3 Startup Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid

There aren’t many second chances for startups, read this post to avoid making 3 very common startup marketing mistakes that are success stoppers.

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Ever wondered why startups fail in marketing?

There are a few common culprits, including lacking investors’ attention, wasting money, having a poor team, and promoting an uninteresting product. But all of these are not unconnected to the lack of a foolproof marketing strategy. 

Startups looking to avoid failure in marketing often work with experienced startup marketing consultants, whose roles are extensively described in this article. But to get the ball rolling, we have identified three major startup marketing mistakes that can prevent your business from actually starting up.  

Read on to learn about these startup marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. 

Mistake 1 – Creating a product before developing a marketing strategy.

A lot of startups create a product before developing a marketing strategy. Unfortunately, this is not the best approach because there is a higher risk of creating a product no one wants to buy. It is a waste of time, money, and effort to develop a product that you have no idea of who will buy or how they will buy it.

Although most founders, especially those in technology, believe that creating an innovative product is the most challenging step, they are right to think so. Nonetheless, it is not enough for success. While it is crucial to create a quality product, a product not in demand is just a waste of resources.

Furthermore, contrary to popular opinion, digital marketing and PR strategy are not just communication tools you have to introduce when a product is ready; they need to be at the initiation stage. Before starting a project, knowing your market and target audience is critical to your product’s success. Therefore, it is advisable to use a strategy that includes tools like digital marketing, media publications, exhibitions, and conferences. Then, when you eventually encounter the need to inject money into your digital marketing and PR, your tools will be ready to go at the product launch.

Mistake 2 – Ignoring the competition

Although your product may be completely innovative, you can’t relax. While there are no direct competitors yet, your solution educates the users while building a niche where a competitor can come in at any time.

If your product already has rivals, it is best to create competitive advantages. Avoid copying your competitors, creating a product without unique differences, or delaying your product release. While the market is growing organically, you may have just two competitors. By the time a third competitor starts up, you will most likely have eight other competitors. This is due to several companies noticing the same prospect simultaneously.

The two serious threats your innovative product faces are – one, the market doesn’t need it yet since customers have found a way to solve their problems. Two, your product occupies its niche, creating an avenue to be copied or compete with an alternative.

On the other hand, if your product solves an existing problem, it is best to consider how your customers may have solved their problem or ignored it in time past. And this is an often overlooked, indirect competition.

You can understand your competition and navigate this problem by studying the market and creating your potential buyer persona. With this information, you can then create a specialized solution to fit the need. 

Mistake 3 – Using an unreasonable digital marketing budget

Targeting a large market will probably involve conveying a unique value proposition to your audience using a large budget. Well, not all digital marketing tools require a lot of money. Before investing, any rational investor will always check if your startup has significant traction. Therefore, your marketing results prove how solid and viable your business model is. 

If you do not want to spend a significant amount on digital marketing at the initial stage of a product’s launch, you have to plan and run marketing experiments. These experiments will help you determine if your offer meets the market’s needs and check your sales channel for data on a possible growth engine. Afterward, you can prepare a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that calculates your potential profit and look for investors to help fund your marketing plan.

Misinterpreting the principle of growth hacking and wrong budgeting are two polar approaches to budgeting that startups use. And unfortunately, these approaches are wrong. 

Intensive promotion can drain investor money with the growth hacking approach, leaving the company without money or customers. Eventually, this approach leaves no growth, drained resources, and a closed startup.

The wrong budgeting approach is to use free promotion methods solely. While this approach doesn’t involve money, no startup can thrive without advertising investments.

The solution to this problem is to consult experienced professionals and distribute your budget wisely. You can then test different marketing tools like social media marketing by running a few short advertising campaigns on a small budget. This approach saves you from draining your budget for one or two specific marketing tools. 

In conclusion,

Because of the stiff competition for startups, your success thrives on the quality of your marketing strategy. Avoiding the common startup marketing mistakes discussed in this article will put your startup on the path to consistent growth and success.