DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY FOR STARTUP COMPANIES

Abstract

The Internet is used more and more often, mostly via mobile phones, not only for its basic purpose - which is communication via mobile networks, but more and more often the reason for this is surfing, to search for informative but also entertaining content. The fact that the Internet has become widespread has led to the development of existing economic branches, as well as the emergence of new ones, so that now all businesses that are run over the Internet are experiencing their expansion or peak. Here, above all, we mean the trend of digital marketing and its presence in all segments of the Internet - from promotional emails, through banner ads, all the way to advertising through social networks. Social networks are actually the largest segment of digital marketing and a large number of small, medium and micro enterprises communicate with consumers and advertise their products and services via social networks. A special segment of small, medium and micro enterprises are startup companies. Therefore, it is not about standard small, medium and micro enterprises that are engaged in production and sale of products/services, but about innovative enterprises that offer some new products/services to the market. In the digital world we live in, traditional marketing methods have long been outdated. Today, all the necessary information can be found on the Internet, which is why every newly founded company must position itself on web. In this sense, every company can build a strategy that will shine in the eyes of its end consumers / service users. This is how a positive image and the brand of that company is built, which enables the maximum increase of the target audience on the web, but also a sufficiently high conversion rate as the main indicator of the success of applying the digital marketing strategy. Unlike traditional marketing that is too expensive, digital marketing enables start-up companies, as well as all companies with limited resources, to better position themselves on the market and create a brand more easily and efficiently in the minds of consumers. The goal of the paper is to point out the importance of startup companies, but also to point out the role of an adequate digital marketing strategy in the development of startup companies. In the first part of the paper, it is explained what startup companies are, what are the stages of the life cycle of a startup company, how a startup company is financed in different stages of the life cycle, but also what challenges startup companies face. The second part of the paper refers to the role of digital marketing in the function of the survival and development of startup companies. After a comprehensive analysis, relevant conclusions are given.