While discussing marketing strategy with a friend of mine who is also the founder of a startup said “All our marketing strategy efforts to date have been secondary to building out a product people want to use. Once we nail the product however, we hope to spend much more time (and money) on bringing that product to as large a market as we can”.

As a marketing strategist I found this position completely wrong –

1. How do you know what “a product people want to use” is, without talking to the people?


2. How do you know how many people will signup for this product without assessing the market? The founder was so in love with the product but does not know who the customer is. Twitter is poor example here, yes it was build without thinking of which market it would address, but 1 in a million startups will succeed like Twitter did and not


3. The idea of “bringing that product to as large a market as we can” is also wrong on many levels. Startups should build on small success, capture the market in one niche and then build on that success.

Startups have limited funds for marketing and getting to a profitable position or even keeping the cash flow positive is challenging, under these circumstance it is understandable that marketing cost should be kept low. Startups should work with marketing experts who understand the startup mentality as well as capable of devising effective marketing strategies with very tight budgets.

When did you get marketing strategist involved with your startup?

About the Author

Along with being a marketing ECO advisor at Entrepreneurcommunityonline.com, Pooja (CEO Blueknee Marketing) specialize's in developing marketing strategy, competitive analysis and pricing strategies.

You can follow my regular blog at http://blog.blueknee.com or contact me via email at pooja@blueknee.com.