You decided not to bring over an experience person to manage marketing infrastructure of your startup. Reasons could be many
- Decided not to loose out on equity for someone you could hire for cash at a later date
- Company doesnt need a big marketing spend at product development stage
their could be many other reasons but its advisable when you start your organization you also setup an marketing department. Advantages
- If marketing people are involved in actual product development it helps them to understand the product better and sell it better.
- During product development they can help with generating important feedback on features from customers which will help you create a product which has a demand rather than a dream speed buggy.
- Help you create a brand strategy which is essential keeping in mind you will need to pull good talent to work at your organization
Once product is ready how to manage a team of inexperienced marketing people is also a task CEO/management team of a business should know
- Goals/KPI targets should be well defined
- Steps on how to make a pitch and convert into sale should be very clearly defined
- Habit of cold calling and how to efficently use alumni contact or industry directories need to defined.
- Make sure your marketing people should either get use to listerning to a firm yes or a firm no. Whenever they get a no the reason should be well defined and turns out to be a feedback for the product.
- Every 6 months people who had said no to services should be contacted if the product can solve the pain point.
These are some basics which i thought should must share keeping in mind quality of marketing staff available to startups have gone down as candidates are not ready to share the risk with employers.
Internet as a big starting point for startups as it helps you jumpstart with information which wasnt available when i first got into it around 1998. The thing is we should learn from people who worked without the availability of a perfect VC ecosystem or other people funds to create businesses.
Being very honest when i first started writing posts which could help startups was all for a contest which was giving away book by Guy Kawasaki “Art of Start” i have read it before but i had lost my copy. But now whenever i write a post not only it helps me analyze what i am doing wrong but help create a knowledge reference point for self which would help whenever i venture into something new.
Good site for keeping track on indian startup scene. Startup.IN
Contest Ends on 26th Jan’07. Will keep posting under this category weather i win the book or not!!
