Even as the pandemic affected many businesses across the country, it also spurred entrepreneurial activity as people hunkered down to provide healthcare professionals the much-needed support. The current situation may be unprecedented, but startups have proved their resilience amid a crisis. Many tech startups began right after the 2007-2008 economic crisis, including WhatsApp, Uber, Venmo, and Slack.
If you have a startup in the pipeline, you do not have to put off your planned launch. But before finalizing your plans, you should take into account a couple of things to increase the chances of a successful launch in the middle of the pandemic.
Work on the Identity of the Brand
The first thing you need to do is to work on the identity of your brand. You need to create a connection with your target market. It doesn’t matter if it’s a B2C or B2B startup. You should make sure you are transparent and authentic. In this situation, you can get the services of a B2B Tech PR company. These companies can help you create a positive image for your startup and gradually build a connection with your target.
You should send a message showing the personality of your brand, your values, core message, and what you bring to the market. Even as some people look to the solution you provide in the market, others focus on your brand’s identity. In these instances, you should focus on providing a consistent and compelling message to your market.
Check for Post-Pandemic Uses of Your Products or Services
The pandemic compelled businesses to innovate to allow them to survive the health crisis. These changes allowed them to leverage their products and services to adapt to the situation. You might be in the same position if you planned your tech startup before the pandemic started. You may not have taken into account the health crisis. In this case, you may have to see if you can tweak your product or service to increase its significance in a post-pandemic world.
Knowing the post-pandemic uses of your product or service allows you to survive the crisis. If your product or service is relevant to the situation, you may even see your startup grow and succeed. But before getting ahead of yourself, you should make sure to see the relevance of your product or service to your market, the priorities of your market, and the interaction of your market with your brand.
Define Your Communications Strategy
Even if you know the relevance of your product or service in the market, your startup will not succeed unless you communicate with the market. Clear communication with the market allows you to connect with them and motivate convert them into paying customers.
A marketing strategy focuses on a specific target market, but a communication strategy allows you to reach a bigger audience. Your communications strategy should include a statement of purpose, competitor analysis, SWOT analysis, objectives, stakeholders, and methods of communication.
Additionally, the strategy should be clean, and you should include templates you can use for press releases and social media messages. You should also send a clear message to the market and allow you to connect with potential customers.
Optimize Lead Generation
The pandemic has made it challenging for many businesses to connect with their market. This is particularly true among businesses that were forced to go online since most of their market stayed home and started shopping online.
You may be one of these businesses since your initial plan was to take advantage of foot traffic at your physical location to make a sale. In this case, you should optimize your lead generation activities to increase your chances of connecting with your market.
Your lead generation activities should include building your online presence by setting up LinkedIn and Google My Business accounts. You should also set up an email list and participate in social media group interactions. Generating leads can be challenging, but it can pay off in the future if you do it properly.
Systematize Workflows
Another thing that you should do to increase your startup’s success is to systematize your workflows. Being organized increases efficiency and make your marketing efforts effective. It also makes it easier for you to scale up your startup.
Additionally, you should make sure that the marketing and communication plans are consistent with the startup’s goals. Consistency makes it easier to systematize and organize your startup. It also allows you to identify areas for improvement within the startup.
Setting up a startup is challenging in the middle of a pandemic. But if you have an idea of what you’re supposed to do, you will increase the chances of success for your startup.
