I run a marketing firm. I have for the last 17 years. In that time, I've seen two kinds of clients-- the very successful ones asking me to help them get to the next level and the zero victory ones asking me to get them to the first level.
There's one small thing that separates them.
The successful CEOs know what the next level is. The brand new entrepreneurs or the zero-victory-so-far CEOs THINK they know what the next level is.
The French Marshall Lyautey asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, ‘In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it now!’ ~John F. Kennedy
I was looking for a way to explain the difference that all our readers could identify with. Everyone comes from a different place and is going to a different place so finding a way that distills the essense of the problem: what keeps unsuccessful entrepreneurs underground is a challenging.
Found it. Successful CEOs don't confuse retail marketing for online marketing. Unsuccessful entrepreneurs THINK they don't.
Successful CEOs know that the first level is a firm base. Unsuccessful ones think that all you have to do is "build it and they will come." This only holds true for retail-- not online. And this rule holds true most of the time.
If you were one of the first 500 apps in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone 1, Steve Jobs was willing to give you all of his loyal fans. Now, if you build an iPhone app, you get page 17 of any iTunes search. In retail, the moment you open your doors, there are people passing by your storefront. There are people going from here to there and they've got to cross your threshhold to get there.
That was true for Google and Yahoo when they both first started. Now, it's not true.
The most common thing we hear from new entrepreneurs is, "we want to start our marketing as soon as we launch." This means that they think their new app or website or blog or ecommerce store is a physical store that can start handing out coupons after their doors open. It's not.
Your app or site or ecommerce store is an island. Can you afford
to feed it's inhabitants while you build a bridge to the mainland- or row?
Successful CEOs build the bridge first. They build a bridge to their island before moving citizens in. In your case, if you start marketing AFTER you've launched, you're paying for hosting, marketing, your time, and associated costs like phones and accounting etc while you're trying to build a base.
They don't call it a fan base or customer base for nothing.
It's your foundation. It's your basic. You can't build anything without first having a solid base.
How large is your email subscriber list? How many Facebook friends do you have? How many Likes? How many Pinterest and Twitter followers do you have? How much traffic does your website get right now? Remember, a retail storefront always gets traffic. Websites start at zero.
Before you launch your product, you might want to start your marketing. It's what the most successful CEOs have always done. And the most successful of this group had their marketing started for them by their grandfather. Think Barron Hilton, Conrad Hilton and Paris.
Here's where we lose most of our readers: they ask, "how do we start our marketing without even having a product?"
The answer is simpler than you think and surprising. It's in our next blog post. Get it by subscribing at http://sparkah.com/private
Wouldn't it be nice to have a list of thousands of people's cell phone numbers and email addresses who are actively waiting for your product release?
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