The first few weeks and months of a startup’s life can be choppy waters. As Startup.info points out, many startups have to fold as a result of failing to find success early enough. For the startup’s owner, this can undoubtedly be frustrating after how much time, energy, and money they have poured into the company.
One problem is that, if you don’t strive to get the word out about your startup, many members of its target audience might never realize it even exists. So, how can you jump this early hurdle?
Offer Something That People Genuinely Need
If there’s a specific product or service people really want, they will work hard to search for it. Consequently, when they do find it, they could be inclined to buy it without a second thought.
Hence, if you fill a gaping hole in the market by offering this special product or service, you’ve already won a lot of the marketing battle, as your company will be in a better position to draw the right kind of attention.
Start Advertising as Early as Possible
The reason why is that it can often take a while for marketing activities to quite draw in the kind of haul you would have probably anticipated.
When a business does attract a customer base, it might do so rather slowly and organically, as Little Black Book implies. However, this strategy can help to garner customers who are especially likely to remain loyal to the business.
Target the Local Market — At Least Initially
Once you’ve started developing a brand presence in your company’s local town, city, or region, you could have a valuable launchpad for publicizing your business in slightly further-flung geographic areas.
Startups in the UK, for example, could take advantage of the advertising company Clear Channel’s Clear Start scheme. This would enable startups to reserve out-of-home advertising spots dotted across the country and see, from campaign success metrics, progress being made as a result.
However, Don’t Rule Out Looking Overseas, Too
You could be pleasantly surprised by how appealing your product or service is to people based outside your home country. Of course, there could still be a few major stumbling blocks, like language or cultural differences. So, you would need to tread carefully if you do opt to target a global audience.
The good news, though, is that reaping revenue from foreign markets could potentially help to keep your startup afloat when the domestic market is looking shaky.
Appreciate That the Learning Process Never Ends
Small Business Bonfire warns: “The day you start to get the mentality that you’ve made it and start easing off your gas pedal, this is when someone else will do what you’ve done and make it better.”
While this could serve as wise advice for thriving in business as a whole, it could also apply strongly even just to the advertising side of the equation. If you aren’t constantly on the lookout for new advertising opportunities, competing firms could too easily capitalize on them before you do.
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