Marketing Advice for a Startup
When starting a company it is easy to loose track of what is really important to make it successful. We are constantly told that business plans are critical to success. An I believe they are. With one caveat. You can over plan.
As smart as we think we are we can not think about all the contingencies and uncertainties involved with launching a new company. I think this applies to “brick and mortar” companies (“atom”) companies and software companies (“bit”) companies. What should we do?
We should get to market as soon as we can and trial our product or service and our business model as soon as we can. To “atom” companies this means talking to potential clients, making a clean concise marketing piece that conveys your products or service benefits and business model, and getting feedback and signups from them early on. If you explain your products or services to somebody and can not get interest in them you can understand why and tweak your business.
You will not spend endless hours trying to convince people to invest in a company that will have a high probability of failure since you are not sure if your market is ready for you.
Many times we do not like to hear we are wrong. We think we are visionaries and we have found a niche that needs to be fulfilled. And we might be wrong. But even if we are right with the hunch, we are surely wrong on the fine details of the offering based on our own assumptions.
Enlist your clients early, and let them know what’s wrong. Iterate. Fix. Improve. Until you have an outstanding product and service. Let them tell you what they want and build it.
I think getting to market early and iterating is the single best way to increase your chances to succeed or minimize your pain. You will either build a much better product or realize that your idea is not viable. All without spending too much time and money.
As a closing note, as smart as we think we are, the most intelligent person still can not equate to the mental power of the many. Get your clients involved early!
