Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
What is the psychology of web users?
I am doing a research on the psychology of web users and how it has changed in the past few months.
I have started to believe that knowing the behaviour of the users is the first step to do any marketing. The behavioural pattern have changed a lot since the first time I started observing things.
The trend changes fast, very fast on the web and predicting the change is increasingly becoming difficult. Few years back, we saw the introduction and the growth of a style of marketing, called “Invites”. Gmail did it very well. Many social networking did it very well. But now what is the probablity of your joining a website/visiting a website if you are invited by your friend? The figure comes very close to zero.
However, we still get a lot of invites from new websites. If only they knew the change in the user behaviour. The best strategy of marketing will be to make the website open to all at the start, even having OpenID to log in. The users should be able to use your website, the moment they visit, without bothering about registeration, invites, etc.
We do not see this trend at its peak yet, but it might very soon become a certainity in all websites.
If you have read it this far, I have a three questions for you.
1. What is the single most important reason for you to open your web browser?
2. What compels you in visiting a news site, a social networking website, social media websites, etc?
3. What is your source of knowing about a new website, service or offer over the internet? Blogs? twitter? others?
Writing Business Plan for a startup
Are you planning to write a business plan for you new venture?
I am presently working on a new venture and I have been doing a lot of research work on the same. Starting from the development to marketing, from conceptualization to branding, basically having the entire road map drawn for the next few years on all the things I am going to do. It is like, I am having the entire business run in my mind over and over again, looking at all the aspects and finding flaws in it and filling it up.
This is basically what a business plan does. I must admit, I am not an ardent fan of putting down my thoughts in pen and paper. So I started to look for some help to get the business plan written in a professional way. What I was looking for and am still looking for is an individual who has got experience in writing business plan and which I can use to approach VCs or angel investors to get funded.
In my search, I came across a startup in India, who give advisory services to entrepreneurs. I approached them for writing me a business plan first and then, after I am ready with my prototype, help me out in getting funds. They were game for it.
However, when I got the quote for the business plan alone, I was surprised. The quote was about a tenth of the Initial Stage funding I was looking for. The quote was for all the work including research, and writing the business plan from scratch. I am kind of happy now. The work I have done till now is worth a tenth of the funding I am looking for.
On getting back on this, I got the second option, which was they would guide me to write the plan. I will have to write it any way. It seems like coming back to square one. The fact is I am still looking for someone to help to pen down my thoughts, suggest and add a few of his/her own and then draft me a professional business plan. I am not in favor of giving a fortune for this.
It seems like everything is becoming costlier and the investment required to start a venture keeps going up every second. I still remember, my father starting his venture, with the capital which is unthinkable now. He had prepared a project report to get finance from the bank. The project report was prepared by the Charted Accountant and it was enough to get the loan.
I have a few basic questions here. Is it that important to have a professional looking business plan to get funded? What is more important, a professional business plan or a business plan which works? And lastly, Do you think we should spend a fortune in getting a business plan written by others? However, I need inputs from you to know, how do the investors approach this.
A business plan is only a plan which can guide me how to run a business. Ultimately, I have to run my business. So I have decided to write my own business plan now and did a considerable amount of research on ways to write a business plan. Below given are a few points you need to know about writing a business plan.
For those people who are still wondering what all to prepare for writing a business plan, these are the points.
» Market & Industry Environment
» Value Proposition, Key Products/Services and Differentiation
» Competitive Scenario and Entry Barriers
» Business Model and Sales/Marketing Strategy
» Exit
» Capital
The exact format and the layout varies from investor to investor. I would suggest everyone to prepare as much as possible on your own. It is you who is going to run the show. A business plan prepared from someone else is not going to run the business for you. Once you have decided to run the business, do all the research possible to get as much as data and information. Each and every point is very important and nothing, I repeat nothing, can be left for a later stage.
Here are some of the facts I have found in my research. You should run your venture in your mind as many times as possible. Keep looking for loopholes and reason which might impact your business. Think in all possible directions. Put yourselves in the shoes of each person or roles which matters. Try to think like your competitor and break the business if possible. Keep penning down thoughts, ideas and all into the system or paper. Draw a complete road map. Prepare a plan B in case plan A does not work. If you have visualized a successful in mind only then you would be able to make the real business a success.
The most important part of writing a business plan. After you have written a business plan, you have to keep referring it from time to time. Once you go ahead with the venture, you need to keep on modifying the business plan based on the feedback, experiences, failures and successes. A business plan is by no means a hard and fast rule book and is always subject to change.
Internet Marketing: How and When??
This is probably the most difficult aspect of a startup.
You have built a product, tested it and found it great. You launch it and think you will create waves all over. What happens next shakes you up. You start doubting your product/website. Am I wrong?
Internet Marketing is also the most neglected aspect of a startup. True, attention needs to be given to the development of the product, testing, etc. However, leaving internet marketing to the last moment is the most crucial mistake done by most startups and more often than not, this results in a huge loss.
Start planning for the internet marketing at the stage of conceptualization only. Take the example of Apple’s new iPhone. The buzz about the iPhone was way before they actually launched it. It infact started when they started to conceptualize it.
I would cite another example of a successful marketing technique. This was my first startup and a successful one. Myself and four of my friends thought of doing an event in my home town. It was called a fun fiesta. The day we decided we would do some thing, we started thinking about a name. Some one suggested the name F.L.U. (Friends, Life and U) and immediately, I came up with the initial marketing slogan, “This winter F.L.U will grip you.” We had launched our startup and the concept almost on the same day.
We did stick to the marketing plan and we had created a brand by the end of the event. Back then, we did not know anything about the marketing. It just happened. We were new in the market. There were leaders already present. Our concept was not new, neither was the venue nor the public. However, we could create a buzz, thought deeply over the marketing, and it was a success. Yes, we had problems in the execution, and had some flaws in the event. However, with team work, everything went smooth.
So when do you start thinking on the marketing? Right at the start.
I, myself had forgotten this aspect, and now I am giving all my available time to plan marketing for my next venture. Yes, I said. This is the first time, I am saying it in public. I am working on a new venture and I have started working on the marketing already. Leave your guesses on what it can be in the comment section.
And How to do the internet marketing? You have to figure it out. If you think, your services are required else where and you would not be able to give time to the marketing, then get a marketing person on board, or hire one. Someone experienced in social media and Internet marketing.
Even I am thinking of getting a marketing person on board. Any references?
