The global fiscal meltdown of ’08 translated into an important lesson American consumers. While financial insecurity became rampant, the need for self-employment and entrepreneurship was highlighted. The event also sprouted the need to be proactive and to pursue business ventures as somewhat of a necessity.
5 years later, the idea to individually sell product/service is easy enough to bring forth like before, but it is the marketing imperative that is turning out to be the limited factor. It’s one of the major pitfalls startups are laced with. However, there are ways to overcome this limitation in the long run.
Cutting out the loopholes
In the initial stage, a startup goes through a roller coaster ride and this is the period where most of the marketing loopholes need to be identified. This is why young entrepreneurs should develop the ability to think preemptively for the first six months or so.
The loopholes in the initial phase will be defined by the stakes. For instance, startups that rely on online revenue are considered to be the stakeholders on the internet. The biggest liability of this stake is security – both physical and network. It is quite important because most modern startups are connected online in one way or another.
Internet protection for businesses is an essential asset for any small company. This issue has also become even more relevant lately due to concerns about data security for startups engaged in providing consumer cloud services.
Focusing on such loopholes can curtail to the marketing success of the company. For example, businesses with a secure network and user base can advertise themselves as the ‘most secure consumer company’ or ‘a company that cares for consumer privacy’.
Understanding external dynamics
Regardless of the nature of the product/service, it should reach the customer/target market in the most convenient way. A common mistake made by owners of young businesses is that when they bring a tech-savvy idea to the industry, they only think about marketing it to the tech-savvy populace. Most of them miss out on the bigger picture – their idea of reaching success should have room to allow for simplification and massive reach.
For instance, Therma HEXX is a young entrepreneurial venture which has really kicked off not only because of its innovation, but how they simplified the use of their products. The startup has literally reinvented the way of heating and cooling rooms. They simplified the technology so that it can be easily used by anyone without having to be ‘tech specific’.
Barriers faced by budding entrepreneurs
Essentially there are two types of barriers that budding entrepreneurs can face. The ‘internal’ aspect is defined by characteristics such as confidence, self-worth and motivation. The ‘external’ category mostly deals with influences, group dynamics, experience, technology, education, time and resources.
It is the second category that is more defining in terms of affecting the outcome of a young entrepreneur’s venture. It also means that the social behavior of young business owners have a crucial role to play in venture marketing success.
While the presence of inexperience can be natural, entrepreneurs can quickly improve under practical circumstances. Doing so would also cut down the costs of marketing consultancy firms and PR companies.
The initial business phase is the most important, so getting a grip on how marketing works will help entrepreneurs to gain revenue and come up with sound strategies in collaboration with the rest of the staff.