7 Tips from a Startup Evangelist to budding entrepreneurs

Every other day, I come across a new company which is trying to carve a market for itself. I often wonder about their future.It is really fascinating that they may make their founders millionaire  or they might leave them high and dry. But, the experience you get  by starting up is unmatched. I have high admiration for people who come out of their comfort zone to chase their dreams. Someone from them will be our own Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Larry Page.

Let us see what are the 7 tips  from a Startup Evangelist to budding entrepreneurs.

1. Website- Your website has to be truly cool and amazing. It should looks neat and appealing.

2. Price- I remember a time when Mac Donalds, Dominos and KFC were the restaurants for the elite. They recognized that this perception is affecting their business prospects and hence came up will inexpensive food items on their menu along with all the other items just to attract new customers into their outlets. Also, I know of a Salon in Vashi, Mumbai which initially offered all kinds of hair cut at Rs.100/- , which was much less than the market price. The outlet started to flourish and after sometime they gradually increased the price. But the steady flow of customers never stopped. I think you can take a lesson or two in pricing strategy from these.

3. Marketing/ Audience- Word of mouth is one of the most reliable mode of marketing for the unaided start-ups. Also, you need to start engaging people on social networking sites. You can keep on sharing interesting things related to your product or services. It will be appreciated by your audience if you manage to engage them through puzzles, links to good articles, short videos, interesting quotes, etc.

4. Customer support- Once you start getting large number of orders then you will require an excellent customer support center to manage feed backs and assist the customers. All your good work will be forgotten If you are unable to delight your customers. A strong customer support is desirable to gain the trust of the customers. Remember that the competition is stiff and almost everyone is focused on getting order and marketing. Customer Support is a dark horse hence focussing on it will yield brilliant results.

5. Safety- Whatever you are offering to the customers, you have to think about the safety of the consumers. The recent Maggi fiasco is a live example where a safety scare is giving nightmare to Nestle, not only in terms of revenue but also in terms of loss of valued customers. One safety concern can tarnish the image of your brand.

6. Payment Modes- At the very initial stages, you might have only cash on delivery option. I know there are lots of complications in integrating the net banking, card payment modes etc and it will take some time to get it done. However, you can strike a deal with companies like Paytm who are aggressively marketing their wallet. It will not only allow your customers to have a facility to pay online but this arrangement will also help in marketing as you will have access to the huge numbers of members/users of Paytm. It might be a master stroke at this stage.

7. Promo codes- Earlier the brick and mortar companies used to offer discounts on special occasions like Diwali, New Year, Christmas, etc. Now, with Promo codes the next generation companies are giving a tough time to their traditional competitors.

Two clear benefits of offering discounts through promo codes rather than simply offering flat discount are:

· It creates engagement with the company as people will keep searching and talking regarding the current offers like we do for foodpanda. It’s a dynamic process and is not like the offers from brands which have flat 80% discount throughout the year.

· There are various companies/ websites like savemyruppee, coupondala, etc. which are the     encyclopedia of the current offers and deals offered by the companies. They will offer a mode of alternate free marketing.          

Crazy Deal- We, Indians are crazy about deals and are generally conscious about money. So, consider to offer something similar to the following so that people are tempted to experience your services.

·Tinyowl is offering 100 % cashback on your first order ( Maximum discount – Rs. 150)

·Foodpanda started offering crazy discounts to a tune to 50%

·Box8, a startup from the IIT fraternity is offering discounts generously on delivery on food.

Please know that I acknowledge that these companies have started getting Investments and hence are able to offer free lunches on large scale for some time. However, you can try the following:

·Engage peoples on your social media pages and conduct simple competitions and sometimes offer an inexpensive item like a book, key ring, photo frame, coffee mug, etc with your company name embossed on them to few people. Tag the person whom you are offering a gift so that his friend circle will get to know about your company and in this way you can develop your brand name.

·It is prudent to make your customers feel like Royals and they will be your brand ambassador forever. Some of the companies like Bigstylist  and Medioctor are truly promising as they have a strong founding team and their offering is unique. While Bigstylist wants to transform the way people do styling by literally bringing the salon to their home. Whereas, Medioctor wants to be a one-stop solution for all the healthcare requirements of people in India. It is exploring a huge market and good thing is that it is banking on support from all the stakeholders like doctors, chemists, patients, pharma companies, hospitals, fitness centres, diagnostic centres,etc. I have no doubt that they are all set to be big players in their respective fields.

I follow startups closely and am deeply fascinated by the idea of running a company.   However, I acknowledge that a lot of hard work and passion is involved in it.

BY- Rohan Sinha 

An engineer by profession but a self proclaimed startup evangelist. A sharp observer who monitors and analyse the activities of promising newbies.  To read more articles click here.