Starting a business is somewhat like professional athletes who spend endless hours in training preparing for the big race day; you see as an entrepreneur you get to the start line or launch day and the feeling is the work is done, yet the race is just starting and how you begin, pace, and finish is the strategy to winning. I will leave the definition of winning up to you as that can mean many interpretations, but what is most important to focus on here is how you launch your business. The launch of your business is so crucial to your longevity, profit, and brand awareness that it deserves both your attention and time to plan it.
We cannot say the word launch without thinking about a rocket launch. Now think for a moment what a rocket launch looks like; it has people watching with anticipation for its official take off, it requires a lot of fuel and energy to take off, and it makes an exciting, eye catching, jaw dropping in amazement blast off. Some of you who are introverted entrepreneurs may be thinking you do not want nor need to make a spectacle of yourself similar to a rocket launch to outer space, but I challenge you to examine this analogy with an open mind for your business. Here is a perspective to ponder:
If you believe in your business….
If you love what you do and know you can make a difference…
If you know your product or service has tremendous value ….
And it absolutely will be serving a need in the market or solving a solution….
…then do you not want it to impact as many people as possible?
…and to reach everyone so they know about?
Your big splash in to the world with your business is not necessarily about promoting you unless you are a public personality and even if you are, it is more about your message, the value you bring to people, and the service or product that is going to serve them. So take the pressure or timid hesitation off of promoting yourself and focus the blast off on your message, value, and service.
What I see far too often when entrepreneurs start their business is putting a lot of energy in to the preparation of getting the services and products ready and the basic marketing essentials of their website and business cards completed, but then only open their doors quietly like the flipping of an open sign for whomever may walk by. In comparison to the rocket launch, I would have to call this the snail approach and personally whenever I see a snail, I always wonder if they will make it to where they want to go?
How to Start Your Business with a Launch for Impact & Momentum
Whether you have started your business already or are just getting ready to launch, you can create a grand opening on any date, at any time in your business, and around any service or product. That is super exciting! Yes, you can create a farther reach, greater impact, and serve more customers by planning a successful strategy to gain large exposure for your business. There are a few steps to take in organizing the launch of your business.
1. Where are your current customers and how can you reach them?
When you know where your customers hangout, where they are already spending their money, what interests them, and who is already serving them, you will be able to reach them so they see your launch and know about your services or products too! For example, if your main customer was a baby boomer or senior, you may look for magazines or journals that cater to this population like Zoomers or specialty groups for grand parents or even hobbies they spend their money on. Get as specific as possible so if you serve seniors with a health product, then you will want to locate where seniors are and where they look when spending money on their health and wellness. Once you have located where they are, then you can market to them there whether it be online or offline.
2. Who are the people already serving your customer with a complimentary service?
In every industry there are other businesses and business owners already serving your customer. You want to find and make a list of these people in your general area. If your business is online, you want to find other owners that align with your vision, your values, and that also have a similar size or larger list of customers than you do. One example is an interior designer who is just about to start their business, so he or she could look up realtors and mortgage brokers to promote with and have a partnership of cross referrals. Really take a moment to make up a great list of potential cross promotion business owners and think outside of the box here!
3. What has your customer been waiting for & Why do they need you?
You, your business, and your offering are unique! Yes they are even though you may think, it’s not a new idea or it has been done before, you have never done it before and your packaging and delivery and experience has never been offered before! During your business planning process you most likely came up with your unique selling point or your differentiation and how you will be positioning your service or product. Therefore in your grand opening launch, you are going to market to this segment or around this angle. You also want to invite all the people who will benefit from you, your offering, and everyone who has a problem that you are solving with your product or service.
Above you have the 3 main questions you need answered to help you in planning your grand opening and rocket style launch, now below are 3 actions steps to launch your business with great impact and momentum.
3 Action Steps to Launch Your Business with Impact and Momentum
- You want to find at least 10 and preferably 20-30 places where your customer is already. Then you want to decide upon a minimum of 10 places to advertise depending on the size of the customer base in each location. If the customer base is small then you will need to market to a larger number of places. Decide how you will reach them with at least 3 different marketing strategies ie: print advertisement, online video or social media marketing, public expert recognition like a presentation, radio, T.V…. Lastly, make sure you get specific to the niche you serve or the customer avatar you have created. Remember every marketing strategy needs to be tracked, so set in place ways to track your exposures and the volume of your exposures.
- Depending on your industry and how large of a city you live in or the close knit nature of your profession, I would recommend finding 12-15 referral partners that you can cross promote with. If you are just starting out the more people you connect with allows you to find your strongest sources of referral and then nurture those relationships with reciprocity and gratitude. Relationship and referral marketing was where I focused my energy in my first service based business and it drove a steady stream of customers in to my business where I did not need to market once they were established. Some people call these contacts affiliates especially for online business owners. Figure out how you can bring value to the person you want to contact and begin the conversation clear on your intent of what you are asking of them. Nurture these relationships!
- The last step in your action plan for a rocket launch grand opening is to write a list of everyone you can serve by solving their problem with your service or product and how they will benefit. In addition, you want to outline exactly how you are different, what your USP or unique selling point is, and then build your marketing campaign around your market and your positioning in the market. Make sure your marketing promotions plan is tailored to the people seeking your solution.
As with every rocket launch, there is a great deal of anticipation, so one of the funnest things to do even before you are ready to launch is to build up excitement of what you will be revealing. You do not need to be ready or know your exact launch date or even have all the details laid out to build the exhilarating fun in your community of what your news will be, just state it in a playful way to keep your customers and fans curious. Go ahead and start the anticipation of your launch today! This will keep you accountable by putting it out there and it will also give your fans and followers hanging on in your story of development and in anticipation for your launch. It is like you are telling your customers that there is a gift for them, but the present is all wrapped up so they do not know what it is yet! You might not either, but the fun and adventure have begun!
If you want help in developing a solid launch for your business or want to create a marketing plan to start your business, visit us here for more details.
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