Marketing is often a skill that many entrepreneurs choose not to pay as much attention to compared to product and development.
However, some essential marketing skills will help any entrepreneur, especially those looking for a more sustainable long-term focus around their business.
1. Creating a content writing / SEO strategy
Content marketing is still very underrated as a marketing skill, even though many companies leverage blogs as one of their main traffic sources.
Although content marketing and SEO can have a separate correlation, I decided to group these as they often go hand in hand. One of the best ways to drive traffic is through targeted blogs to your personas. For example, I wanted to drive marketing and product personas to Yought’s Blog, so I built specific content that targeted those that might search for blogs that I produced.
One of the best resources for learning this is Ahref’s content marketing blog. It’s one of the most comprehensive reads that kick starts your journey on creating content and optimizing it for SEO.
Companies that have blogs generate 67% more leads per month than companies who don’t have blogs.
Unless you’re releasing a product tomorrow, producing content is a strategy that pays dividends in the long run and should be on your to-do list for learning marketing skills.
2. A basic foundation of graphic design skills
Graphic design can be an underrated part of any business.
This is because first impressions do actually matter and gives a unique identity to your business. How your startup is presented, including graphics, colors, and even your website, are vital parts of your marketing.
For example, startups like Squarespace and Slack have a very distinct look and feel.
While you don’t need to become an expert in graphics design, it’s important to have a fundamental understanding of it, at least. With tools in the market like Canva, it’s never been easier to create your brand and logos. On top of this, you can use these programs to help create eBooks and other marketing material that your startup needs.
Although outsourcing the graphic design work might be suitable for some, grasping a basic foundation of graphic design skills will carry your marketing from the beginning of your startup until you establish enough of a business.
3. Learn video marketing
Video is becoming an essential part of everyday life for consumers. It is estimated in 2021 that people will spend at least 100 minutes a day watching videos.
It is one of the most important parts of marketing and yet is still underrated.
Although making videos might not come naturally to you, many startups can leverage it in various ways.
Some ways to use video marketing include demos, how-to guides, and explainer type videos.
48% of consumers want videos to reflect what they are interested in.
Beyond this, you can use video marketing via channels like Youtube, TikTok, Snapchat, and even LinkedIn Live. All of these are viable channels to build a brand and expose your startup to a wider audience. This, of course, depends on what your business is.
4. Market themselves and their vision
I often see entrepreneurs, especially newer ones, sell themselves short, especially their product. More than often, investors will not only look if your product is solving a pain point (and if there is a market to be gained) but also you as a person and team.
They want to believe in your vision, and your product should also be marketable to build interest.
Of course, sometimes products get overvalued, but even then, most of these products get to this stage due to successfully marketing the vision and themselves.
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