Strategic marketing here becomes essential for reaching your target audience, building brand awareness, and driving growth. Effective marketing can differentiate your startup from competitors and establish a loyal customer base. 

In this article, we’ll explore eight crucial tips for successfully marketing your startup, providing you with the tools and strategies needed to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

1. Understand Your Target Market

Image source

One of the first steps in successfully marketing your startup is to understand your target market. Knowing who your potential customers are and what they need allows you to tailor your marketing efforts effectively. Start by conducting market research. Use surveys, focus groups, and online research to gather data about your target audience’s demographics, preferences, and behaviors.

Analyzing this data helps you create detailed customer profiles, also known as buyer personas. These personas represent your ideal customers and guide your marketing strategies. By understanding your target market, you can develop products and services that meet their needs and craft messages that resonate with them. This targeted approach increases the chances of converting potential customers into loyal ones.

2. Invest in a Formal Education

Investing in a formal education in marketing can significantly enhance your marketing capabilities. An MBA with a concentration in marketing provides a comprehensive understanding of marketing principles, strategies, and tools. This education equips you with the knowledge to make informed decisions and develop effective marketing plans.

Today, many affordable online MBA programs offer flexibility for startup founders. These programs allow you to learn at your own pace and apply the concepts directly to your business. Courses in consumer behavior, digital marketing, and strategic management can provide valuable insights and practical skills. By investing in your education, you can build a strong foundation for your marketing efforts and stay ahead of the competition.

3. Develop a Strong Brand Identity

A strong brand identity differentiates your startup from competitors. 

Start by defining what your brand stands for and how you want it to be perceived. Create a memorable logo and choose a color scheme that evokes the right emotions. Develop a consistent brand voice that resonates with your target audience. Consistency across all marketing channels helps build brand recognition and trust.

Ensure that your brand identity aligns with your overall business strategy. A strong, cohesive brand identity not only attracts customers but also fosters loyalty and encourages repeat business.

4. Leverage Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms are powerful tools for marketing your startup. They provide a cost-effective way to reach a large audience and engage with potential customers. Identify the social media platforms most relevant to your target market. For example, Instagram and TikTok are ideal for visually-driven content, while LinkedIn is better for B2B marketing.

Create engaging content that resonates with your audience. Use a mix of posts, including promotional content, educational materials, and interactive posts like polls and Q&A sessions. Engaging with your audience through comments and direct messages builds a community around your brand.

Consistency is key in social media marketing. Post regularly and use analytics tools to track your performance. Adjust your strategy based on what works best for your audience to maximize your social media impact.

5. Utilize Content Marketing

Content marketing is all about creating valuable content that attracts and retains customers. High-quality content positions your startup as an industry authority and builds trust with your audience. Start by identifying the topics that interest your target audience and address their pain points.

Create a variety of content, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and podcasts. Ensure that your content is informative, engaging, and relevant. SEO optimization is also crucial to ensure your content ranks well in search engine results, driving organic traffic to your website.

Regularly updating your content keeps your audience engaged. By providing valuable information, you can nurture relationships with potential customers and guide them through the sales funnel.

6. Use Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for nurturing relationships with your audience and driving conversions. Start by building an email list of interested prospects and existing customers. Offer incentives such as discounts, free resources, or exclusive content to encourage sign-ups.

Segment your email list based on factors like demographics, purchase history, and engagement levels. This allows you to tailor your messages to specific audience segments, increasing the relevance and effectiveness of your campaigns. Craft compelling email content with attention-grabbing subject lines, personalized messages, and clear calls to action.

Consistency is key in email marketing. Send regular newsletters, promotional offers, and valuable content to keep your audience engaged. Use analytics tools to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. Analyze this data to refine your email marketing strategy and achieve better results.

7. Analyze and Adapt Your Marketing Strategy

Continuous analysis and adaptation are crucial for the success of your marketing efforts. Regularly review your marketing performance using tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and email marketing reports. Track key metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, engagement levels, and ROI.

Identify which strategies and campaigns are performing well and which ones need improvement. Use A/B testing to experiment with different approaches and determine what resonates best with your audience. Stay updated with industry trends and changes in consumer behavior to adjust your marketing tactics accordingly.

Being flexible and willing to adapt your marketing strategy based on data and feedback is essential. By continuously analyzing and refining your efforts, you can optimize your marketing performance and achieve better results over time.

8. Leverage Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing involves partnering with individuals who have a significant following and influence within your target market. Influencers can help you reach a larger audience, build credibility, and drive conversions. Start by identifying influencers whose values align with your brand and who have a genuine connection with your target audience.

Reach out to influencers with a clear proposal outlining the benefits of collaborating with your startup. This could include product samples, exclusive discounts, or monetary compensation. Ensure that the partnership feels authentic and adds value to both parties.

Conclusion

Successfully marketing your startup is an ongoing journey that demands creativity, dedication, and adaptability. Embrace each challenge as an opportunity to learn and refine your strategies. Stay committed to your vision, keep exploring new ideas, and your startup will not only survive but thrive in a competitive landscape. Remember, the heart of marketing is connection, and every effort you make brings you closer to your audience and your goals.

To make things easier, I want to shed some light on 10 of the most important things that any startup company needs if they want to be successful.

A great product/service

For most startups, the most important thing is a product or service that solves a problem.

Products or services that solve problems have a ready-made customer base.

A great team

A great team is one of the most important things for a startup to succeed. A lot of people start companies with great ideas, but the execution is often poor with a poor team.

Apart from talented people, a startup also requires an incredible atmosphere of collaboration in order to achieve and maintain success. Always remember that great teamwork makes the dream work.

Funding

Startups need money to get started, hire staff, and build products. This funding can be obtained from grants, investors, some types of loans (business loans and personal loans), or personal funds. No matter the type of funding utilized, having a means of generating funds when needed is crucial to a startup

Legal Support

Many startups overlook the need for legal support at the initial stage, but that is a huge mistake. Legal support is important to the well-being of every startup. There are lots of startup legal issues that need to be worked out—and solved. They include advice on how to handle taxes, how to protect your business, privacy laws and many more

Monitoring and evaluation

For a startup to be successful, a system to monitor and evaluate the company’s performance needs to be established.

This is crucial to measuring ongoing successes and complications.

Budgeting/Accounting

Most founders think they can handle the extra workload of creating a budget and making sure that the budget is followed. 

Every startup founder must learn how to create a budget if they hope to be successful. This will help in managing both present and incoming funds to reduce wastage and improve productivity.

Media Presence

Startups need to build a robust media presence from day one. A strong media plan includes an even distribution of content across multiple mediums. 

Content is key; having a clear message from the start will help set your company apart from competitors and increase brand awareness which helps generate leads and engages customers in your product or service.

Passion

Startups will most likely get into very difficult times. Most successful startups are passion-driven. Having a passionate founder and team will ensure that the drive to achieve the goals are maintained despite the circumstances.

Mentors

Startups need mentors. They are very much needed to provide honest and unbiased criticism. Discussions with other successful entrepreneurs are vital, and we help new startups build on their experience.

Customer Feedback

Startups don’t just need investors, lawyers, and team members. They also need customers.  The importance of customer feedback can not be overemphasized. It helps startups understand what their customers want and need before deciding on any part of their product or service to adjust or push on with.

Startups should collect customer feedback from the very beginning so they can make the right decisions for their customers. You should aim to get feedback from thousands of people, so to gather information on how to improve your products and services.

Conclusion

Making a startup successful is not easy. In fact, it is one of the most difficult things you can ever do. You have to put in a lot of hard work, and the odds will many times be against you.

Nevertheless, many have walked this path and come out very successful and fulfilled. You, too, can. Following these steps will surely make that startup dream a reality.

Why so?

They lack the requisite budget and technical skills. Owing to these constraints, SEO is often an afterthought for startups. They are often so involved in coping with competition and establishing their brands that they forget to reap SEO benefits.

Topping the SERPs (search engine results pages) is arguably one of the best ways to drive web traffic and build brand authority. After all, 75.1% of all clicks for a Google query go to the top three search results. The click-through rate (CTR) increases by 30.8% if you move up one spot on the SERPs.

If your startup is languishing at the bottom of the SERPs, you can’t hope to stand out among the big players in your niche. Only 0.78% of searchers move past page one on Google.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that startups can’t invest much in SEO. The SEO strategies that work for bigger businesses are not a viable option for you. That’s why you need to stick to the SEO fundamentals. 

This means understanding what matters most for search engines (key ranking factors) and focusing on those. 

Sound good?

Then, here are some low-cost, quick-return SEO tips that every startup owner needs to know.

4 SEO Tips that Every Startup Needs to Leverage

Yo get the best results, SEO should be tackled during the foundational stages of brand building. But this does not mean your SEO strategy can’t be refined during later stages. 

But how?

Just master these four startup friendly SEO hacks.

1. Invest in a Fast Hosting Provider 

After Google’s Penguin update, ranks are governed mainly by the user experiences (UX) of website visitors. Page speed is one of the top factors that determine your site’s UX. 

Nothing frustrates click-happy users more than sluggish websites. Slow-to-load websites give a poor first impression and have high bounce rates.

Need evidence?

A Portent study found that with each additional second of load time, the website conversion rate falls by 4.42%. According to the research, websites that load between 0-4seconds have the highest transaction rates. 

Image via Portent 

If your website achieves the ideal load time, it can retain visitors longer and prevent them from going to competitors. You deliver value at a glance, which means instant gratification for visitors. 

Couple that with valuable content, and your website’s dwell time skyrockets. To Google, all this indicates that your website is providing a great UX and deserves a better rank.

Page weight or the total Kilobytes transferred (images and everything else) is not a drag on page load anymore. Most developers have learned to “minify” their code using GZIP compression. 

Then what?

Invest in quality hosting providers like Hostinger and Bluehost that leverage cutting-edge technology to compress your site content. Using clever tricks like asynchronous Javascript loading and image resizing, they minimize your load delay. 

If you prefer a more hands-on approach, use Google PageSpeed Insights to audit your site. The tool identifies lazy-loading elements and offers improvement suggestions.

2. Start a Blog and Create Quality Content

Content is at the very core of SEO. Quality content that satisfies user intent gets a lot of traction and elevates your rank organically. If your content gets tons of engagement, your small business can edge into the SERPs. 

Of course, apart from creating stellar content, you also need to publish it on the right channels and promote it aggressively.

There are many SEO benefits of content marketing. 

Like what?

Linking your content to high-DA (domain authority) websites in your niche indicates topical authority and builds your backlink profile. This is a good sign for both Google and consumers. 

If your content is share-worthy , your brand can make a mark on social media. Your startup can enter the big leagues if your posts impress influential social media users. 

If big-time influencers and industry leaders engage with your content, you earn a competitive edge. This again improves your standings on the SERPs.

Last but not least, you can repurpose successful content without too much additional expenditure. This way, you can cater to varied audiences and rank on different platforms. 

In short, with a one-time investment in crafting content, you keep drawing organic traffic.

Blogs, in particular, have proven SEO benefits.

Don’t believe me?

“Successful” bloggers (those earning > $50K yearly) tend to prioritize SEO. While crafting content, they are 4.3x more likely to research keywords than their less-affluent peers.

Image via GrowthBadger

So, jump on the blog bandwagon if you haven’t already. To maximize your blogging returns, follow these best practices:

• Prepare a content strategy with well-defined goals and metrics. If SEO is a priority, track target keywords and SERP positioning.
• Write with your audience in mind. Dig into your CRM system, subscriber list, and follower profiles to understand your audience better. Create detailed buyer personas.
• Once your content is ready, distribute it adequately. If your website draws little traffic, leverage the reach of syndication websites like Mention.
• Publish regularly if you want to build steady readership. 

3. Choose the Right Keywords and Optimize for Them

While selecting keywords to target, opt for long-tail keywords that contain three or more words. 

For example, if you are writing about weight loss tips, target keywords like “best tips for weight loss” or “how to lose weight quickly.” These are easier to rank for than shorter keywords like “weight loss” and “weight loss tips.”

Why so?

Three reasons:

• Fewer people target long-tail keywords, which means lower competition and more opportunities to rank.
• They closely match the actual search queries people type or speak into Google. They attract high-intent, qualified traffic.
• They are cheaper to bid for in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. By targeting them, you can stretch your advertising budget.

Image via Instapage

In a nutshell, you can justify your SEO investment by leveraging longer keywords.

To dig into the exact language your audience is using in search queries, you can use search-listening tools like AskThePublic.

Image via AnswerThePublic

Include the keywords in your page copy, URLs, meta descriptions, headlines, and image file names. But don’t force them in if they don’t fit naturally in the content flow. 

Long keywords fit best in long-form content. So, don’t restrict yourself to short, snappy posts, especially if you want to draw Google traffic.

4. Leverage Local SEO Techniques

If your startup caters to local audiences, you need to nail local SEO.

Confused?

Let me explain with an example.

A searcher looking for “movie theater in Seattle” will likely see three search results in a separate box, above the organic results. This is called the “Google snack pack.”  

Results in the snack pack are Google My Business (GMB) listings. If you create a great GMB listing for your startup, you can figure in the Google snack pack and improve your CTR. 

Local searchers have high conversion potential. This means local SEO can boost your conversions as well. That’s why ecommerce startups should pay special attention to optimizing their GMB listings.

Want a pro tip?

To tie your SEO efforts with conversions, integrate SEO with omni-channel marketing. 

When all your touch-points – emails, websites, post-sales messaging, and push notifications – are optimized, you can improve your organic ranking and sales. You can use tools to streamline your marketing efforts end-to-end.

Ready to Do SEO like a Pro?

SEO tools and tactics for startups should be light on the pocket and easy to implement. That perfectly describes the tips and tools mentioned in this post. As your revenue and budget expand, you can try more advanced SEO methods like paid guest posting on prominent websites.

Do you need more help with your SEO? Leave your requests in the comments below. I’ll get back to you soon.

The more time you spend planning your expenses, the easier it is to keep the lights on in your company, rather than wasting money on potential sinkholes. The more time you spend at the head of your company, the more you’ll learn about budgeting.

You may even decide to invest in the help of a professional bookkeeper to guide you. In the meantime, here are some of the basics that you need to know.  

When to Spend and When to Scrounge 

One of the first things that you’ll need to learn as a startup entrepreneur is how to separate your assets from your liabilities. This will give you an insight into when you need to scrounge and save your money, and when you need to spend.

For instance, assets add value to your business. That means that sometimes, it’s a good idea to spend a little more on an asset if it means that you can earn more in the long-run. You shouldn’t cut corners when it comes to things like fundamental materials for your products or marketing campaigns for instance.  

On the other hand, liabilities are the things that eat up your resources without giving value back. For example, spending a fortune on an office for your team members might not be a good idea in a world where people can just as easily get work done from home over the cloud.  

[click_to_tweet tweet=”One of the first things that you will need to learn as a startup entrepreneur is how to separate your assets from your liabilities.” quote=”One of the first things that you will need to learn as a startup entrepreneur is how to separate your assets from your liabilities.”]

The Expenses You Shouldn’t Cut Costs On 

There are many ways that you can look for opportunities to cut costs in your startup budget. For instance, you can compare the deals available from different suppliers until you make sure that you’re getting the lowest prices for all of your essential materials. You can also cut costs by allowing people to work from home, so you don’t have to pay for real-estate.  

However, there are other parts of your research where you need to spend money to make money. One of the best examples of an area that you shouldn’t cut costs on when launching your startup, is research and design.

In today’s competitive world, you need to find a way to stand out from the other companies in your industry that offer the same kinds of products and services. Research and design helps you to do just that. For instance, some of the R&D assets you can invest in include: 

• Proprietary technologies: if you have an opportunity to design something new, you can rest assured that the money you put into this area should be beneficial in the long term. Proprietary technologies are how companies like Apple became so successful.  
• Content-based assets: Research and whitepapers that highlight the value of your existing products, as well as giving you unique marketing opportunities also bring more value to your business, by ensuring you can prove yourself to customers. 
• Intellectual property: Don’t run the risk that someone else will be able to swoop in and steal your designs. Claim ownership of your intellectual property and pay for patents when you need to. This will help to protect your products form losing value in the long-term.  

When Your Sales Grow, Your Budget Should Grow Too 

Running a successful business isn’t just about looking for ways to keep costs low wherever possible.

The key to success is keeping costs low where you can and doing everything possible to keep profits high. As your sale volumes begin to grow and you start earning more money from your business, remember that you need to put additional cash back into your company.

Don’t just give yourself and your team extra money as a fun bonus – focus on where you can invest in further development for your products and services, so you can make more cash in the long-term. 

Just like a personal budget, your business budget shouldn’t stay stagnant for years at a time. Every time something significant happens in your company that pushes your profits and sales levels up, take the time to look at your budget again and decide where you can get the most value out of that additional money.

If you have trouble making the right choices, a professional financial advisor could be one of the first investments you need to consider.  

When setting up a small business, it’s easy to get confused from the conflicting information out there. Not much of it often ends up being helpful.

To stabilize your finances and grow, you need focus and proper knowledge on handling your money. Here is some of the financial wisdom that he swears by. 

1. Track Your Spending

The vision of your business relies on the decisions you make. After you land your first customers and gain a foothold in the market, your responsibilities are more than double. You will quickly lose track of your expenditure information.  

That could be the start of a series of financial frustrations in your business. 

Without the correct records, you will be in the dark when it’s time to pay taxes or compile financial reports for your lenders. Today, there are several online bookkeeping applications such as QuickBooks that you can use to set your accounting records in order.  

As your investment or venture expands, managing your accounting records will likely become more challenging. A Financial Adviser can help to cut through all the accounting complications and give you clarity about the direction of your business. 

2. Aim For Profitability Always

Many entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and money acquiring new customers or expanding the business. If you can do these things while maintaining cash flow in your business, then that would be good. Sadly, most of these expenses often end up leading to reduced profits and without knowing it you might not be able to stay afloat.  

An experienced accountant or adviser will help to ensure that growth does not substitute profitability in your business. 

According to Forbes, a staggering 83 % of companies that got IPOs in early 2018 are now not profitable. As you budget for marketing and growth initiatives, it is also important to remember that existing conditions do not favor cash inflow.  

Today, businesses are struggling under trade wars, politics, and a self-correcting real estate market among other economic conditions. To attain quick profitability, keep your overhead costs low and adopt a higher pricing model that accommodates the fluid future.  

3. Consult A Financial Adviser Before You Seek To Borrow

Businesses need loans to raise capital, but the financial world today is slowly being taken hostage by predatory lenders. You can often tell them from miles away by signs such as a too good offer that doesn’t match your current ability to repay.  

Such lenders do not clearly state the true cost of a financial product, and when it is time to pay, they will be requesting for business details that they don’t necessarily need. 

Predatory lenders will destroy your financial wellness from their hefty interest rates. Getting financial assistance from a predatory lender is the quickest way to get cash, but it is also a shortcut to bankruptcy. 

It would help to seek professional counsel from a financial newsletter or adviser before you go out to look for financial help. As a rule of thumb, any loan with extremely high-interest rates makes up predatory lending.  

4. Have Separate Personal And Business Bank Accounts

This piece of financial advice might sound basic, but in reality, that there so many small time entrepreneurs that still do it wrong. The first thing out when you set up a business is to separate your personal from business banking accounts.  

Commingling your personal and business accounts can create a tax filing nightmare. When it is time to declare your expenses and income, you will have a hard time trying to separate your personal and business transactions.  

The tax office might sniff it as fraud or your relentless expenses might drive your business to losses. 

5. Get Acquainted With Applicable Laws

For a healthy financial life, you will need to learn how several laws affect your business.

Regulations to do with workers compensation, occupational safety, supplier contracts, risk management, IP issues, and insurance, among others, have a direct implication on the direction of your business. If you fail to comply with these legal requirements, you risk penalties that might financially cripple your business. 

Building a successful business requires financial discipline. If you fail to organize your finances, you may easily jeopardize your business and your dreams.

It needs all the hard work, consistency, financial aids sometimes to take it on the right path. Success doesn’t come overnight!

So, just doing things or moving in the haywire won’t take you anywhere or yield the positive results. Else, try to channelize your energy in being consistent, staying positive and making your idea work.

Here are some of the tips which will enlighten you to make your little startup a successful one and you can also read the books written by successful businessman and buy them using AliExpress Discounts. 

1. Don’t be afraid to fail

Many of the newbies working for a startup are not willing to take the bigger risks. The feeling of -if we get failed- those many ifs will only drag one person down.

So, don’t be a victim of “ifs” and be ready to take all the risks. The best entrepreneurs are the ones who are not afraid to fail.

Just believe in your skill set and your idea, and no matter what happens, try overcoming all the risks and fear and take a step towards your goal. 

2. Create a network

This is something related to your social activities and communication skills. An entrepreneur is building new connections, meeting new people and making sure that people are investing in that idea.

Start from the scratch- make one connection, then two, then ten and eventually, you will end up making a good number of allies. More the networks you have, easier the path will become of your success.

As per a career expert named Clare Dreyer:

Make connections and keep a record on each person you meet. Ask for their advice and help. Keep in touch with them along the way and build your network before you need it! Quality relationships are the keys to the kingdom.

3. Dive deep in your niche

Many of the startups fail because they are not having enough data and information about the niche they are going to dive in.

So, it is the key to success the startups- just know the niche and check how your product will stand out from other products, what is the status of this niche in the market, etcetera, and etcetera.

As per the George Shepherd who is a Professor of Law at Emory University:

You have to become the guru of our niche.

4. Have a habit to learn

It is one of the most significant and important tips anyone can give to you. Learning is something you must never get enough of. If you are looking to become an entrepreneur, then you must always be happy to learn, take advice from senior entrepreneurs and listen to others’ ideas and thinking.

It will make your mind broad and let you know the perspective of other people. In addition to this, you can also read the books like “The Manual for Indian Start-Ups” to get help and grab them by using Flipkart Sale offer. 

5. Don’t think about money

See, if you are hitting for a startup, then you should not think about financial activities. Yes, sometimes you might have to spend more and more, but get less profit out of it or no profit out of it.

But, always know that- consistency is the key. Don’t think about how much you are spending but the value you are giving to your startup- socially, financially, and psychologically. 

6. Spend smartly

But, above I said, don’t think about financial hits! Yes, you don’t have to think about that but it is of no use if you aren’t even copping up to pay your own bills.

That’s why try to spend the money smartly and balance your startup and personal life. Look out for a part-time job which can help you in saving a bit more and give you a little bit of financial power. 

7. Stay up with the market

Now, if you are ready to take down your niche with our perfect startup idea, don’t think that your graph will remain the same forever. It all depends upon the market and customers- what they want?

So, if you are not running step to step with the market, you might lack behind and your idea might be written in the pages of past. So, as the wind changes, you have to change too with the advancing market. 

8. Stay Positive

It is something you have to be all the time- staying positive. A positive approach will only make you a good person and can lead to a successful startup. No matter how many blows you get, if you turn into a pessimistic then you might not get along with anything.

Startups need consistency, perseverance and positive thinking to go ahead with the market. And, all this depends upon your approach, your thinking, and your goals. So, take care of yourself and don’t let yourself jump in a stressed startup. 

Finding funding is going to be a process as there will be plenty of pitching to do as you will not want to work with every possible investor that is interested. You want to have an investor or group of investors that understands the business plan as well as will allow freedom to make decisions for the good of the company rather than short term profits.

The person that the investment is coming from if made public can be a huge deal as well. Certain investors only invest in companies that they are sure will be a success so this can attract quite a bit of attention.

The following are what startups need to do as well as look for when trying to find funding and what to avoid.

Understand How Much Funding Is Needed And How Funds Will Be Used

The first thing that has to be done is to get an accurate number on how much funding will be needed. This could really open up options as you might find you need far less money than you thought to make the startup profitable.

Going to investors without a concrete number is dangerous as you might find yourself giving up more stake in the company than you had anticipated. There is also another option that could work in the form of a small business loan as this doesn’t require a startup to give up a percentage of their company. This also eliminates the possibility of an investor that wants to have final approval on decisions although they didn’t invest a huge amount.

Angel Investors

Obviously angel investors that are hands off are going to be an ideal candidate to go to for funding. This is not a group of people deciding what to do with a myriad of people’s money but an angel investor is rather a personal investor.

Shark Tank is a perfect example of these types of investors as they are going to take ownership of a certain amount of the startup. Often times partnering with an angel investor that can help develop the business through their existing relationships can be extremely beneficial to a startup.

A person that has a shipping fleet could be a perfect fit for a startup looking to do very well in the ecommerce space. Usually it takes $200,000 in investment to be considered an angel investor but a personal investor could be any amount of money in exchange for equity in a company.

High Interest Business Loans

The last thing that you want to do is to take out a high interest business loan as it will eat away at profits. For a company needing money that is not yet profitable this can dig a financial hole that even successful companies might not be able to get out of. For those companies that are looking to increase cash flow with money coming in this can be an option.

Companies that are waiting for money from clients can take part in something called factoring where a third party gives the company money for what is owed. The one issue with this is it does require giving a discount on the bill to the third party providing cash. This does not make the factoring company responsible for collecting the money as it is often called invoice financing as you are borrowing against the invoice.

Venture Capitalists

Venture capitalists operate a fund that incorporates a myriad of people’s money and invest it in businesses that they see fit. Generalist VCs usually invest in a variety of industries and invest in businesses they think will be profitable long term regardless of niche. Specialist VCs tend to stick to one niche and invest in multiple related niches as well. VC deals according to Lee Jacobs can win deals in a variety of industries for quite a few reasons.

One being that generalist VCs can help form mutually beneficial relationships between unrelated businesses they have invested in. A digital marketing company could help a sales optimization company and vice versa as all businesses need both sales as well as a good online marketing plan.

Investors That Want To Be Too Controlling/Involved In Everyday Operations

The nightmare of many of those people needing funding for their startup is that of an investor that wants to be overly involved. This can include second guessing your decisions as a founder or even disagreeing with you in front of your staff.

Expectations need to be set before accepting an investment as you do not need a person thinking they have all of the answer just due to them investing some money. While you will have to listen to investors to a point, there is no reason for them to come into the office daily to talk about ideas they may have had overnight.

Finding funding is going to be a stressful period but with the right investor a lot of financial and personal stress will be lifted off of you as well as your startup. Take the time to target investors now to get the ball rolling!

This is a guest contribution by Charles Dearing.

At this point the best course of action that startup businesses could take would be to look for a revolving line of credit for startups, but many tend to make the mistake of going for the first thing that they feel looks good – which normally has to do with a loan. After all, a loan is simple and allows you to get your money right away. While this is an attractive prospect, it could very well end badly because there’s no flexibility in a loan whatsoever.

You can’t bend it to cater to your needs, and so your company will have to work under its terms with no compromise or wiggle room. This paired along with the fact that you normally put something big up for collateral is why loans generally bring small businesses down.

What Does A Line Of Credit Have That Loans Don’t?

As mentioned above, the keyword is flexibility, the ability to cater to your company’s specific needs. It isn’t something as clear-cut as a loan, because it’s something that can be molded into an agreement that your company can make the best use of.

It’s all about minimizing risk for your company, especially when it’s in such a vulnerable stage. If you find yourself in a situation where you know that extra capital will take your company far but at the moment it seems stuck in slow motion, that’s normally a great time to look for a line of credit.

That said, it’s important to take note that there are two revolving lines of credit that startup businesses can choose from. For those who are looking for the right credit line, being able to distinguish between the two will help you find the right revolving credit line for you.

The Secured Business Credit Line

Of the two types, the secured business credit line is one that doesn’t have too many prerequisites. It’ll allow you a line of credit not dissimilar to a credit card, except it’s for your business as a whole. There is a good amount of liability and risk in the case of the lender however, which is why this normally comes with collateral, similar to loans.

However, unlike loans which immediately have you risking an unreasonable amount, the collateral that the secured business credit line asks for is not nearly as risky. Whatever it is that they ask for, it won’t be very large – perhaps some receivables or even inventory.

Real estate as collateral is normally only the domain of loans, which is why the secured business credit line is still preferable.

The Unsecured Business Credit Line

Whereas the secured credit line has an easier bar of entry thanks to putting certain things up as collateral, the unsecured business credit line is the opposite. It will not have any collateral, instead simply trusting the company to keep their word as they finance them through the credit line.

In return for all this, there is a relatively high bar of entry. This means that in order to be eligible, you will need to have a relatively sterling record – or at least one without any real blemishes. If you’ve had some troubles in the past paying your bills or have multiple instances of late payments, then it hurts your chances of being eligible.

The unsecured business credit line, such unsecured loans, would be the best way to finance your small business, but it does require you to have a great credit score.

Being Approved Before You Even Require It

It might be a little silly to try and apply for a credit line even if you don’t need it just yet, but it’s actually quite prudent to do so. Just imagine this situation, two companies decide to look for approval with a revolving line of credit. One company is desperate for the money, while the other company has an excellent credit score and doesn’t seem like they need the credit at all.

From the lender’s standpoint, the company that doesn’t look like it’s in any hot water seems the more attractive prospect, and so is immediately approved. On the other hand, the company desperate for money has likely engaged in other attempts to borrow, and even if it hasn’t, it’s in a precarious situation. The lenders will be much more wary about this particular company.

Keep in mind that being approved for the line of credit means that you don’t have to use it. Being approved simply makes you the more attractive prospect, even if it’ll be a long time before you actually need the extra finance. Taking advantage of the process gives you a much higher chance of securing the unsecured business credit line, something that a company strapped for cash and which didn’t seek approval from the beginning would be unlikely to receive.

To conclude, even if your startup company is doing great and looks like it won’t be needing a revolving line of credit for startups, not only would it be a good idea to consider a credit line, but it would also be prudent to gain approval as early as possible. This way, when the time comes that you do need it you’ll be able to quickly take advantage of it with little risk involved. This is why, compared to a loan a line of credit is a much more effective and flexible choice.

Starting a business is an exciting journey, but it’s a stressful and sometimes a tricky journey as well, as confirmed by the experts from Next-Insurance.com. It requires plenty of planning and even more work. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Having said that, however, there are no reasons why you shouldn’t be able to make it work. There are plenty of success stories around. All you need to do is avoid common mistakes and take the advice of the experts. Here’s how to strengthen your business start-up: your ultimate guide.

Establish Your Mindset and Your Goals

As a small business entrepreneur, you make up only a small portion of the populace. But while the number of entrepreneurs nowadays is growing, not all of them have the right mindset.

It is important to mentally prepare for your endeavor– think about why you are doing it and what your reasons are for going into business, and think about your goals. Remember that you are the founder of something, aim high.

You also have to assess yourself and try to understand what makes you different or unique from other founders or business owners. Drawing from your inner strength is one of the keys to making full use of your skills, talents, and assets. It helps you form better relationships, as well.

Establishing your goals from the onset is also a good way to remain focused. Having a clear focus allows you to make sure that you don’t end up being distracted by non-essential tasks or issues that don’t contribute to the growth of your business.

Create a Sound Business Plan

Even if you are convinced that you have the best product or service around and your product or service will ‘sell like hotcakes’, you still need to create a sound business plan. Your business plan should reflect your goals and objectives, but it should also make logical and financial sense. In other words, it should be realistic.

Additionally, your business plan should include your options when it comes to funding – how much you need over the next year and how you will get it. Keep in mind that many business startups fail in the first year simply because they lack funding and do not retain a sufficient cash flow for their business, so you need to determine your source of funding from the beginning.

Give the Market What It Wants

Too often, entrepreneurs focus on what they want to sell. You may be great at making strawberry jam or cupcakes, but that’s not necessarily what the market wants, especially if there is so much competition (and perhaps better products) out there.

Focus on what the market wants. Produce what your customer wants. Do your research and ensure you have a niche.

Focus on Cash Flow

 Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business.

Although you as an entrepreneur should not expect a positive cashflow for the first six months or so (depending on the business, of course), it’s necessary to focus on it and make that cash flow positive as soon as possible.

Calculate Very Conservatively

At the launch of your business, your expenses are bound to me more than you expect, while your income is bound to be less than you estimated. Calculate very conservatively when you project your expenses and your revenue – it may not go according to plan, so be ready for a relatively dry spell at the start.

Get insurance

Insurance is often initially overlooked by small business owners. They see it as an unnecessary expense.

It isn’t, however; it’s a vital way to ensure that the business can survive when things don’t go according to plan. It provides a crucial safety net.

Find the Right Partners

By finding the right partners, we mean the right staff. Once you find the right staff, train them well. If you have staff that knows exactly what to do and how to do it, this can give your business a boost; you don’t have to waste time correcting their errors or mistakes or supervising them.

Take the time and effort to create trust within your team, and let everyone know precisely what their purpose is and how they fit into the bigger picture. This encourages loyalty as well.

Take Advantage of Networking Opportunities

As a startup business, you need to get noticed. You need to get the right amount of exposure. One way to get the exposure and attention you need is to harness the opportunities presented by networking. There are many networking events out there for startup entrepreneurs, and all you have to do is attend.

Through networking, you can meet other owners of small businesses, you can get referrals, you can acquire knowledge from the experience of others who have been in your shoes, and, if you are a regular attendee of this kind of event, you can become more well-known and begin spreading a reputation as a trustworthy, reliable, and amiable business entrepreneur.

Marketing is a Must

Marketing is not a cost – it’s an investment. You need to make sure the market knows about your company and your product or service. You need to spread the word and attract customers.

Needless to say, some new entrepreneurs may be a bit wary about spending too much of their much-needed funds for marketing purposes – but you’d be surprised at some of the low-cost ways of marketing you can take advantage of. Nowadays, you can market your business on social media, for instance.

Never underestimate the power of social media channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and make sure you have a strong and robust presence on each. Social media marketing is also a great way to establish a bond and connection with your customer base, especially if you regularly update your social media network and post interesting photos, videos, and the like.

There are many more things to mention, but perhaps this is one of the most important ones: you constantly have to revisit your business plan, review, gather data, and discover. There is a learning curve, and you can’t expect everything to fall into place from the start.

Constantly do research about your competition, and learn from them. Continue gathering information about your target demographic, and learn. The more you learn, the more likely you are to earn.

Images taken from Pixabay.com

If that’s you, read on, because these are game changing concepts that are leading businesses to incredible growth by changing everything about startups and product development.

In this post, we’ll just scratch the surface of these exciting ideas and see how the two relate to exponential business growth, and each other.

So, What is Growth Hacking?

It might seem like a trending hipster term but it can be very useful.

In part, it can be described as a kind of marketing, though there’s more to marketing than growth hacking.

In marketing you:

• Research the market, identify a need, and come up with a targeted offer that satisfies that need
• Select the ways (or channels) to communicate the offer, attract people, and sell it most profitably

Growth hacking focuses on the second part.

A growth hacker identifies the best channels for communication and customer acquisition in order to seriously boost sales and profits. But this is what a conventional marketer does too, so what’s the difference?

A conventional marketer depends on subjective methods, such as planning and his/her gut feeling to run marketing campaigns, hoping to attract potential customers to the top of sales funnel.

A growth hacker leverages business intelligence or analytics technology to analyze the sales funnels and find the openings for rapid business expansion. In particular, growth hackers exploit digital and social media to make the product go viral – often their solution can be a simple tweak or change.

There are no right and wrong ways to growth hack, just successful and unsuccessful growth hacks. Instagram growth hacking can work very well for some startups and Twitter can work as a great platform for others.

But much before that, a growth hacker helps create the perfect product in order to achieve the growth..

What Comes Before Growth Hacking

Marketing today is driven not by advertising, but by product. Word-of-mouth spreads fast on social media, and with the strong demand for quality design, a poor product simply can’t be growth-hacked.

One of the favorite examples growth hackers love to quote is Hotmail, how it grew the subscriptions to 1 million users within 6 months by using the simplest growth hack ever. It was the tagline,

‘PS: We love you! Get your free email at Hotmail,’ which they added at the end of every outgoing email, and saw their growth curve transform into a hockey stick.

Hotmail’s growth curve: (Source: SmartInsights)

However, think about it for a second. Would the results be the same if Hotmail had a poor product?

What would happen if the link to the subscription page didn’t work, or if the servers were jammed, or the interface had a poor design? In all likelihood, they would lose their existing subscribers instead of acquiring new ones.

The same is true for PayPal, GroupOn, Dropbox, Air BnB, and other widely quoted growth hacking examples.

Before they achieved their historical triple-digit growths, they had a product or a solution that a large number of people really liked and wanted.

So, here’s your first step to growth hacking: STOP!

If you’re trying to sell a poor product, stop. Even if you have a titanic advertising budget, you’ll be sinking it without hacking any significant growth. As Dave McClure puts it in his presentation:

Do not try to do a viral marketing campaign until your product doesn’t suck, because, what will happen is people will tell other people that your product sucks, so don’t do that.

But how do I know if I have a great product?

The answer is that you can never know, until you ask your customers.

You might think it’s great but your opinion here doesn’t matter.

Lean Startup Vs Conventional Startup

This is why the lean startup movement has been gathering momentum in the recent years. It is a methodology for developing businesses and products first proposed by Eric Ries in 2008.

In the traditional startup, you conceive a product, write a business plan, raise the capital, recruit a team, and start selling like hell. Basically, what you’re doing is building castles in the air.

You have no way of knowing that a large enough market does care about your product. And while you have put down your acquisition and sales targets in your business plan, you have little idea about how to achieve them.

The typical startup begins with a business plan, which is developed after months of research and number crunching, all the while sitting in isolation at a desk.

It’s virtually a work of fiction that describes the opportunity or the need, the market size, the product and how it fulfills that need, and includes a projection of sales revenues, income, and cash flow for the next 5 years.

The product development also progresses in isolation, or even secrecy. A considerable (read fatal) amount of investment has already been made by the time the product sees the daylight, and the entrepreneur realizes people don’t want or like the way it is designed.

Unsurprisingly, then, 75% of all startups fail! The daydreamed business plan evaporates as soon as it enters the real world. As Mike Tyson once put it, “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

What is Lean Startup

A lean startup is the antithesis of this decade old formula. It involves experimentation, customer feedback, and adaptive design, as opposed to baseless planning, gut feeling, and the design-first mantra.

In a way, a lean startup is a staunch implementation of the basic marketing concepts, right down to where marketing should actually start—the end customer. ‘Build it and they will come’ has never worked.

Instead of the business plan, a lean start-up entrepreneur/growth hacker develops a set of hypotheses.

Then, he/she extensively tests those hypotheses by going out into the market and asking questions from his potential customers, distributors, and opinion leaders.

These questions concern the features, pricing, distribution, and acquisition channels.

The business model canvas for lean startup (Source: HBR)

The research, called customer development, is carried out in tandem with product development.

The lean startup methodology professes agile development, in which the founders quickly gather resources to develop the product up to a minimum level for testing.

Further development is made iteratively and incrementally, based on the customer responses. The emphasis is on quick turnaround and retesting. The goal is to create value in every aspect of the offer.

As a result of agile development, the costly errors and delays of conventional product development are eliminated, and virality is built into the product’s design. In the words of Seth Godin,

Virality isn’t something you do to a product, it’s something a product is.

Conclusion

In order to be hacked into a jaw-dropping growth, your product must give the user their ‘aha moment,’ compelling them to go ahead and share their experienced through their Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, or other social networks.

For serious growth, your referrals and repeat customers have to keep growing at an increasing rate.

Only great design will ensure that. And to develop a great design, you have to do a lean start up.