When launching a startup there are so many things you need to get out of your way in terms of logistics, infrastructure and planning. Nonetheless, there are several vital steps that people tend to overlook, therefore, landing their startup in some substantial trouble later on. That being said, here are 8 startup tips that you would be wise to consider early on.
1. Pick a lucrative market
Picking a profitable market is not an easy task, yet, there are several factors that can make this job a lot easier. First, you should probably look for an industry with an average order value between $75 and $200 and something with a gross margin of 20 percent or more. Next, picking a one-time purchase item as your main product isn’t that great of an idea, seeing as how return customers tend to be highly lucrative. Lastly, you should pick a market where you have something new to offer. A new angle is by far the best way to gain a competitive edge.
2. Choose a pricing strategy
Once you have picked a market, it’s time to choose a pricing strategy that will allow you to get the greatest value for your investment. You can price for market penetration in order to get the initial momentum. You can price a premium where you set your cost higher than your competitors due to the greater quality and prestige or your product or you can offer special bundle discounts in order to make your customers an offer they can’t refuse. If you decide to create your own pricing strategy you need to know your margins, your USP (unique selling proposition), as well as offer unique incentives to boost your product’s appeal.
3. Find the right name
The next factor that often gets overlooked is the importance of finding the right brand name. A lot of people tend to overlook this, believing that they’ll think about it later on, once they have the structure and other factors all figured out. What they tend to forget is the fact that finding an available name that suits your needs isn’t an easy thing to do. Once you do find it, make sure to register under it and contact IP lawyers in order to trademark it, as soon as possible. Only in this way will you be off to a great start.
4. Hire the right team
No matter how skilled you are as an administrator when it comes to performing separate tasks and functions, your staff is on their own. Therefore, you need to hire the right team and give them enough autonomy to make their own choices when it comes to their work post. For this to work, you need people with previous experience, strong referral and those who perform well during the interview. Keep in mind that one’s performance in an interview isn’t necessarily a great indicator, seeing as how this stage usually favors extroverts over introverts, while you need both.
5. Don’t hesitate for too long
Another grievous mistake that you can make is hesitating for too long when you decide to launch your startup. A lot of first-time entrepreneurs wait for the right conditions and circumstances, while completely oblivious that postponing usually makes their launch much harder. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be able to generate profit and pay off your business’ launch cost. This is especially problematic if you start acquiring paperwork and apply for a loan, yet, feel like you might benefit from holding out for just a couple of months longer. Needless to say, this is a mistake that you might come to regret fairly soon.
6. Simple means referral friendly
Try to explain your services in a single sentence? How hard is it? Is it at all possible? Well, this is the same experience that your customers are going to encounter when they try to describe your brand to friends and acquaintances. A memorable company name, a simple to describe the key function and a plain, relatable origin story about your business are actually all that you need in order to pull this through. Sure, some functions can’t be described as plainly but, then again, B2B marketing works differently than its B2C counterpart. What matters the most is that you adjust your message to its recipient.
7. Imagine yourself without any resources
At the end of the day, in order to push the frugality to its limits, you need to imagine yourself without any resources and then consider what would your options be in this particular situation. In this way, you can implement some of these options into your current system, thus making cuts where it’s safe to make them. On the other hand, it would be even wiser to limit your hypothetical resources to only a fraction of what you have. In this way, you’ll learn how to prioritize much better, yet, avoid a method that yields a great ROI simply because it’s not free.
In conclusion
All of the above-listed seven are incredibly intuitive, which is perhaps their greatest flaw. Due to the fact that all of them can be reached through logical thinking, most seasoned executives believe that they aren’t even worth mentioning. Consequences of this oversight, however, can be fairly catastrophic for a person without this kind of experience. Of course, learning on your own mistakes is always an option, yet, this didactic method might be simply too expensive to pay.
Bio: David Koller is a passionate blogger and copywriter for Media Gurus, mainly interested in SEO and Digital Marketing.
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