Successful Entrepreneurs Give Top Marketing Tips for Startups
Anyone who has started their own business knows that it can be tough – you have a lot of decisions to make, a small mistake could cost you big, and you quickly learn that you technically don’t need as much sleep as you think you do (though you may more frequently find your keys in the freezer). While being a successful entrepreneur means taking risks and, in some cases, doing things that have never been done before, we’ve found that you can always learn the most from people that have done it before and done it well. We recently read an onboardly article about marketing tips from top entrepreneurs, and wanted to share our thoughts on some of our favorites below.
Here are 8 Marketing Tips for Startups from Successful Entrepreneurs
- People Always Buy the Benefit, Not the Feature: It’s not about being just a little bit better or less expensive, it’s about how to illustrate these differences in terms of the benefit and value to customer. Dharmesh Shah, the co-founder and CTO of HubSpot,understands that it’s the benfit, not the feature that resonates with customers.
- Don’t Stay in Startup Stealth Mode Too Long: Amanda NacNuaghton, the co-founder and CMO of PromoJam, advises not to wait too long to market your product. The desire to make sure it’s perfect before you get it out there is normal, but don’t forget that it takes a while to build an active customer base and it could be hurting you if you wait too long to start.
- Develop an Editorial Voice: You want your brand to be recognizable, even when you strip away branding. Contently’s Shane Snow is a big proponent of developing a strong editorial voice and make sure it’s easily identifiable.
- Test Your Marketing Ideas in Small Batches: Don’t discount the idea of running short-term experiments. A lot of tests take some time and patience to see results, but Ross Kimbarovsky, founder & CEO at Startup Foundry, understands that you can learn a lot from a two-week experiment with online marketing as it will give you a good idea of not only what works, but also what doesn’t.
- Approach Your Customers from Four Angles: Marketing expert and co-founder of KISSmetrics Neil Patel says you should approach your customers from four angles. It all starts with the marketing basics: know who they are, where they hang out, how to engage with them, and how to covert them into leads.
- Focus on Existing Customers: New customers are an important part of any start-up, but Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, knows that you need to focus on your existing customers. Your existing customers are already the ones who believe in your product and by focusing on them, you increase their loyalty which can help immensely with word-of-mouth marketing.
- Turn Disaster Into Opportunity: Will King, founder of King of Shaves, learned this first-hand when he turned a British Grand Prix accident into a marketing opportunity. Of course this is easier said than done, but it’s important to learn to control the panic that comes along with a disaster and use that energy to find a solution.
- Stay Current on Startup Marketing Trends: We talk about this one a lot. If you’re not ahead on the latest in your industry and in marketing trends, you’re going to get left behind. Learn from the successes and failures of others and make sure you have an eye on what they’re doing. Andrea Bailiff-Gush of HoneyApps, Inc. suggests watching other startups so you can learn from their mistakes.
The startup world is exciting. Sure there is a lot of risk, but there is a tremendous amount of opportunity for success, growth and learning. While startups test how you do out on your own, that doesn’t mean you can learn from the mistakes and the successes of others. Use these tips to help take your startup to the next level and find yourself on a list like this in the future. Click here to learn more about marketing tips for startups and to find out how we can help.