Marketing Tips for Startup Businesses
Author: Cameron Moses
So you have a great business idea, a fantastic product that everyone will want to buy
and you are ready to the next step and start your own business.
Your product is so great it will practically sell itself, so why do you need to worry about
planning your marketing strategy now?
Many small businesses and especially entrepreneurs about to start a new company
misunderstand or underestimate the value of knowing both your customer and your proposed product.
Ralph Waldo Emerson is famously quoted as saying “Build a better mousetrap, and the world
will beat a path to your door”, yet Marketing 101 will teach you that in-fact many people
have built absolutely amazing mousetraps that failed miserably when it came to making a profit.
In a recent article I outlined the need for all business, especially new start-up small
businesses to prepare a well thought out business plan. Two important parts of a business plan are the Marketplace Analysis, in which you identify your target customers and competitors and the Product Analysis where you outline to product or service you are going to sell.
But your busy planning how your product or service will change the lives of countless
people, you’ll get around to writing your business plan when you have a little more time.
As Ian Neal points out in a recent article for Fast Thinking magazine, it is imperative
that entrepreneurs start thinking about marketing well before the doors open on their new business.
Here some important reasons to begin adding ‘marketing thinking’
into your entrepreneurial mindset.
If you build a better mousetrap that costs more that people are willing to pay,
you will probably fail.
Cost to consumer, or the value proposition of your product is one of the
key issues that will determine if you fail or succeed.
Early on in your planning you need to analyse how much it will cost you to produce
your product or deliver your service. From this you can calculate your break-even point,
which is that point at which your business becomes profitable.
As viewers of The Australian Apprentice will remember, Amy’s team failed in their
endeavour to sell pies, not because their product was inferior, but because they sold
the below what it cost them to make.
If your mousetrap doesn’t catch mice, you will probably fail.
No matter how wonderful your product or service is, if it fails to meet the needs of you customer, you will fail.
Meet with your potential customers to determine exactly what they think is important.
Remember that you wont be able to meet everyone’s needs, but you are aiming at determining
the basic ‘must-haves’ for your product. If it’s impossible to meet with your customers,
start thinking like them and ask yourself those same questions.
If everyone else is already selling mousetraps, you will probably fail.
Have you
ever wondered how all those tailors in Bangkok make a living? There are plenty of examples
of marketplaces that can support multiple vendors, but as a general rule, the first people
to enter a market have the best chance of surviving. It’s called first-mover advantage and
if you can take advantage of it, you will be on the road to success. If you’re not the first
business to enter the market, then you will need to have a distinct advantage over your
existing competitors. This could be price-point, quality of customer service or solid family
values, but it needs to be significant enough to drive customers to your company rather than
your established competitors.
For inexpensive ways to market your business check out some of the resources listed alongside this article or read
Marketing with no Money the book written by Leah Squire founder of online travel company www.byokids.com.au.
A business started with $1000 and a marketing budget of zero. This now multi million dollar
company won best new business in Australia 2007 and best micro business in Australia 2008.
In this her first book she shares the cheap marketing strategies that helped build her business.
About the Author:
Cameron Moses is an experienced website developer and business analyst who
specialises in creating custom-built software for
small to medium sized business.
Check his websote for more information on
small business software