About advertising for startups from personal experience
Being a budding entrepreneur for the last five years, I have changed my opinion and attitude to advertising as a commodity engine many times.
Initially, I, like many other entrepreneurs, believed that the more money you put into this or that advertising channel, the more users you will attract to your project. The more subscribers you have on social networks, the faster your business will grow. And this is undoubtedly so, if you have a couple of millions on your account, which you are ready to spend on a project in order to receive the first users. One problem, I did not have them. Yes, and who will have big budgets at the beginning of the entrepreneurial path?
Visiting various events for start-ups, studying the advertising campaigns of the “young” and “old” organizations, I highlighted several types of advertising for myself, which I would like to describe further.
')
First, what comes to mind is advertising new products or services.
This is a traditional form of advertising, which is used by most companies both in Russia and abroad. Obvious difference of this type of advertising is that the company - the advertiser has been working on the market for quite a long time, has recognition and reputation among users. She knows that her products or services are being successfully implemented, there is trust in them and it’s time to move on, releasing new products. It turns out something like: “You already know our product A and product B, now it’s time for product C! Even better, better and more amazing. Try it now"! Here the budget is spent precisely on the fact that the user will buy and tell about the new product. Is this suitable for a startup company? I doubt it. About this company is still unknown, and the user will be difficult to interest, which will greatly inflate the advertising budget.
Secondly, advertising is a reminder.
This is a different type of advertising when the company wants to remind current users about itself and attract new ones. It is also used mainly developed companies. They do promotions, offer discounts and customer programs. The advertising message often looks like: “Hey, did you forget about us? We have this, and still, and we will give a discount! ” Depending on the direction of the campaign, it can be aimed at both its own customer base (distribution, social network), and the entire Internet as a whole. My personal opinion is that at the startup stage, this type of advertising doesn’t make it worthwhile to spend the budget. It is better to work with already received clients, creating loyal users from them.
Thirdly, advertising - promotion.
Here, the main goal is not to retain the audience, but to maximize the attraction of new users. This species is more commonly used by developing companies. They already have the first loyal users, a stable working service and, most importantly, income from their activities or investments! Properly distributing the budget, they can test a variety of advertising channels and achieve the effectiveness of each of them. At this stage, periodicals, both print and online, are often attracted to or noticed. Articles are being written about them, they are being discussed on forums and, ultimately, they have a “face”.
Fourth, advertising - a startup.
Yes, right now, we are getting close to the type of advertising that a user needs for young companies without clients and recognition. This is not advertising - chants, not advertising - promotion and not advertising - a reminder. This stage helps to understand whether people need your startup at all. If you fail this stage, then bloated advertising campaigns will hardly help later.
At the very beginning, you need to show how your product can help people in a particular area: simplify the routine, speed up the process, control something, etc. We can say that at this stage you are telling that there is this or that problem, and you offer the best solution.
Based on personal experience, I would recommend not to push for paid advertising, but to use all possible free solutions: articles on various resources, posts and reposts in social networks, friends' requests to do the same, blogging, registration in directories and projects that helps unwind startups All this will allow you to get the first mention of yourself on the Internet, to identify how relevant your product is and whether it can attract users. Try all kinds of free advertising, wait for the effect of them for three - four months, improve the product and, ultimately, you will be able to evaluate your efforts and understand what to do next with advertising.
In my opinion, it is precisely these stages of startup advertising that need to be understood by an entrepreneur, and gradually move from one to another in order to successfully implement the conceived project. Otherwise, if you rush over them, you will have neither the resources nor the patience to implement it.
I will be glad to hear your comments and stories about my own experience of advertising projects at an early stage.
Initially, I, like many other entrepreneurs, believed that the more money you put into this or that advertising channel, the more users you will attract to your project. The more subscribers you have on social networks, the faster your business will grow. And this is undoubtedly so, if you have a couple of millions on your account, which you are ready to spend on a project in order to receive the first users. One problem, I did not have them. Yes, and who will have big budgets at the beginning of the entrepreneurial path?
Visiting various events for start-ups, studying the advertising campaigns of the “young” and “old” organizations, I highlighted several types of advertising for myself, which I would like to describe further.
')
First, what comes to mind is advertising new products or services.
This is a traditional form of advertising, which is used by most companies both in Russia and abroad. Obvious difference of this type of advertising is that the company - the advertiser has been working on the market for quite a long time, has recognition and reputation among users. She knows that her products or services are being successfully implemented, there is trust in them and it’s time to move on, releasing new products. It turns out something like: “You already know our product A and product B, now it’s time for product C! Even better, better and more amazing. Try it now"! Here the budget is spent precisely on the fact that the user will buy and tell about the new product. Is this suitable for a startup company? I doubt it. About this company is still unknown, and the user will be difficult to interest, which will greatly inflate the advertising budget.
Secondly, advertising is a reminder.
This is a different type of advertising when the company wants to remind current users about itself and attract new ones. It is also used mainly developed companies. They do promotions, offer discounts and customer programs. The advertising message often looks like: “Hey, did you forget about us? We have this, and still, and we will give a discount! ” Depending on the direction of the campaign, it can be aimed at both its own customer base (distribution, social network), and the entire Internet as a whole. My personal opinion is that at the startup stage, this type of advertising doesn’t make it worthwhile to spend the budget. It is better to work with already received clients, creating loyal users from them.
Thirdly, advertising - promotion.
Here, the main goal is not to retain the audience, but to maximize the attraction of new users. This species is more commonly used by developing companies. They already have the first loyal users, a stable working service and, most importantly, income from their activities or investments! Properly distributing the budget, they can test a variety of advertising channels and achieve the effectiveness of each of them. At this stage, periodicals, both print and online, are often attracted to or noticed. Articles are being written about them, they are being discussed on forums and, ultimately, they have a “face”.
Fourth, advertising - a startup.
Yes, right now, we are getting close to the type of advertising that a user needs for young companies without clients and recognition. This is not advertising - chants, not advertising - promotion and not advertising - a reminder. This stage helps to understand whether people need your startup at all. If you fail this stage, then bloated advertising campaigns will hardly help later.
At the very beginning, you need to show how your product can help people in a particular area: simplify the routine, speed up the process, control something, etc. We can say that at this stage you are telling that there is this or that problem, and you offer the best solution.
Based on personal experience, I would recommend not to push for paid advertising, but to use all possible free solutions: articles on various resources, posts and reposts in social networks, friends' requests to do the same, blogging, registration in directories and projects that helps unwind startups All this will allow you to get the first mention of yourself on the Internet, to identify how relevant your product is and whether it can attract users. Try all kinds of free advertising, wait for the effect of them for three - four months, improve the product and, ultimately, you will be able to evaluate your efforts and understand what to do next with advertising.
In my opinion, it is precisely these stages of startup advertising that need to be understood by an entrepreneur, and gradually move from one to another in order to successfully implement the conceived project. Otherwise, if you rush over them, you will have neither the resources nor the patience to implement it.
I will be glad to hear your comments and stories about my own experience of advertising projects at an early stage.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/290202/
All Articles