Be patient. So many people who start a business have a timeline in their mind for when they need to see results. That usually isn't realistic. It's important to stay the course, even if it feels like you're not getting anywhere. Successful, long-lasting companies aren't built overnight; they're the product of consistency, work and time. Make sure you're always budgeting for longer than you think each step of your business-building will take, and don't give up just because things aren't happening as fast as you'd like.
When I was in the early stages of starting my company, I knew I couldn't do everything by myself. Having an outside perspective is vital to your success as an entrepreneur. A mentor could be a professor, a close friend in your industry, or a professional business coach. As long as they have experience in the business you're trying to break into, they can offer you helpful advice any time you run into challenges. And the business world is full of them. Mentorship also helps you feel like you aren't alone in your endeavors. I believe that everyone needs somebody and that no one is an island. A good mentor will empower their mentee and equip them with valuable knowledge that can contribute to the success of their business.
A lot of companies want to "see things happening" and don't want to spend the time (or money) on the strategic, foundational building blocks. Who are your competitors? What are their strengths? Where are the gaps in your industry? Who is your audience/target customer base? Yes, building out buyer personas or audience profiles takes time and effort, but it's worth it. You'll know what problems you're solving for, and you'll be able to speak their language.
Early stage entrepreneurs have a few advantages over big companies. The biggest is speed and agility. Launch tests! Learn from tests! Leverage the fundamental idea behind the Lean Startup methodology. With each test, set up hypotheses, and then based on results decide to: Pivot - change the product in some way based on the data/feedback Persevere - Results are looking good, keep pushing! Kill - Time to end this product and try something new! You can move too fast and not deep enough but it is hard to do so and rarely done. In general, startups spend too long not listening to feedback from data and customers. Move fast and thrive! This is a permanent advantage of startups over mature businesses.
It's surprising how many running businesses don't have this figured out. Knowing the challenges your customers are facing will help you not only build the right product, but also create educational and actionable content across all your channels (landing pages, blog, social media, events, etc) that alleviates people of their pain points and helps them achieve their goals. When such content is shared generously and without a "hook", it will help you build trust of your target audience and position you as a thought leader in your space bringing you needed traffic and leads.
Make sure you listen to your customers and incorporate their feedback as much as possible. If you have a client or customer who takes time out of their busy life to share with you their thoughts on how the product did or not work for them, the ways the service could have improved or perhaps offers ideas for improving the product, you should consider it a gift and try to do everything you can to incorporate this feedback. For every customer who took time to share their thoughts, there are 10 customers who felt a similar way but didn't take the time to share. Value that feedback and put efforts and budget behind tackling ways to improve or address the problems or issues your vocal customers share with you!
The beauty of entrepreneurship is that you have as much time and second chances as you’d need. My advice is not to be afraid to take risky moves when necessary since they could lead you to great things. People often fear risky business decisions because that may mean that everything they have been working on up until that point could go under. But that’s not the only possible outcome. If you’re calculated in those risky situations, the outcome can, and most likely, will be positive in the long run. But, if that’s not the case, the beauty of the free market is that you can start all over again, but only this time with knowledge of your previous endeavors.
If you’re not a natural public speaker, now is the time to start honing your skills. Why? Because as a small business owner, you’re going to have to do a lot of it. You’ll need to give presentations, lead meetings, and give speeches to promote your business. Marketing is not limited to ads and promotions, it's about building relationships. One of the best ways to build relationships is through face-to-face interactions. This is why events, tradeshows, and networking are so important for small businesses. If you’re not comfortable speaking in front of a group, start practicing now so you can be prepared when opportunities arise.
Conventional wisdom says you should be everywhere that your customers are whether that's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, in their inboxes, on Forums, or at specific events. The reality is that you cannot be everywhere because you simply do not have the resources to do all of them well - especially when you have a tiny team and are doing most marketing alone. Instead, focus on one channel that has shown results and become a master at it. As long as the channel has enough volume, it'll take you to the growth stage where you can hire more people to help with other marketing channels. Don't start branching out too early either. At the bare minimum, you should wait until you get at least $1 million in annual revenue before you earnestly tackle other channels.
Keep all your marketing consistent with your brand values. When a startup is in its early stages, brand identity isn't always at the forefront of entrepreneurs' minds. But this is actually one of the most important times for companies to focus on their image. The adage that you only get one first impression is still true, and it holds double for businesses that need to attract investors and build a customer base. If you focus on keeping your marketing in line with the rest of your brand, you'll have an easier time forging an identity in the minds of the public.
If you're a brand-new or emerging business, it's best to start off with marketing strategies or tactics that don't cost much. This is for two reasons: One, your business is new, and you want to hold on to as much startup capital as possible. You don't know how long it will take to actually make your business profitable, and many new entrepreneurs drastically underestimate this timeline. Secondly, you want to use free or low-cost marketing because you're not one hundred percent sure you've got your messaging on point. You'll need a period of time to test and tweak your message to make sure your marketing is working and is bringing in the right customers. Giving your business plenty of capital to sustain with lots of time to test your marketing at no or low cost will ensure you get the results you want for years to come.
The early stages of building your business are the perfect time to also build your personal brand. Initially, growing your following and establishing yourself in the area of business you're in both on social media and in your local area means that more people become aware of what you're doing. Out of that growing network, you'll find individuals who are able to help you build your business or buy your products/services as your initial customers. In the future, an established personal brand as a respected figure in the relevant spaces with a good following can be directed to build your company. That brand will lead to future employees, contractors, customers, and more. Understand the difference between your personal and company brand: your personal brand is about you as an individual which can be used to create your company brand, what your company is, does, values, and supports.
Even with the best education and ideas, there’s still no substitute for a good old-fashioned network of experts. These are people with experience in your industry who can offer advice, mentorship, and support. As you start to build your business, look for opportunities to connect with more experienced professionals. They will guide you through the start-up process, avoid common mistakes, and make connections that can benefit your business. Not all businesses require you to establish a network, with the right skills, you can establish a tech startup with a global reach from your bedroom. However, venturing into real estate, for example, would require a very different approach with more of an emphasis on building local relationships.
From Nathan Blair, Marketing Specialist at nozzle.io: Hire a search engine optimization expert as early on as possible. Whatever you do, don't go to an SEO agency a year or two after you've launched and expect them to get fast SERP rankings for you. If you've built everything without giving SEO a thought, your agency will have to spend a lot of time to fix that first. Rather, SEO should be baked into to your website and content from the very beginning. And because SEO isn't "set it and forget it", you'll need to keep your expert on staff for the duration. They'll be 1) creating new content consistently to compete in the SERP and gain you organic traffic, 2) performing periodic SEO checkups on your website, and 3) since the SERPs are always changing, doing competitive analysis on a regular basis. There will be more work to do over time, but these things should be happening from the start.
Find the marketing channel that enables you to acquire your customers as cheaply as possible. Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of an early stage company. If you're not acquiring customers at a cost lower than the lifetime value of your customers , you're not going to survive. Because of this early stage entrepreneurs should focus on acquiring customers as cheaply and efficiently as possible. Once you find such a channel, double down on engine that supports it. For example, if you get the lowest cost customers through SEO, build a content engine to increase the number of keywords your site ranks for. If you get the lowest cost customers through social media, build a following on the channel that will help you get the most out of it. If you get the lowest cost customers through email marketing, build an email list and an associated set of flows that enable you to send emails to customers who aren't yet customers.
Marketing tips for entrepreneurs that you can apply: Find your niche: It is important to concentrate your efforts on a market segment and, specifically, on a niche in order to serve your target audience satisfactorily. Find your remaining market niche that analyzes the selected segment, its behavior, and consumption habits. Define your goals and objectives: Defining your objectives and goals will help you establish where you want to go and where you are. Evaluating the current state of your project is vital to get all the information you need to determine what you need to improve. For our actions to be beneficial, it is essential to specify the objective we want to achieve. Set your budget: One of the marketing tips for entrepreneurs that you should keep in mind and that you should take before executing your marketing strategy for your business. It is advisable to have defined exactly how much money or time you need to achieve the desired results.
Do something. Do anything. Just start - make a phone call, buy a domain name, go to a show/exhibition/conference. Anything. Do not write another to-do list. Do not buy another App to start planning with. Take the 1st step, get something done, and make a start. Stop planning the perfect start. Just start.
Too often, beginning entrepreneurs create branding that is cute or nostalgic to them and their past experiences. They should actually take some time to really zone in on what is the best audience for their product or service and then create branding to attract that audience.
Conversational marketing on social media is effective in boosting customer engagement and creating authentic relationships. In doing so, we add a more human element to the brand and get rid of the sales pitch. By corresponding through Facebook Messenger or an Instagram DM, we can ask questions to our followers so we can better assist them in product decisions, or keep them in the loop about promotions or launches. The goal is more than to drive a transaction - it's also about building a connection.
Hiring one marketing specialist to do everything is a disaster waiting to happen. Often, early-stage startups make the mistake of hiring a specialist to do a much broader list of duties than they're used to. While many professionals at higher levels are proficient across the board, the star social media marketer you hired doesn't necessarily excel at tasks they don't normally complete. If you define the type of marketing you need clearly and early on, you can tailor your recruiting to candidates that meet those precise needs — rather than hiring whoever seems best on the surface and assuming they'll adapt.