According to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy, there are currently more than 30 million businesses in the US, comprising 99.9% of all other companies. While new companies emerge each day, how can one ensure their growth or achieve their business goals? It may require a hot market and a top-selling idea for a business to boom, but it doesn’t guarantee another round of funding. New tech businesses need a strategic plan to increase sales and revenue, and their marketing presence to retain customers and bypass the competition. Undoubtedly, investors are highly attracted to accelerated growth in new businesses, which can help secure them later-stage funding. To set the company for success, startups need to work on key strategies to help launch their business for future growth.
While tech brands have become a dominant driver of economic growth, there is no telling if their businesses will make it past the initial stages of funding or not, especially knowing that 9 out of 10 startups fail. The main reason behind it is the lack of a market need for their product; that doesn’t generate other people’s interests or fulfill their demands. Another reason is poor management, along with a weak technical team. Even if both of the above may be in sync, it doesn’t guarantee the growth of a startup. Since it’s a small setup, most of the people’s roles at the company are expected to overlap. To scale their businesses, entrepreneurs and their versatile team should eliminate minor issues that could prevent growth, including business processes, scalability issues, etc.
- Determine Your Target Investors
For tech companies that are on the lookout for more investment opportunities, the question arises – how can one distinguish a potential venture capitalist (VC) or angel investor for their startup? While looking for a prospective investor, it’s critically important to understand their investment background & criteria.
- Sector – Initially, to distinguish their potential investors, entrepreneurs must look for a firm/person who has previously invested in the same target industry and, more importantly, has an in-depth knowledge of it. Their prior business experience can help steer the startup in the right direction during the next funding rounds. Just as angel investing tips are essential to investors before seed funding, entrepreneurs can also take away pointers that lead to startup failures.
- Stage – The other important detail to consider is your startup stage, i.e., your startup’s development stage. This decides the resources and the expected investment your company needs, giving the investors a fair idea of expectations and risks.
- Size – As a tech startup entrepreneur, you should be clear with how many funding rounds and the size of investment your company needs. A reliable roadmap will make your journey effortless and help you pick the right investors for your company.
- Location – The location of your startup is also essential. Generally, investors are keener to invest in a startup if it’s close to where they are located to visit and see the operations now and then.
- Establish an Effective & Compelling Brand Messaging
The way you communicate to this world defines how you are perceived by it. It is the same for any brand. A clear and compelling brand messaging goes a long way for someone who is just starting out. Especially when we live at a time where an excessive amount of information gets published every second, clarity of thought always stands out. Instead of having ten stories of products, have one – and a compelling one. Remember, people buy products which they understand the fastest. The next thing to focus on here is consistency. The whole communication would fall flat if there is a lack of consistency. It is the key to build any successful brand.
- Analyze Your Competitors
‘Reinventing the wheel’ isn’t always the best idea. No startup operates alone in a market. Researching and analyzing the competitors is a crucial step in every startup journey. There is nothing you can do except one thing – learn from their successes and mistakes. If you want to go a further step, you may also target indirect competitors – those with the same audience, similar value proposition, etc. The objective is to search the competitors’ data, build company insights, and implement necessary actions. Search engines, social platforms, and existing databases are all mediums to access a company’s sales and strategies – from cost structure, ad campaigns, business management, price points, operational systems, objectives, production, performance, etc. Learning from your competitors’ mistakes and knowing what they are doing right and what is working for them is part of competitors’ analysis. This will put you in the right direction and help you understand consumer’s demands better. It is always a good idea to have a roadmap in a startup journey to learn where you and your company are standing and in which direction it has to move forward.
- Generate Leads With Your Marketing Strategy
Developing a key marketing strategy is essential for every small business to grow. It’s a known fact that most startups spend at least 11% of their total revenue on their marketing budget. While the pandemic significantly impacted small businesses, 51% increased their online interaction to communicate more efficiently with their audience in 2020.
A year later, the audience can note that 73% of B2B marketers who have implemented a video marketing strategy to increase their ROI have had impressive results. In comparison, 41% of marketers plan to take the same route. Video marketing has also helped increase traffic on the website, increase the average time per user, helped increase user understanding and generate leads, and directly helped to increase sales. Not only this, extensive amounts of data mining and analytical analysis can help perform powerful online marketing strategies.
Additionally, it may not be ideal to have four to five social media profiles on various networks. Instead, one or two primary networks are best to interact with the audience, share quality content/information, and expand its digital footprint. Tech startups can also run a company blog with BTS material and the latest news updates to build a personal connection with their users.
In conclusion, by targeting the right investors, having effective brand communication, making competitor comparisons, and executing an excellent marketing strategy, you can be assured that you have ticked all the right boxes. These are the key indicators that will show your brand’s growth trajectory. Looking at emerging tech industries, more than half of US entrepreneurs believe that AI and Big Data will play the most prominent role in the near future for startups. Furthermore, certain sectors like advanced manufacturing will observe a high growth rate. Nonetheless, keeping the above pointers in mind and executing them right will be the key to the growth of any startup.
