Recent years have seen the advent of startups. Besides the regular restaurants, factories, and laboratories that have been springing up for a few decades, the new wave of startups is also fueled by individuals or groups of people working together to bring to life online startups. The newly formed group of entrepreneurs deals with businesses such as drop-shipping, online courses, and continued education or running surprisingly successful social media pages.
However, the overproduction may lead to a downfall of so many of them: the usual number of 90% of startups not making it to year 3 and 90% of the remaining startups not making it to year 10 may be increasing, as more and more people simply copy existing models, without taking into consideration the peculiarities of their own business, market share, and their target audience. Without sufficient guidance, most of them will fail, but if you want to avoid a bleak future, make sure to assess your position in the market properly.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
When approaching the entrepreneurial waters, many beginners make the common mistake of not assessing their target audience properly. In the past, it was possible to put a product on the market and simply wait for a group of consumers or clients to simply form. Coca-Cola was so successful from the very start because there were no real competitors at the time – besides the soda water, people had no other refreshments.
Today’s market is heavily saturated. This means that the product has to be heavily advertised and that it may take a very long time for a brand image to appear in the public’s mind. To be able to advertise the product, you need to understand who your target audience will be: their age, gender, geographical location, the income bracket they belong to, etc. Know your market before you leap the next time you’re planning a marketing campaign and waste, not a penny, in building a brand name for your business.
2. Understand Your Competitors
Another very important factor to consider is all your competitors. It is easy to say that a high-quality product will attract your customers. The problem is that there are already other high-quality products. Make sure that you understand the way your competitors work and make your business plan accordingly. Build your brand within a segment of the market that is not addressed by your business competitors, and then spread from thereon.
3. Develop Your Brand’s Colors, Logo, and Font – Make it Recognizable
Now that you know the stats of your target audience and the way that your competitors address the market, you may start making your brand into something that will be recognizable for years to come. To make sure it stands out from the competition, look at its logos, fonts, and colors they use. Do not simply copy-paste their ideas into your brand, because you want to be unique.
Read about the psychology of colors and how different color palettes may invoke different feelings in customers or clients. Look at different fonts and see what kind of idea they evoke in you. How about logos? Is anything different in your emotional response if you look at a circular vs. a rectangular logo? How about the negative space found in so many logos today? You can also use logo maker tools to create awesome logos.
4. Work on Your Messaging Strategy
Establishing a good rapport with your customers is a must. The most reliable way to do so would be through social networks. A single post may be seen thousands of times, by thousands of different potential clients, but the problem of saturation of the market is there again: these prospective clients will see many other advertisements both before and after yours. In that case, make sure to establish a good mailing list. Mailing lists are proven to be more effective in contacting and converting potential clients. Furthermore, people may change their social network usernames, may delete them, or simply pay a premium fee and see no advertisements at all. On the other hand, people are very hesitant when it comes to changing their email addresses.
5. Create Engaging Content and Market It Properly
Once you have your mailing list, it is time to create content that you will be selling. SpeedyPaper may be able to assist with a particular niche of digital products. Regardless of whether your desired product is an article, a blog post, or an entire 15,000-word e-book, they’ve got you covered. Take good care that they can also help you in making freebies and other deliverables that you can offer to prospective clients in exchange for their email addresses. Some of these could be your main product, while others could be aiding deliverables – making your audience more prone to spending with you.
6. Build Your Website – Availability Above All
Last but not least, you will notice that as you grow, so will your needs. In terms of the digital space and the functionality they provide, social networks are a great solution, but you cannot host your entire virtual shop on another website’s pages: having a domain of yours speaks at length of your abilities and the reputability of your company. Hire a team of experts and have yourself a private space in the cloud.
Final Thoughts
Whatever your intentions, the power of branding is a real endeavor. Making sure that you are always aligned with your vision of what your brand will look like is a sure way to create one. Read more about the power of branding to better understand where to head next. Do not let any noise come your way – make sure that you are always heading straight and keep your thoughts on a bright note. After all, yes, only around 1% of companies actually make it to year 10, but careful planning and development can take you miles ahead of the competition and secure your success.
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