Give your start-up a head start in 2020
If you’re planning to launch a business or grow
your start-up this year, check out our top tips for getting ahead in 2020.
Tip 1: Do your research
You’ve got the idea, the passion – now you need
proof of concept. In other words, you
need to know who your product or service is aimed at, whether they might buy it
and at what price point, what they’re buying at the moment, what the
competition is doing and what your USP or point of differentiation is.
You’ll also want to know how you will bring your
concept to market and what the cost of production and sales is likely to be,
and of course you will need a business plan both for your own peace of mind and
to present to any potential backers.
Tip 2: Do some test
marketing
This ties in with your proof of concept. Work with a small sample of your target
audience – willing volunteers, but they do need to be in the right
demographic.
You’ll want to test not
just your product or service but also those crucial elements of the marketing
mix like your messaging and tone of voice, logo, brand, positioning and the
media channels you intend to use to engage your audience.
Remember, too, that when it comes to media you
can start small and add other channels as you go along. It’s very easy to dip a toe in social media
advertising and you can define your campaign very tightly to keep costs low.
Tip 3: Refine your offering
Work with what you’ve gleaned from your research
and test marketing to refine your offering if necessary. Go back to your focus group a second time if
you need to. Then temper the results
with your own gut feeling – perhaps yours is a new concept or a different
approach: you need to be confident in what you’re selling, so be prepared to
push the boundaries and go with what feels right.
Tip 4: Keep your costs low
You may always have dreamed of seeing your name
above the door of a swanky office suite and employing a team of receptionists to
field your calls. But to begin with,
you’ll want to focus investment on developing your product or service and
finding the most cost-effective way of bringing it to market and spreading the
word.
Keep costs low in the early days, by doing as
much of the work as you can by yourself and drafting in extra help from experts
or hands-on workforce on an outsourced basis if possible. See Tip 6 below for how to get the support
you need, when you need it, without incurring unnecessary overheads.
Tip 5: WOM is everything
Word-of-mouth is more influential in people’s
buying decisions than ever before – to the point where it even has its own
acronym (WOM) in marketing-speak.
Statistics vary according to whose research you
use, but it’s believed than well over 60% of consumers search online for
reviews and information before purchasing, and an eye-popping 90% believe brand
recommendations from friends. So it’s
really important to get people talking about your product or service. In the online universe, this is known as UGC
or user-generated content, such as reviews, photographs or videos shared by
(hopefully happy) customers.
Look out for our next blog, which will focus on
how you can generate WOM traction, but for now we’ll just say create a solid
social media presence, make sure your website is working hard and encourage
customers to leave reviews when they buy from you.
Tip 6: Work your support
system
Staying small is one thing, but it’s important
to be seen. You can shape how people
perceive your business by the image you project, and that starts with your
brand – the logo, typeface, name, strap-line, tone of voice and colours you
choose.
If you want a ‘heritage’ look and feel there’s
no need to rent a stately home – you can convey the sense of history in the way
you position your brand. Whatever your
image, though, it does help to have a credible business address, both from an
image point of view and in terms of handling correspondence. It’s good to have somewhere for your mail and
parcels to be delivered, signed for and kept safe if you’re out and about
getting the show on the road.
Outsourcing things like a mailbox or virtual
office address, design, copy, print, post and parcel services makes sense –
particularly when your local Mail Boxes Etc. can offer all these and more. We’re also here for services like company formation,
and you can register your business at our address.
We help thousands of entrepreneurs, freelancers
and small businesses every year, so please do feel free to give us a call or
pop into your nearest store for a chat about how we can support your start-up
in 2020.