Startups rarely have perfect products. Instead, the goal should be to start selling even if not everything is perfect yet – the product and the marketing mix around it will evolve over time. But what key marketing strategies for startups are needed to sell a product and a marketing mix that may not be perfect yet?
Key marketing strategies for startups are based on the assumption that they have to market a product and a surrounding marketing mix that are still in development. Being far from perfect yet, the product must already attract enough buyers. So, if the startup has a decent product ready to go, then how does it need to be marketed for as many sales as possible?
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Reach Market Mavens and Develop Relationships – Key Marketing Strategies for Startups
A market maven is an individual with “a great deal of knowledge and connections, thus having a trusted opinion” which is followed by other buyers. These individuals are the ones you need to reach at the beginning to penetrate the market. Thus, key marketing strategies for startups call for the involvement of individuals that speak to your target audience on a daily basis.
These could be TV or radio personalities, or they may be YouTube channel hosts. In other words, if your target customer is paying attention to them, you need to use these influencers to your advantage.
How do you reach them? Call them, email them, offer them free products and above all else, treat them as your best customers. Recently, especially bloggers are of increasing interest for any startup. Provide them with a free product and ask them to share positive reviews about your business and product.
So get creative and find ways to develop relationships with the influencers that your customers are paying attention to.
Show how much your Product is needed – Key Marketing Strategies for Startups
You have a decent product and you know that there are a lot of potential customers out there. How do you convince them to buy your product? The answer is simple: convince them that they need your product, as they need any other product that is important to them. In other words, key marketing strategies for startups require to create urgency.
Of course, an ad should never exagerate. The reason is that short-term sales should never be the sole goal – you want to cultivate long-term customer relationships and create lasting customer value. So, an ad should create high expectations – but no disappointment after the purchase. On the contrary, the product should still be a little better then what the customer actually expects – it should create not only customer satisfaction, but customer delight.
So yes, there should be a certain element of fear to any marketing campaign – the fear that the consumer is not as attractive as the model in the ad unless he buys the product. Human nature tells us that when something is less available, or only available for a limited time, we are more motivated to make a purchase quickly.
But as said, key marketing strategies for startups are aggressive, but you should not exaggerate. The extreme example is where a company infects a computer with a virus and forces the end-user to have it removed by a certain software. Simply be ethical enough to know where the line is, and how to stay on the right side of providing a sense of urgency, without being malicious.
Then, key marketing strategies for startups allow you to create long-term customer value and profitable relationships.
Use Social Media Marketing – Key Marketing Strategies for Startups
One of the key marketing strategies for startups is to use social media as much as possible. In the world of social media, there is actually no such thing as bad attention. Social media is free advertising: The more consumers are talking about your brand, product or service with their friends, publicly online, the more free advertising you get.
For instance, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms offer perfect opportunities to build your brand and let the world know about it! Simply rely on the Guide to Social Media Marketing and you are ready to go!
You could simply start taking pictures around the office. Type up little stories to go along with them and let people be part of your story.
They will better understand why your product was created and why your startup exists. Empower them to share your story and tag your startup in the post.
Once the big buzz starts, don’t forget to engage people. Pay close attention to what is being shared, liked and followed the most. Once you know what your audience loves, create more of it!
Emotions over Logic – Key Marketing Strategies for Startups
According to several studies, emotions have much more power than logic in advertising. In other words, you need emotional appeals more than you need rational appeals, because emotion outsells logic. Ads that combine rational triggers with emotional triggers are only 60 percent as effective as purely emotional ads!
So, key marketing strategies for startups involve using emotional triggers to convince your target audience of buying your product.
The reason is that effective communication connects at a visceral level. The elements of the message itself speak to consumers through a subconscious language. Being exposed to the 50,000 messages each year, the mind rejects traditional messages. Especially in the startup situation, where sales are needed in a short time period although the product may not yet be perfect enough to justify rational purchases, the only way is emotions!
Combined with the urgency described above, you can focus your message on why your audience absolutely needs your product right now to solve a major problem in their life, and there will be new customers rushing to open their wallets for you.
Following these key marketing strategies for startups, you are ready to build your brand, grow your sustainable customer base and enjoy long-term success with your startup!