I have been working on my web 2.0 technology startup for a while now and hope to launch it in a few months. Recently, I was planning on how should I go about the marketing part so that I do 2 important things: How to dominate the market I am targetting & avoid competition until I do that... So here are my notes for you to go through ... They apply to just about any business - remember, all it needs is a bit of common sense! 1. It's always the best thing to plan your marketing strategy well in advance. By that I'm not refering to coming up with "X no. of customers in Y no. of days" thing but more on the fact that going for a small niche and later on expanding can eliminate a lot of risks, since you don't have to worry about reaching that million mark as long as you are breaking even and are growing strategically. And also, what counts is "how" you market, as it's much more important than "what" you are marketing. 2. You can change your competition by changing your target market. I strongly believe this principle can help anyone get the right start and pretty soon might give competition to the big guys as well. For example, by launching an all purpose online bookstore you are directly competing with Amazon.com ... You are targeting the same market as them. However, if you launch an online bookstore which focuses on selling books dealing only in "Gardening", your competition suddenly changes and you find yourself in a much more better position to reach your goals. People interested to buy books on "Gardening" might look at Amazon as an option but they will look at you as an authority. Once you have gained a loyal customer base, you can expand into other areas one at a time. This is when you have the chance to actually get into the other niches and dominate them as well. 3. Execution is what makes an idea work. We all know how important it is. However, many view the execution part as an important step only when they are launching new. My point is, if you want to keep growing and expanding, you need to start small and execute well each and every time you even add a simple feature/service/update. Whenever you move on to a bigger market, it's an execution in itself. Even companies like Google and Microsoft have to execute carefully whenever they are starting out a new service or a product. So the secret to capturing bigger markets is not to execute once but to do it again and again, and each time treat it as a first time. I would love to have your views on my thoughts!
Great post. You've some very good points in there. 1.If you set your goals in the realistic manner, not only you'll achieve them more quickly but it allows you to maintain the hard work enjoyable. xohaib ""how" you market, as it's much more important than "what" you are marketing"...I totally agree with you. 2.i think that is a good definition of what is a niche keep it going.
Thanks for sharing and good luck with your venture. Maybe an update post when the time comes for launch?
Thanks for the comments everyone John84 @ thanks for the good wishes, will surely announce when it's time for launch. ablaye @ good things never come easy pal. However, once you start implementing the tips I have given, it might just make your marketing journey less bumpy and more rewarding. Just my 2 cent.