernst & Young report that quotes government data, the small and medium enterprise sector, which consists of about 51 million businesses, accounts for 38 per cent of India’s manufacturing output and 40 per cent of its workforce as of 2012-13 but its adoption of technology has been low compared with other countries.

“It is definitely the way to move forward because your consumers are on digital platforms whether through apps or mobile or through social media. It is a tool to be use properly as everything and very much is hyped today” said Samir Khadepaun, Co-Founder of Mobikon.

Branding it right at these platforms

Digital Marketing is cost effective, new, experimental, proven and fast-paced. But at the same time marketing for start-ups needs more effort and hard work. The main responsibility is of the founders as they have to be fully involved in all aspects of communication.

“Whenever we do our marketing, we see three or four strategies, which we keep in our mind. First is to communicate the idea that we have.  Second is to reach out to lot and lot people. We do lot of reference program, we give our food to taste five to six people who can say how it is. This is showcasing our product, and that’s something we do”, shared Neha Puri- Founder, Cyberchef.

Similarly, one needs to have an exclusive designed website, create a lasting brand recall or increase leads and sales. With unleashed creativity, high-end technology, smart content writing insight and perfect marketing, team is fully equipped to make the brand an online success. This will help to influence the power and reach of internet.

Be clear about target audiences, activities and short and long-term outcomes which will help to identify opportunities of how to use social media. With the help of social media’s strength, start-ups should encourage exclusive interaction through conversation with the audience. Also look for someone who understands the brand, vision and passion.

As every start-up wants to make big, so he has to identity right website, SEO and positioning across all media, including social. He also need to build his Face book presence to over 10,000 engaged friends and Twitter to over 1,000 engaged followers.

“Our Facebook page has 2700 likes. Social media is very vital for our growth and it contributes to 30 per cent of our traffic. Every home café profile and Individual dishes in our website has a social sharing feature where any user can share it in their timelines or groups” pointed Mohamed Jamal Ismail, Founder & CEO at Watscooking.com.

Even in the e-commerce industry, Snapdeal has recently launched a commission-free marketplace app called Shopo that offers products from small and medium businesses that want to sell stuff online. Non-banking finance companies like Capital First and Capital Float and lending start-ups such as LendingKart.Ltd are partnering with Indian online goliaths such as Flipkart and Snapdeal to offer small sellers loans easily.

Therefore, it is said internet marketing creates a dominating online presence for any business. Digital media is the best way for entrepreneurs, Indian tech start-ups who are looking to open small and medium businesses in India.