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MenuLaunched my first startup yesterday and didn't get as much momentum as expected. What is one area of marketing would you focus on?
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Good luck! Forget about SEO. This is just a temporary improvement. Not worth your effort right now specially if you have to pay. If is free, take it as long as it doesn't distract you with "useless busy" work.
Focus on the emails. This has huge upside potential!!
A video is a powerful tool that automatically enables you to connect with those who share your interests and can make people find you simply because they like you. This also reassures them that you haven't forgotten about them, that you are doing what you can but also need the communities help. Share this on all your social networks.
Leverage the power and newly harnessed interest of Periscope or Meerkat of both and announce(schedule) through Twitter a video pitch of what you trying to do. This will get you potential viral spread if you ask your viewers to use a hashtag or to simply tweet your live streaming.
If you have backers you're doing something right, you just have to now drive traffic to the campaign. Not really work on the pitch itself... Now you're in the numbers business...
:)
Humberto Valle
Best of luck.
That's one fallacy that entrepreneurs make in their bid to gain quick attention. Rather than trying to focus on that one part of marketing you should focus on creating an "Integrated Marketing Plan" and try to break that into smaller steps. Take one step at a time and you'll reach where you intend to be.
It will help you achieve robust growth than an hollow one based on some inorganic gimmick. Let me know if there's something I can help you out with.
You've landed on plan b, congratulations. Go personal with all your messaging. This means offline as well. I can't tell you how many times businesses come to us thinking "social media marketing" is the answer.
Your product involves humans to make a purchase, therefore... Use those relationships. If you have some key relationships, do a webinar or Google hangout and broadcast for users to see or hear more about what it is you're offering. We found this to be very helpful with the recent education client that we had.
I'd also recommend getting around people already raised a fair bit I'm out of money (voice text) sorry.
THE most important part of crowdfunding is early momentum. You need to groom your friends and family and get people lined up to donate the moment your campaign goes live. Most crowdfunding efforts don't pay off, and those that do are a full-time job to get to the finish line.
Offer consistent updates both on the site and through your email list. Contact specific people individually. I've had many friends and colleagues go through crowdfunding and they usually either hit the mark very early or it's totally down to the wire. In two recent cases, the final funding came through in the last few hours and came after NON-STOP work by the folks behind the campaigns.
Good luck.
I think it is an excellent strategy to try to get more influencers/bloggers to promote what you are doing. By getting the attention of these individuals you can leverage their audiences via guest blogging, webinars and other promotional activities.
As a specialist in content strategy, I can give you some in-depth ideas that can drive better results. NOTE: you must already have the connections that you need (or be willing to make some new ones) in order to make this strategy work.
If you want evidence on how well this works, just look to all of the IM guys who create big launches and sell millions of dollars of products within the first few days of a launch. Having other bloggers/influencers on their side is a major reason why.
With regards to marketing, you should target all aspects of social media with a blitzkrieg. Use your keywords conservatively and hit on the hot topic buttons. Although SEO takes a while to get going, it can be very valuable in the long run with this campaign. You can not only use your startup SEO keywords but also use the hot topic media buzz words as well. Point all ads to your Indiegogo account and update your social media every day at least 3 times. Ask people to like, share comment etc etc to expands your reach. Best of luck.
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Any opinions on raising money on Indiegogo for an app?
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Is fundable.com a successful tool to help raise an equity seed round for a pre-launch startup?
We have used Fundable.com successfully for two rounds of financing both oversubscribed. Here is what I can tell you. Basic info: Fundable.com's platform connects accredited investors to startups seeking investment capital. Startups have a public facing profile that includes general information about the companies product, team, press accolade, etc. If you are raising funds claiming SEC Reg D 506(b) the public profile has no information about your securities offering. If an interested investor wants to view more information about your startup and or your offering, he/she would request access to your full profile. The investor must self accredit on the Fundable site before they are allowed to view your non-public profile. The startup is notified and you have the opportunity to conduct some due diligence on the investor (LinkedIn) and elect to invite them into your deal. Your private page includes the offering (terms). All communication from this point is done outside of the platform, meaning you have the investors email address ( a good thing to have). Fundable charges startups a flat monthly fee to post a profile on the site. In addition you can opt for additional services (help) with your campaign. For a flat fee, Fundable will assign resources to help build your profile, consult with you on your raise, and assist with PR or Marketing. This includes a blast to their investor base of over 40K if my memory serves me correctly. I am sure it is higher today. Our experience: For our first round on Fundable, we elected to use the premium service. Fundable did a great job in helping with our profile. We received 50+ views per day (quite often 100+) and on days we were included in their newsletter we received 200+ views. 10 - 20% of views requested access to our full profile. and 10-20% of those responded to my request for a call. Our close rate was very high. Both of our rounds were oversubscribed in less than 4 months taking averaging $50K per investor. These are high quality investors that have not created additional work (outside of normal investor updates). Many of our investors regularly share news and information about our industry. Several have re-invested in subsequent rounds. Disclaimer: Our startup is in the consumer hardware space which I believe tends to attract high net worth individuals. Obviously results may vary, thus I cannot speak to how well a SaaS play would do crowdfunding in general. Fundable.com's premium services offering may have changed since our campaign. I am not affiliated with Fundable.com. In fact we have been successful on other crowdfunding sites as well. In Closing: I am a proponent of crowdfunding in general. It is disrupting angel investing, providing investors with greater deal flow and exposing startups to an exponentially larger audience, increasing their chances to get in front of investors who understand and appreciate that company's solution and opportunity. Most importantly it is moving capital and driving innovation! Keep in mind, securities laws have changed and continue to change due to the Jobs act of 2012. Before you offer any securities to local investors or choose to try crowdfunding, you should consult with an attorney, and take the time to learn and understand what regulations apply to your circumstances.UB
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Is it foolish to post a Kickstarter campaign for a SaaS that is primarily for businesses (not consumer oriented)?
It's not foolish, but it's going to be extremely hard to pull it off. I would consider starting with a beta program so you can have some paid clients to pay for the company's expenses. After you have some traction, you can raise a seed round.RD
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