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What do you think is an effective marketing strategy for an early-stage startup?
Do you think showing ads to their prospective customers when they have no brand presence whatsoever is a good idea?
Absolutely not!
Even focusing only on raising brand awareness through content marketing might not be their best option.
Every step of the buyer's journey needs to be carefully planned for, so the business is able to convert its leads and provide a good experience to its customers.
This is where communication plays a significant role!
By being the face of your brand and communicating directly with the customers, addressing their queries, you can enable them to know your brand better and trust you enough to buy from you.
WhatsApp Business helps you achieve that!
What is WhatsApp Business?
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter have been facilitating businesses and brands to tap into their social networks and connect with their customers, providing them immediate customer support.
WhatsApp too has joined the league by offering a free app for business owners allowing them to interact with their customers in a targeted and personal way.
The WhatsApp Business app comes in another variant called “WhatsApp Business API” which is the Enterprise Version for medium to large scale companies.
WhatsApp Business is created and designed keeping in mind the needs of a small business.
The app has features to support a business set up its profile in a neat and presentable manner. A business can add the profile with business address, website, and product catalog in their WhatsApp Business account.
They can showcase their opening hours to their customers and automate their responses via text templates offered by WhatsApp Business.
Case Study - A Local Business Selling Baked Goods
With the level of personalization and networking potential WhatsApp Business offers, converting a lead has become simpler and less painful.
The direct communication between customer-business accelerates the lead nurturing process and establishes trust faster than any other marketing platform.
A health-conscious baker based out of Pune is an example of this.
She has been utilizing the features of WhatsApp Business to grow her business.
By setting up a catalog and enabling automatic welcome messages, her business works seamlessly on the platform to inform new people about the bakery. She uses labels to identify different customer preferences such as vegan, gluten-free, flour type, etc.
So, whenever she’s launching something new, she’s able to send all her customer groups the relevant updates without any hassle.
And with WhatsApp launching payment options, the entire buyer journey is completed on one platform! Now, how efficient is that!
How a Small Business can benefit from WhatsApp Business
Ever since WhatsApp Business made its debut in 2018, more than 50 million merchants have brought their business online. Even customers have gotten more comfortable with contacting and conducting transactions via WhatsApp.
WhatsApp allows businesses to make their customer service more efficient and personal. Here’s how you can use it to your advantage if you’re a small business and take your customer service to the next level!
Categorize Customers into Groups
You can categorize users and messages on WhatsApp using a feature called labels. Labels help you sort messages based on urgency and recognize returning customers.
You can either utilize the default labels set by WhatsApp or even create your own labels that make sense for your business.
QR codes for initiating chat
When people come across a business they wish to explore further, they generally add their number to their phonebook and then send a WhatsApp message to the owner.
The QR code function available with WhatsApp Business makes this process much easier.
Now, people can simply scan the QR code displayed by a business on its storefront, product packaging, or receipt to initiate a chat with the owner.
Catalog Sharing
WhatsApp Business allows businesses to showcase their products or services in the form of a catalog. It has, in fact, become one of the popular ways customers engage with a business ever since the feature rolled out.
More than 40 million people browse a business catalog on WhatsApp every month!
Moreover, businesses can also share their entire catalog as a link to anyone across WhatsApp. Quite convenient, isn’t it?
Conclusion
WhatsApp Business is hands-down one of the best options out there for small businesses.
With their limited budget to allocate for marketing, this is perhaps the best platform for them to begin their journey and build an empire!
Marketing gurus say - 'Go where your customer is'.
With an entrepreneurial mindset, no platform is out of reach, all you need is the correct approach and determination.
Stay tuned for more blogs in the coming weeks!
If you liked this post and would like more tips on other tools, then read more articles like this here or you can listen to the podcast.
Want to brainstorm a marketing strategy to grow your business? Book a free consultation with me here.