Think about the first time you introduce yourself to a new person, either via email, phone, or in person. You have to give them your name and a little bit of knowledge about who you are and what you do, which serves as a jumping off point for more questions. But those simple, personal interactions can cause lots of stress—even when you do it face to face.
So now imagine the multiplied stress when you’re trying to introduce a new company to the world. Those same challenges that exist for individual introductions exist for startup introductions, but the stressors and hurdles are multiplied in thousands of ways. To begin with, especially if you’re a startup, you may not only have to introduce your company but explain a whole new thing—be it a product, service, app, or software—to people who might be confused or unfamiliar with anything you’re talking about. That unfamiliarity leads to skepticism, and that skepticism may lead them to instantly turn away from you.
That’s why a few key steps for startups are key to a successful introduction and brand marketing. First of all, you have to identify who your audience is, and that may be tricky. Many startups are creating something out of whole cloth, meaning their audience can be diverse, or may not even know that they need the product or service.
That’s where the first step can come in—finding those key influencers, who are a part of your target market, and selling them on the usefulness and necessity of your idea.
But having the most widely followed influencers on the planet won’t serve you any better if you have not executed a cohesive plan of attack for marketing. Although your startup may have been filled with lots of spontaneous thinking and creative overdrive, your marketing plan needs to have goals, milestones, and schedules. You have to figure out how you’ll evaluate successes and how you’ll attack missteps, too.
Even the most brilliant products and services fail if their companies fail to support them with content—meaning, something besides selling to customers and potential clients. People need to know that they’re learning something, or finding the inside track to knowledge that will help them, and that’s where content that’s unique and valuable comes in. That content can come in a lot of different forms and on a lot of different social media platforms, from visual-driven posts to white papers or blog articles. That also means that your approach to social media cannot be ad hoc, but must also be driven by a schedule and by goal setting, allowing you to adjust when something finds its sweet spot or totally misses the mark.
Releasing your new startup to the world, letting them in on what you’re totally excited about, can be stressful—but you can make it a smashing success by following some key marketing steps. Learn the right approach to take with the tips in this graphic.