Question
Our main target group are researchers in life science &
biomedical research. Right now we have been live (as a beta) for couple of months and relied purely on organic growth (google search traffic) and didn't invest a dime into marketing, because we wanted to make sure that platform is stable.
Now, we want to turn into more aggressive marketing and not sure what strategy to embrace. We have two options (though, maybe not mutally exclusive).
Option 1: Posting information about our platform (maybe in a form of QA session) on reddit
Pros: get more visibility; speak to influencers in the field; get costractive criticism and opinions, get twitter re-twits (many reddit users are super active on twitter too); maybe get potetial customers contacts
Cons: competitors may find out about us and copy some of our know-how/features before penetrate market enough; it may not add any sales, because buyers (less techsavvy people who are our potetial customers) are not on reddit and likely are not on twitter (so we would waste time and efforts on not directly selling)
Option 2. Directly contact potential customers, do demo for them, get feedback and ask them for people they know who might find our platform useful.
Pros: direct interaction with potential customers; get customer requirements; higher chances of sales; competitors don't know about us before we are strong on the market
Cons: slow growth; slow market penetration; little awareness of our service
What do you think guys?
Anna
Answer
Anna,
Love ❤️❤️❤️ that you've thought about the pros and cons of each option. I'd love to chat with you on this.
My question to you is why can't it be both? I don't see finance or money invested the issue listed. Both options time is the variable.
I noted that there's an assumption that Reddit option will just take off. Hopefully it does, but maybe it won't. In the event it does not go as plan (lack of engagement), I'd recommend doing both.
If for any reason, both is out of the question and either/or is our final opportunity. I'd go direct and be patient with organic growth. It will allow you to properly care for each and every one to one opportunity and address concerns on an individual basis.
I'd also recommend with this strategy that when you receive a big win (testimonial) I would video record the customer OR get a picture of them with a statement you can use and repurpose that win on a blog, social media, Slideshare etc. I would put those on as many FREE platforms that bandwidth can handle.
Feel free to call me or connect on my LinkedIn if you'd like more help.