We worked with a PR firm for @tinselwear when we launched our crowdfunding campaign (because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do).
We got press, there was value in it, but the sales ROI was 👎🏾, which is why I now tell startup founders not to spend money on it pre-revenue.
We got press, there was value in it, but the sales ROI was 👎🏾, which is why I now tell startup founders not to spend money on it pre-revenue.
The value was it established credibility for the company and me. That wasn’t my motivation, but was the outcome and it helped us get into some rooms.
But the goal was to boost the campaign and it was a poor tactic for that.
What should you do instead...? Keep reading.
But the goal was to boost the campaign and it was a poor tactic for that.
What should you do instead...? Keep reading.
Spray and pray is never a good marketing approach when you are just starting out. Especially if your budget is modest.
Learn from my mistake and make sure you have an audience for early sales by *solving a problem for a community you have meaningful access to.*
Learn from my mistake and make sure you have an audience for early sales by *solving a problem for a community you have meaningful access to.*
Any company you are starting should be providing a solution to a problem.
Before you start to solve the problem, you must deeply understand it from the perspective of those experiencing it.
They will be your first customers.
Before you start to solve the problem, you must deeply understand it from the perspective of those experiencing it.
They will be your first customers.
If you don’t know or don’t have meaningful access to the people who your solution is for, you may not want to build that thing.
How will you get access to them to sell it? PR and paid marketing will almost certainly waste your money because there’s too much you don’t know yet.
How will you get access to them to sell it? PR and paid marketing will almost certainly waste your money because there’s too much you don’t know yet.
You don’t know how to find them to get in front of them.
You don’t know enough about them to target them for marketing.
And you don’t know the language they need to see/hear to understand that your solution is what they need.
You don’t know enough about them to target them for marketing.
And you don’t know the language they need to see/hear to understand that your solution is what they need.
It’s also possible that your solution is not going to be very good, because you should be designing it based on *what they have told you* about their problem.
Don’t take an ivory tower approach to developing a solution. It vastly increases your odds of failure.
Don’t take an ivory tower approach to developing a solution. It vastly increases your odds of failure.
Another valid point re: PR — you must know how to tell your story before you pay people to get it out there.
