Marketing challenges for Startups
The startup revolution is buoyantly growing year after year. The UK, and in particular London, is Europe’s top hub for tech startups, with almost 30,000 tech startups funded and 2,300 tech meetups in the past five years, according to Atomico’s State of European Tech Report.
It’s easier to launch a business than ever before, thanks to the limitless nature of technological innovation. From AI development firms like Five AI to the soaring cryptocurrency and blockchain technology market bringing teams like Civil rocketing to the forefront, there’s huge growth in the tech sector.
However, as innovative and exciting as the market is, startups face just as many challenges as other businesses, including funding, recruitment and marketing. So, what are these challenges, and what can we do to answer them?
Limited budgets & human resource
Startups don’t have all the time and money in the world. For those startups that develop a new app or software by bootstrapping their business, marketing is often the first big funding wall that they hit. It’s one thing to build your product by yourself, but marketing with a limited budget can be very difficult indeed. Startup teams also tend to be on the smaller end and, with all hands on deck during the launch, it can be hard to find time for the team to work on getting the brand out there.
Lead generation
Finding qualified leads and converting them into new clients or customers is a fundamental process if you’re going to get a new business ready to scale. However, lead generation and nurturing can take a lot of time. Not only do you have to know where those leads can be found, but you also have to put in the work of marketing and sales communication directly to win those leads over.
Technology/innovation
While startups are innovating the market with new apps and Software as a Service business models, they can still have their own software struggles. Making the business efficient and productive means keeping up with the tech race, adopting new software such as CRM and ERP suites, and ensuring the team is trained to use them right. Alongside the other challenges that startups have to face, it can be a tough transition.
So, now we know some of the challenges faced by startups, what are the solutions that could help them?
Network with like-minded partners
Honest relationships with trustworthy partners that can mutually benefit both parties are the essence of networking. Whether through social media channels like Linkedin or networking events like industry conferences, creating affiliations with those in a position to support your startup is crucial. They can be effective sources of lead generation, can boost your platform for marketing purposes, and can share their own expertise to help you get to grips with a growing business.
Finding the right tools
If you don’t have enough time or manpower to deliver your marketing strategy, then you need to work smarter, not harder. There are a range of tools like Mailchimp, Hubspot, and Hootsuite that can expedite or even automate a lot of the work that goes into marketing. All of them have free trials so you can see which work best for your marketing strategy without bloating your budget.
In conclusion
The solutions are out there to help you tackle the resource, lead generation, and technological challenges you face. The right friends and the right tools can help you solve them directly. Some help putting those solutions in place can be instrumental as well, which is what Hybrid Marketing provides. Drop me a note on minesh@hybrid-marketing.co.uk, and we can start making plans for how you’re going to soar past these roadblocks today.
