This is for those of you who have just begun, who have embarked upon one of the biggest journeys in life – developing a start-up to point of seeing it flourish.
Even if you are running low on capital, the following approaches can help shape your company’s future if you can handle it all smartly. The basic premise is to let the captive audience know that you have got exactly what it needs.
Make your customers aware by-
- Spreading The Word (By Mouth Or By Handouts) – Begin Communication With Your Existing Network
That includes your friends, relatives, or acquaintances to initiate the process of building a rapport. As you become more confident, you can ask your investors to campaign about your fresh venture. Investors are usually well-equipped with deeply inter-connected networks. Just know that they are reaching out to the relevant base.
About 90{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of people respond to a product based on a recommendation. That is a huge percentage, to begin with.
- Availing Social Media For Online Advertising
The CEO of a blog named Chargify, Lance Walley had struck up an acquaintance with a motorist via Twitter and eventually with reference, Mark Cuban, the owner of Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, became a leading investor of his blog. This is how you take charge.
Currently, social networking pages offer options for rotational promotions for a minimum fee. If you don’t like investing in hard copies (flyers and handouts I mean), this is what you can opt for.
You could also start blogging your way into the minds of your target network. Your product should stand out of the rut. This is also known as transparency marketing. You could give a complete step-by-step breakdown of your expense-to-remuneration formula just like Buffer. You need not be a professional writer but simply need a comprehensive technical content, just to rub in the point.
- Giveaways To Offer
It could be a gift on purchase given away to the first thousand customers. Start-up agencies of software programs swear by the ‘free trial’ approach saving up the better features for the paid version.
Take Kaspersky antivirus for instance: they have free antivirus protection but the internet security and online payment security options they keep for premium software.
But make sure these are limited opportunities. The golden rule of marketing to abide by here is, scarcity raises the demands. To add to that should be the quality of your product. A great deal of credibility of a service is expected of any start-up in this era of fierce competition. If you fail to deliver, the popularity will be short-lived.
Consumable product-based companies swear by the rule of freebies. Discount coupons, first few pieces sold for free— all these motivate the customers to come to you. The buyers must feel rewarded while availing of your offerings. That is the key.
- Availing The Host-Beneficiary Partnership With Recognized Businesses
This method is rarely-used but facilitates your income by exposing you to a huge arena of prospects loyal to an ongoing business that has similar targets to yours. This collaborative approach benefits both sides as the host (the larger company) is keen for goodwill uplift while you get your target audience too.
It is not expensive at all. To provide an instance, a famous boutique company struck up such a deal with the famed BMW for a free giveaway of their silk kimonos to loyal customers of a local BMW store.
Over 600 such customers responded positively to this offer leading to the boutique generating a turnover of $240,000. They had spent just $9,600 as the capital. This is a sure-fire way to gain those first 100 customers that you’ve been hoping for.
The key is to know who all to target, have clarity in what you offer and provide value for money for the prospects. In addition, make sure that the customer base is solid and you in no way will tarnish the image of the host entrepreneur.
- Cold Emails And Calls
Admit it. You cannot help but go through some of those personalized messages from companies absolutely a stranger to you. More often than not, they seem to cater to your immediate requirements. This is currently a very popular way to intrigue people.
If done correctly, it helps build a personal rapport that could take you a long way ahead in doing business.
These are some of the cheaper ways to make your company heard. The beginning will be a struggle but hang in there, if your efforts are persistent and calculated, even a shoe-string budget cannot halt your company’s progress.
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