I recently started a small company. We have a product, launched it in Alpha, got some feedback. We're working towards a Beta. However, our biggest hurdle is the lack of someone to help market it. Let alone market it, someone to help us to understand how to market the product. Some products are very straightforward - you need a telephone, you love the iPhone etc.
Some products, you need to change the mindset - in some small way or the other. There needs to be a reason for people to like your product- whether it makes their life easier - or adds value to their everyday life. Some may argue that if you can't see the value immediately, then it's probably not going to take off. I disagree! I take a simple example of my former employer - Blackboard. 20 years ago, people would say - what - why online courses - today students want it that way. Same with many other products.
Right now, we're in a spot where we definitely need someone to help us market it - or make those contacts!
With this experience - I have learnt one thing though (even though I probably knew this all along but was naive enough not to accept it) - marketing / market validationn is a lot more important than a new cool feature. If you don't have people to use those new cool features - it's probably not going anywhere. You need someone who can think of a way to sell your product or it's probably all for nothing - even with all these startups coming online!
My reader(s) - your comments are most welcome!
1 comment:
I've written about this a bit as well.
Creating a market is as simple and as difficult as telling people who do something every day that sucks that what they have to do sucks. Find the early adopter types, let them know why what you have sucks less, or better yet, doesn't suck. This can come from gaming SEO, or talking it up in a product blog that comes up in searches - start blogging about your idea now as part of a company blog, become a web 'authority' on the subject, then when you go to market it, you have a community who sees you as a leader in making this thing better.
The web makes it so much easier to start something and get it out there, but it also makes it easier to market, or at least to get started.
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