Entrepreneur and business expert Jorge Zuñiga Blanco explains the differences in marketing between startups and corporations, and how to excel at both.

San José, Costa Rica – WEBWIRE – Monday, February 28, 2022

To get to the most valuable accounts, you must first learn how to identify them, and Account-Based Marketing (ABM) can help you do that. ABM is a segmentation strategy used mostly in the B2B sector to reach specific accounts through personalized marketing actions and content for each of them.

Marketing is important for all types of businesses regardless of their size, but your approach should take into account resources, budget, and much more. That is, the marketing of new or small companies must be different from that of large ones. Despite that, they are not completely different and share certain similarities. Jorge Zuñiga Blanco, a veteran entrepreneur and marketing expert from Costa Rica, offers insight into the types of marketing needed based on the business level.

There are clear similarities and differences between corporate companies and startups. Different companies have different marketing strategies. Understanding the differences and similarities between small and large businesses is essential in order to understand which approach you should use and which tactics you should use.

Data is the most significant similarity. Data drives marketing more than ever. Data is a key tool for marketers to influence and plan the company. Zuniga asserts that marketing is all about connecting with your target audience. “Every company must have a deep understanding about its target audience.”

Resources are one of the key differences. Startups must maximize their resources, including time, money and ROI. High pressure is a factor when it comes time to take actions and make decisions. This is why “lean startup” is so popular. Startups tend to have smaller teams with multiple roles.

Startups are able to understand the market and core issues that affect their business. This is the most difficult problem because if they don’t solve these issues, no one else will.

The first line must include branding. Branding is already established for large corporations and well-known brands. Marketing is a complex process for startups and smaller businesses. Brand Marketing is the answer.

Your brand positioning is what users will remember. It is important that your brand vision is clear and strategic from the beginning. Startups have the freedom to make their own rules in terms of visual elements, storytelling, and communication channels. It is important to study the competition and learn how it fits in the market.

Startups are more likely to react to an action quickly than corporate counterparts. This advantage gives startups an edge when it comes time to experiment and implement. Growth Marketing is a great strategy because it’s all about growing fast.

We often think of startups as user experts, and while this may be true in many cases, it’s usually the big accounts that lead them to success. Explains Zuñiga, “To get to the most valuable accounts, you must first learn how to identify them, and Account-Based Marketing (ABM) can help you do that. ABM is a segmentation strategy used mostly in the B2B sector to reach specific accounts through personalized marketing actions and content for each of them.”

Automation is more important for startups. It allows you to run your strategy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For startups, workflow automation could be used to maintain and update your database, nurture email, and send internal team notifications. The best platforms to carry out these types of actions include HubSpot, Pardot, Marketo, Mailchimp and others.

All startups want to become unicorns, even those of great success valued at more than a billion dollars that attract all kinds of investors, but this, for most, is out of reach. In addition to funding, the main reason is due to a lack of knowledge, strategy or support. One of the most typical elements among prosperous startups is their connection with skilled mentors or partners who can help guide them.

One of the biggest barriers in large companies is the wide hierarchy they usually have, which makes making decisions slow and keeps those who make them unattainable. The first thing that marketers of large corporations should do is identify the stakeholders who can achieve the proposed initiatives. Here are the main steps to identify and address stakeholders:

Optimized content is essential. This helps search engines build relationships between your content and helps you move up in search rankings.

A problem that many large companies have is that there are too many departments and divisions between those involved, internal teams and processes are not aligned. This happens especially with marketing and sales teams, who must work in an almost perfect union to carry out the commercial strategy. Corporate companies need to prioritize marketing and alignment with sales.

Large companies have many departments that work in isolation. This may be true in your company, but it is not how you should look at the future if ROI is important to you. This starts with regular meetings between the departments. They identify common KPIs and create an SLA for each team’s responsibilities. You’ll see that Marketing and Sales are now on the same page and your strategy is more effective.

About Jorge Zuñiga Blanco

Jorge Zuñiga Blanco is a leading eCommerce expert who has provided his services to growing organizations throughout the world. He has a diverse background of industries to his credit, giving him the ability to relate and contribute to business owners in a variety of markets. He has more than 20 years in the eCommerce industry and, for the past nine, has dedicated his expertise and knowledge to helping executives and managers develop their business.