Startup Marketing and What It Can Do For Your Small Business

Startup companies, more likely than not, launch without being “known”.  Nobody knows who you are, what your new company does, what problem you tend to solve and who your company will cater toward.  The only way that the masses can answer any of these questions is through effective startup marketing.  But many new companies are not utilizing startup marketing strategies to their advantage.  We have laid out the top 5 ways that startups can market their products or services effectively so that clients and customers will come to them and leave happy:

1.      Establish your credibility

First and foremost, an effective startup marketing strategy needs to incorporate the brand’s overall credibility.  When clients and customers view your business as a resource rather than just another startup, they will value your product or service on an even higher level.  The best way to establish credibility through marketing is by sharing content that displays your knowledge, sharpening your copywriting skills, sending out newsletters, sending out tips on social networks and sharing testimonials on your website. 

2.     Create your own unique messaging

Before marketing your startup company, it is important to find the brand’s voice.  Are you going to portray yourself as an edgy, high-tech company?  Are you going to stick to a professional, corporate voice?  Are you going to utilize a laid-back voice with slang and abbreviations?  It is important that startup companies give off their own unique messaging so that the company can develop a personality.  Find your brand’s personality through the voice that you think best fits the company’s image, product and target market.   

3.     Develop a cost-conscious strategy

Most startups don’t have a whole lot of wiggle room when it comes to marketing budgets.  In this situation, social media marketing becomes a highly-effective resource.  Social media marketing through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogger, Foursquare, Flickr, YouTube (and more!) provides startup companies with the ability to market their brand online absolutely free. 

Bonus: Check out The Social Media Bible by Lon Safko and find out how Think Big Kansas City effectively marketed its one-day conference with an awesome Twitter strategy.

4.     Mix it up

Some startups can get away with relying solely on social media for their first few months of marketing.  But it is more healthy and beneficial for a startup to mix their marketing avenues so that they hit all potential customers.  Use marketing avenues that will reach your target market—take out a newspaper ad, create a television commercial, broadcast on the radio, get in a magazine, even post up flyers around town.  By creating a healthy balance of social media and traditional marketing strategies, your brand will get noticed by the right people in the right way.

5.     Tell people who you are and what you do

When most established businesses can market their companies without defining who they are or what they do, startup companies must advertise and give the masses information about the business.  When you are marketing a startup company, be sure to broadcast who you are, what you do and why you’re doing it.  Potential clients and customers need to know exactly what you do in order for them to realize that your product or service is exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Startup marketing can be a complicated and tedious process.  But if you incorporate the right effective marketing strategy for your new company, customers and clients will be able to find you easily.

Written by Allison Way
@AllisonThinkBig   

Last Chance to Enter the 25th Hour Entrepreneur Challenge!

Looking for a little marketing help but not quite sure where to get it?  Why not shoot for 25 hours of free marketing from one of Kansas City's marketing firms? The 25th Hour Entrepreneur Challenge will award one lucky entrepreneur with a free 25-hour-straight work session performed by the staff of InQuest Marketing during the month of October.  This package could include a business plan, marketing plan, media plan, creative concept, or digital solutions plan. 

But time is running out!  Entries are due on Friday, September 9, at 11:59pm!  That gives you two days to "wow" the InQuest Marketing team, prepare to talk about your awesome business idea, and (hopefully) gear up for some effective marketing work!

Interested? Apply online now at the 25th Hour Entrepreneur Challenge site. Good luck and be sure to Think Big!

Written by Allison Way
@AllisonThinkBig

The Secrets of Effective Marketing to be Revealed at The AAF-KC's "Entrepreneur's Exchange"

The Kansas City chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF-KC) is hosting an event to benefit local KC entrepreneurs in the attempt to answer many of the marketing- and advertising-related questions that small business owners struggle to answer.  The event is called The Entrepreneur’s Exchange—a unique opportunity to meet some of Kansas City’s smartest self-starters who have dedicated themselves to carrying on that tradition and hear their perspective on how marketing continues to help build small businesses.

The Entrepreneur’s Exchange allows Kansas City entrepreneurs to pick the brains of featured panelists and engage in important entrepreneurial discussions.  The topics of the panel will include the development process, the marketing and advertising strategies that business owners have implemented, how each one views marketing and how it is changing in our economic and social conditions, and what a business should look for when working with a marketing partner.  The panelists include:

• Danny O’Neill – Bean Baron from The Roasterie
• Jigger James – founder of Repairs Unlimited
• John Nohe – president of j•n•a advertising
• Patrice Maneul – owner of P/Strada Management Consulting
• And others!

Since 1902, the American Advertising Federation of Kansas City has played an active role in the advertising, marketing and communications industry in the greater Kansas City area.  Serving as a forum to develop a better understanding of the values of the industry, AAF-KC is dedicated to good fellowship and a free exchange of ideas among its members.  The Entrepreneur's Exchange is just one of the many events that the 600-member-strong AAF-KC organization holds each year.

Julie Parker, senior account manager of Meers Advertising, notes that The Entrepreneur's Exchange is a great way to continue the growth of Kansas City entrepreneurship.  "The city we live in is a hot bed for new business ventures and offers the support and resources necessary to start companies," she says.  "Just look at H&R Block, Hallmark, Helzberg.  These are major brands who started right here in Kansas City and continue to make a difference in our community.  As advertisers and marketers, it's important for us to understand how these entrepreneurs think and how we can help them grow their business."  

The Entrepreneur’s Exchange will take place on December 9, 2010 from 5:30-7:30PM at Department Zero (111 W. 20^th Street in Kansas City, Missouri).  Member’s price is $10.00 and non-member’s price is $20.00.  To learn more about The Entrepreneur's Exchange, visit the AAF-KC site.  

A big thanks to the American Advertising Federation of Kansas City in their effort to spread the importance of entrepreneurship, and to those panelists whose advice and guidance can help future Kansas City small business owners and entrepreneurs!  Way to Think Big!

Written by Allison Way.  Allison is a writer and videographer for Think Big Partners and bizperc, two of Kansas City’s newest entrepreneurial resources.  To read more of Allison’s work, check out the Kansas City Entrepreneurship Examiner.