startup hustle

And this is coming from a startup marketing manager. I have worked on quite a few startup products through the years and I keep witnessing the same trend. The startups that actually solve an issue or provide a unique service, don’t really need my help. I might give the initial push, but the product itself creates the snowball effect.

I’m not suggesting you get rid of your marketing guy completely. You will need someone to schedule all the interview appointments with the media.

The hardest part is getting your product to those few outlets that will start the avalanche.

Read the rest of this article »

A trend I am starting to see among young internet entrepreneurs as well as more established startups is a lack of understanding how customers use the internet to research and buy. This information is more basic than understanding your target customers, it is common consumer processes.

There are many reports written on how consumers use the internet to buy products and services. Its not new information, but hardly any of us (us = startups and entrepreneurs) use that knowledge to our benefit. I recently sat in a meeting with a colleague to help weed issues in his startup marketing plan. Before the meeting, someone was mentioning the new purchases they had made on the internet. The amount of research this individual conducted was what you would expect from a twenty-something that is internet savvy. This startup didn’t build a product under the assumption that their customers would do the same product research. They did not do it on purpose, they just didn’t put themselves in the consumers shoes.

Read the rest of this article »

Are you a small business or a startup?

The answer probably depends on where you are located and what industry you are in. The term startup is generally used by tech companies in population hubs like San Fransisco, New York, Boston, LA, Austin that are “in the know”. The term small business is often used by your everyday Joe that is just trying to get something started (most likely out of his home). Home based businesses get a bad rap in the startup world but most companies (especially web companies) are started in a young entrepreneurs apartment (same as home).

Could you image calling some of the Silicon Valley startups home-based businesses? How offensive! Did you know Google started in a garage? Of course you do, everyone does. Why did they start in a garage (of a home = home-based business)? Because it was the most convenient and cost efficient option at the time.

Read the rest of this article »