Despite your best efforts, your startup product might be taking longer to get off the ground that you had hoped it would. You seem to be bleeding cash because your expenses are piling up, but your income isn’t yet flowing into the business.
Don’t feel that you’re alone in this situation, because you aren’t. A lot of people who are creating startups also have their sales stall or fail to take off right away.
While you might feel there’s nothing you could have done differently, here are some factors to consider, that might need refining.
1. Marketing
Marketing is an essential business function that drives sales. The most fantastic product will not reach its full potential without effective marketing. Your marketing strategy is as important as the product development stage.
Market research
The first thing that you need to examine is the market research done before the marketing strategy was developed. Perhaps it was not detailed enough, or the results were not entirely accurate. Market research is essential as it directs the marketing strategy. If it isn’t sound, the strategy won’t be effective.
Marketing campaign
Next, examine the marketing campaign. Was it aimed at the target market the research highlighted? Can you measure if it was effective or not with feedback? If so, you might be able to shed some light on where you could improve the campaign.
Marketing strategies
You need to make sure that you’ve exploited all the platforms you can for marketing and reaching your target audience. Social media and digital marketing are very important. However, don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach. How you market on Facebook (News - Alert) will differ from how you market on your website.
Marketing experts
Something as simple as your logo and branding could be hindering sales. Your company image can do the same if it isn’t favorably received. Get a marketing expert to give you advice in this regard.
2. Fine-tune the product
Nothing is perfect, and there is always room for improvement. Secure the services of a startup product development service to help you see if there are ways you could refine your product.
Getting an outside perspective from experts might reveal specific flaws in your product you hadn’t realized existed. It’s best to identify this as early as you can so that you can make the necessary changes before the product starts flying off the shelves.
3. Pricing and promotion
You need to compare the prices of products similar to yours to see if you have overpriced yours. Consumers are fickle, and the price is something that sways many of them. If they cannot see any added value in your product, they won’t consider purchasing it.
No monetary amount can make up for the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve poured into developing this product. So, be realistic when setting your price. You want to offer a quality product and also sell it in large quantities to recoup your costs and start turning a profit.
Consider running a promotion to generate interest in your product. Limit it to a couple of days as consumers react well to time pressure. They’ll go ahead and buy the product just so that they can feel satisfied that they have saved money and scored a bargain.
You can also incentivize customers by offering them a partial refund for every customer they refer to you who makes a purchase. A lot of the most effective marketing is word-of-mouth referrals. Give people a reason to spread the word about your product. This type of market will be a source of continuously growing leads.