When to Consider Investing in your Startup Marketing

By Sean Sutherland, Kapowza

When you consider everything that goes into a successful, young startup, what do you think of?

What about the right marketing?

Every enterprise—regardless of its size—should understand the importance of advertising and marketing for business success. Without a robust marketing strategy, you have no customers, no market interest, and no traction to get your venture off the ground. If not for marketing (which includes digital PR, content marketing, social media marketing and advertising), how else would you be able to raise capital, generate buzz, or otherwise get your business on the path to growth and product success?

Here are 4 reasons why you should consider making an investment in resources that can help you get on the right path to marketing and branding your startup:

1) If people don’t know who you are.

A good marketing strategy is one that makes sure you can be found, while advertising and visual branding makes sure that people remember what to search for in the first place. When it comes to investing in a marketing strategy, what you’re looking for is getting the recognition that says, “Oh, I’m from so-and-so” and the response that it generates should be, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of you guys.”

2) If people don’t understand what you do or what you’re selling.

Nothing can kill a sale faster than a customer not knowing what they’re actually buying. Even worse, nothing can kill a relationship faster than a customer being confused on what they bought. A creative campaign doesn’t have to be bells, whistles, and Super Bowl commercials. It can educate, it can explain. A nice graphic, even, can be worth 10,000 words.

3) If you’re looking too small.

There’s a significant difference between being small and acting small, and being big and acting big. Unless you are in a very niche space, offering boutique services, you are better off looking larger than you are in most cases. Looking large doesn’t always mean spending large. Often smaller companies can be more daring, more innovative, than the bigger ones. They can move quicker on rolling out creative campaigns and engage with an audience in fun ways.

4) If you can’t do it yourself.

We know what it’s like to be a small business; just a handful of highly motivated, ambitious people who want to do everything themselves. Bear in mind that as you grow bigger you’d find focusing only on what you’re good at is the best use of your time and skills.  If you started a brewery and happen to be a fantastic designer, then go for it – design those cans; but if you’re more of a hops and barley kind of a person then your time is better spent brewing.

Focus on what’s important early on. Invest in your business and entrust the experts to do the things that you cannot will only benefit you in the long run.

These four tips should help you determine if your startup is ready to make the leap and invest in marketing. With all the assistance that Startup League provides, you’ve already made a great choice, why not make another?

If you still feel that you’re not ready to give marketing a shot yourself, give me a shout at Sean@Kapowza.co. We’re partnering with the Startup League and can offer a discounted rate to all startups onboard the Startup League. Kapowza is a full-service creative agency specializing in graphic design, website, and video production. You can find more information at Kapowza.co.