The problem with startups is that a lot of things are still in progress. The product itself is not yet finalized as well as the overall business structure. In most cases, a startup is just the foundation of a concept. With so many unfinished things, as an owner, you ask yourself, when to start marketing a startup?
Marketing too early could result to failure to deliver the final product on time. Doing it too late could lead to low market awareness, leaving you with products waiting to be sold. Either way, you are at a loss. You want to be in the middle, but how do you do that?
Most people would think that the answer is to know when to start marketing a startup. However, it really isn’t. Startup marketing should begin as soon as you establish your company. Instead, it is the type of marketing that you do during certain growth stages that is going to matter.
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When to Start Marketing a Startup: The Early Stage
So, you have an idea. You gathered a team, established your company, and started developing your product. Even at this early stage, it is already the right time when to start marketing a startup.
You don’t necessarily have to disclose the product you have in store. That would be too inconsistent to do at this point. Instead, you bring attention to your company or brand, so that by the time you unveil your product, you already have eyes looking at it.
What marketing approach would be suitable for this stage? You are looking at content marketing.
Why Content Marketing?
Content marketing entails an approach that revolves around useful content. It doesn’t have to be your product nor your service. As long as it is in the same industry or field, any type of content is enough.
Your content provides answers to people scouring the internet. When they reach your website in their bid to find useful content, they are introduced to your brand. It then only takes a few articles to get them interested and hooked.
It doesn’t end there. How do you make sure that they get informed when your final product is available to the market? This is where email marketing gets in the picture.
The Role of Email Marketing
You should not limit your content marketing with posting articles on your website. Instead, use this as leverage to get the contact information of your visitors. For example, they can have access to limited content offers such as comprehensive e-books and digital guides in exchange for their email address.
Once you get your hands on their contact information, you now have a way to inform them of your product when it is finally ready.
However, it doesn’t mean that your product isn’t available just yet, you can’t make use of email marketing. While content marketing is great, it would be better to send emails to your contacts about new content and other types of limited content offers. It is what will get them hooked and leave them anticipating for your emails.
When to Start Marketing a Startup: The Middle Stage
At this point, things start to look clearer. You have made headway on your overall business structure, from the product to logistics. However, there are still things that needs to be finalized. In addition, you are not ready to start production or hit the shelves.
To say the least, there are still a lot of unsure things. However, you are ready to make the next steps to your startup marketing.
Don’t look at what is left unfinished, but rather on what progress have been made. Since you now have more, you can start to disclose certain details of your product or service.
Tease Your Audience
You see it happening all the time and are even done by major brands. Months or even a year prior to the release of a product, they start to disclose small details. The goal is to tease their audience and get conversations going. Ultimately, it leaves a lot in anticipation.
What happens is that people end up holding on to their money. Those who were already ready to make a purchase from a different brand are left having second thoughts. As a result, companies who tease their products end up gaining massive sales on their release dates.
Your startup is no different. If major companies are doing it, why shouldn’t you? If it is that widespread of a marketing strategy, then it surely is worth implementing on your startup.
When to Start Marketing a Startup: The Final Stage
Everything is laid out. Your product is in its final form and your business logistics is smoothened out. With everything settled, you basically have all the startup marketing freedom you can get.
It is during this stage that all forms of marketing approaches take form. You can now market your product in social media, email marketing, and everything else. Even traditional marketing options such as paid ads become an economical and viable choice at this point.
Most people think that this is the only time to do startup marketing. However, it clearly isn’t. It holds the most options, but the success of which are all dependent on what you do during the first two stages.
The attention you bring to your company with content marketing and the hype you gained from product teasing, pave the way for effective final stage marketing strategies.
At this point, the goal is to convert leads to customers. To transform interest to intent to make a purchase.
Should You Be Asking When to Start Marketing a Startup?
While most people wait for something to materialize in their startup before doing marketing, the right way should be to do it immediately. There is no time to spare when marketing is involved. Instead, it is all about the right type of approach based on the situation that you are in. So, asking when to start marketing a startup is the wrong question.
With this said, startup marketing is a constant journey of making crucial decisions. It can either be a hit or miss, and that can be a huge risk for some. To increase the rate of success, you are going to want to delegate the task to people who know what they are doing. So, what you need is the best digital marketing agency. Contact us today for a free strategy consultation.
