 |
| Best Practices When Promoting Your Startup Product |
If you are a startup owner and
are looking to market your product, you are probably using what is known as a
“lean” methodology. Release a basic version of the product and test it with a
small batch of customers to get valuable feedback in order to improve the offering
and release it once again.
And while this is the most “in”
method of doing things, it is not the only one available. There are many things
you can do and help you can receive when it comes to your first product. And in
this article, we will show you the most important of them.
#1 – Use The Experience Of Others
There are two ways to go about
this. You can either (1) learn from your competition and promote your
product/service similar to the way they do, or (2) outsource the complete
software development process to an agency and let them help you out with the
growth stages of your product.
- To learn from your competitors,
you can start by looking at their SEO, advertising, and social media efforts.
Extra points for those that subscribe to their mailing list to see how their
newsletter looks like! - When outsourcing, pay attention
to the people you choose to work with. You may end up with inexperienced
developers who have no real marketing experience. Instead, we recommend going
with an agency like Coara, which is built by
second and third-time founders and is able to guide you throughout the process
effectively.
#2 – Know Who You Are Selling To
This is a very important step, as
you will need to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What kind of problem is
your product currently solving? How does it affect the pain points of your
customers? You can create a marketing plan to address and identify with those
problems and indicate your problem as the best solution.
Apart from getting more
customers, you will also be able to connect with them and ask for valuable
feedback that they can implement in the future. This is easily done through
qualitative and quantitative feedback through the use of email marketing.
#3 – Have A Strong Team With A
Diverse Skillset
You may have noticed that
developers are more technical and marketeers are more customer-oriented
thinkers. Both have their unique set of skills and no one is better than the
other. In fact, for a product to succeed, people have to work in complete
harmony. This is exactly where you need to put special emphasis and probably a
part of your budget into. Even if you’ll need to sacrifice a small part of your
company’s equity to get them on board, the process will be well worth it.
The hiring process should not be
underestimated under any circumstances and you are in full charge of making
this possible.
Wrapping Up
Marketing and promotion is not a
one-way street. There are many factors involved in the process and you should
pay attention to all of them to become successful. A product is only as strong
as its user adoption and its ability to solve pressing problems.