Start as a fresh brand? Or start as a perceived existing brand/company

[ppaysa]

Up

0

::

Hi guys,

I had a question in regards to which path to take when launching/starting up. All the back end plans and docs are ready to go, and at this stage the website/app is in the process of getting developed.

At this stage, I’m trying to juggle up whether to launch as a fresh startup/brand in the market, and push the notion that we’re a new brand/startup and market ourselves from that perspective. OR, establish ourselves (complete the MVP) – And approach the market with the perceived position that we’ve been around for a while/are prominent and established.

The only reason I’m hesitant to launch and market as a fresh startup and start building interest and momentum before we’ve actually launched, is for a number of reasons, but the cons I can point out is the following:

1) Easier for larger businesses with capital to launch a similar model with confidence that we’re new starters.

2) Unsure as to whether a somewhat new concept in the market will attract as many users/give them confidence, as it will with the perceived fact that we’re ‘large and prominent’ and have ‘been around for a while’

These are the two main factors. So it comes down to which path will attract our demographic the most, and at the same time, make it less likely for a competitor to imitate the same concept.

I hope that makes sense!
Thoughts appreciated.
Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Up

0

::

Hi ppaysa, and welcome to Flying Solo

Bearing in mind that you haven’t mentioned what kind of product or service you’ll be offering, my personal opinion is that it’s always best to be completely upfront about things like that.

Your marketing will always come across as much more authentic and in alignment when you’re completely honest with your clients.

Over the years, we’ve seen lots of start-up businesses come through the forum pretending to be bigger, wiser, more established or more successful than they really are, and it’s usually pretty easy to spot what they’re attempting to do.

So, for my 2 cents worth, I’d say celebrate your new-ness! Aside from being honest, it gives you something to talk about to your prospective market.

Bear in mind too that many larger businesses move very slowly, so I wouldn’t base my plans on what others may or may not do, if I were you.

I’ll be interested to learn what others in the community think.

In the meantime, welcome to the forum, and thanks for joining us .
Jayne

[bb1]

Up

0

::

Hi ppaysa, When I read your post I was thinking along the line of what Jayne said, than I read her post and she said it. Why pretend to be something you are not,
Plus from my perspective, clients look at honesty as a big thing when dealing with a business. If you give out the perception that you are large or established, and they find out that you are small and brand new, there is straight away a black mark against you. Be honest, be what you are.
I don’t believe small and new are any longer a barrier, celebrate what you are

[ppaysa]

Up

0

::

Hi Guys, thanks so much for the insight. And I definitely agree and see the angle you guys are coming from.

Just to give you an idea, we’re in the vegetarian/digital space, and our clients are fundamentally two-fold – Users of the app/website, and our advertisers.

In saying so, do you guys think it’s more beneficial having all initial marketing based around us being ‘brand new’ and ‘going to make change’ etc etc? And building interest from that perspective, OR, would it be more beneficial just establishing ourselves, and marketing the product/brand for what it is and it’s benefits?

This is a tricky hurdle I’m facing at the moment and can’t plan our first marketing moves until I get an idea of what the most beneficial pathway to take is.

Again, thanks for the feedback and any input is highly appreciated!
Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Up

0

::

Hi ppaysa,

If you were one of my clients, I’d expect your brief to me to be to cover off both of those angles, the newness and the benefits.

Put it this way, you only get to create the flurry of attention that goes with being new once, so you should milk it for all it’s worth.

But there’s no point just saying ‘We’re new!’ if there’s no reason for your audience to care, so you still need to showcase everything that will make them take interest.

I hope that helps, but please feel free to ask more questions,
Jayne

[CanaryTradeMarkAssistance]

Up

0

::

Hi ppaysa. Welcome to the FS club

Jayne and Bert have given some great advice in this thread. Jayne’s advice about needing more than “We’re new!” is spot on. What makes you unique? Why should customers sit up and pay attention?

In relation to this, I recommend watching this video by Simon Sinek, ‘Start With Why’.

[MEDIA=youtube]sioZd3AxmnE[/MEDIA]

And here’s the short version if you’d like, but the longer one is a great watch and provides more examples and context.

[MEDIA=youtube]IPYeCltXpxw[/MEDIA]

The core message in the video is “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it”. I think that’s the real thing that drives interest and creates brand loyalty. When I’m talking to my trade mark clients to help them develop their trade mark and brand, this is one of the first things I refer to. Why do you do what you do? Why are you the right one to do it? What makes you need to do this? Share that drive and passion in your trade mark, branding and marketing! Let those things guide how your business looks and feels to customers. What do you want your customers to think and feel when they see you?

Another note: it seems these days people like small businesses and startups. Faceless corporations (even the friendly-seeming ones) are one thing, but customers seeking that honesty that’s been talked about in this thread may be more inclined toward supporting a new go-getting startup if it seems more approachable, honest, friendly and flexible than the larger, slower, more opaque companies.

Lastly, when I first read this thread I was comparing ‘new’ and ‘established’ to mean a brand new company vs. something like Apple. Re-reading, I think I got your intentions wrong. I may be a little confused on this, but are these the two scenarios you’re suggesting?

1) Launch without the minimum viable product, and start drumming up interest for what you’re going to be doing
2) Wait till you’ve got the minimum viable product, then launch and position yourself as more established

If that’s the case, I don’t particularly see 2) as seeming significantly more established. Would you not still seem like a new company with a new product? You’d certainly seem more established than option 1), of course. In my mind, you could advertise the newness either way.

I think the time it will take to get that MVP is one of the major factors here. If you launch with option 1), that initial buzz and excitement will be there, but can you get the product out before that interest fades?

Some of that may have strayed from your initial questions, but I hope it was helpful. As Jayne said, feel free to keep the discussion going

Cheers,

[ppaysa]

Up

0

::

Hi guys, and again, thank you for the feedback and input, it is highly appreciated. Really helps in contributing to that ‘light-bulb’ moment when it logically clicks and resonates best with what I envision our approach/brand to be.

I definitely agree with the point that our vision/point of difference/benefits should be the overriding factor no matter what path is taken. And this is something that I strongly believe in with the product/brand and the vision/mission I’m moving forward to satisfy. This is a given and without a doubt something that I have had down pat from the beginning, so definitely a good point to reiterate on as it plays a big role in this particular case.

One thing to point out – is that the MVP is in progress of development and isn’t far off, this is more of a question (which CanaryTradeMark hit the nail on the head regarding) as to whether to drum up interest a month before the app/website/service is available, and push that emphasis on marketing that we’re a new startup, or, launch once it’s developed, and still incorporate that element of the ‘newness buzz’ and ‘fresh vision vibe’ within our marketing methods/campaigns, without explicitly promoting it that way.

I think both pathways can be just as effective in their own right. But in saying that, what do you guys think about launching, not building hype around our launch/entrance into the market, and simply incorporating an element of being ‘something new’ in the market that ‘solves a problem/makes life easier’ within ur marketing campaigns/methods. This will still allow us to celebrate our ‘newness’ through authentically getting the message of our passion across to all parties (users and advertisers) – while still keeping a somewhat humble manner regarding our product/launch. Thoughts?

Feedback highly appreciated and any tips/inputs encouraged.

Thank you again!

[Anonymous]

Up

0

::

Hi ppaysa,

Do you mean that you want to launch softly so that you can test that everything’s working and get a few runs on the board before you go out to the wider market?

That could work well, especially if it enables you to gather some testimonials and client feedback on the way, but if I were you, (and again, please bear in mind that you haven’t said exactly what you do), I’d do that prior to launch (sometimes referred to as a ‘soft launch’), and probably by invitation only with people you have existing connections with, if possible.

Then, once you’re confident everything is bedded down, you’ll have those testimonials etc available to utilise in your actual launch marketing campaign – the ‘hyped’ one as you call it, but often referred to as a hard launch.

Hope that helps,
Jayne

[ppaysa]

Up

0

::

Thank you Jayne! My apologies, it’s essentially a hospitality guide/directory for the vegan/vegetarian space – Australia wide. What I meant by our market being two fold, is that we will obviously have users of the app/website, whereby they can view events, eateries that specifically meet a criteria of a number of vegie-based menu options, and also educational content. And the other side are the cafes and restaurants that have an account with us (free or paid, which gain exposure from various marketing solutions we will be offering at a later stage). Hope that makes sense.

I think a soft launch is a great idea, thanks for that. As opposed to wanting to make sure everything is solidified in terms of the app and it working etc, it’s more so making sure that we come in from the right angle (from a marketing perspective). I think a soft launch will be beneficial as we can gain feedback and make the initial first steps of progress, and that way once the hard launch takes place, we’ll be able to still incorporate celebrating our freshness/excitement, while still being able to highlight that element of credibility! What do you think?

Thank you again and all suggestions have assisted immensely! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Up

0

::

My pleasure ppaysa!

Keep us posted about your progress, we’ll all be keen to see how you get on

Jayne

[Author]

Posts