Knowing where, when and how to spend your money is very important if you want to launch a product. But, knowing where, when and how NOT to spend it is crucial for making that launch successful. Read on and learn about the budgeting mishaps you should avoid when launching a product.
The Power of Broke
Having too much money to spend on your idea is not always a great thing, as Daymond John explains in his book The Power of Broke because it can make you lose your focus. We all know that people tend to be more creative when they lack resources and being creative and inventive while operating outside of your comfort zone is what makes you a true entrepreneur. It is all about perspective and making something work without having a lot of money is a challenge that keeps you going forward and helps you find ways to overcome the obstacles. When you understand that your success often doesn’t depend only on money, you are ready to embark on an entrepreneurial adventure.
“It’s not the money that’s going to make you succeed. It’s having a great product in a place where it is needed and presenting that product to the community at large. If you can build it and present it right, then you’re well on your way to success.” Fred Cary
The Wisdom of Proper Budgeting
No matter how big your marketing budget example is, putting money into the positioning, patents, trademarking your name or engineering, before you’ve understood what the marketplace wants from you, is a BIG MISTAKE. You want to know what people think about your product, what they like and especially what they DON’T LIKE before you start investing more money into your idea. Ask the hard questions at the beginning and learn how to make your product better NOW — you don’t want to find out what your customers don’t like at the cash register. This is why your first and most important step is customer surveys — if you have a limited budget this is the thing you will spend it on. On our Blog, you can find a couple of articles on this topic that can guide you through this process.
When planning your budget, have in mind that it usually takes double the time and money to get halfway to where you think you are going to get. We all want things to run smoothly, and when you are creating something from the ground up it never actually does. Be wise with the capital you have while you are getting ready to launch, because at the end of the day when it is time to launch you will need money to tell the world about it. You want to spend your money in the right places and you don’t want to spend it too quickly.
“Don’t think that you’re going to go live and the money’s going to start rolling in when you go live. That’s the time that you have to roll up your sleeves and work your butt off.” Fred Cary
The Wonders of Marketing
You need to have a marketing budget example ready and you’ve got to tell people where to look for your product or app. You don’t have to have $200.000 to do that — if you invest wisely, you can do a lot with $5.000 as well. Start with finding a social media influencer who has a lot of impact in the area you are in and, if negotiated correctly, you can have many people learning about your product/app for a price of $1.000 — $2.000. And then continue with advertising, because without it all your hard work is going to be invisible.
Once you did all the work and your online shop, for example, is live, you have to think about the numbers — only 2.5% of people who visit your website are going to buy your product and you will have to start paying extra dollars to reach those people and start making a profit.
The good news is that there are many things you can do for free, like joining different Facebook groups and using blogs, emails, lives and other channels to reach your audience. Engagement rate on Facebook is around 1% while on social media, in general, you are only getting in touch with 4% of your base, at any given moment. This means you will have to work hard to get your message out there, no matter how big your budget is.
“Marketing is really the heart and brain of your organization. You have to know who you are, why people are attracted to you and you need to know how to reach out to them and keep them happy and coming back. Marketing is the name of the game to do that, and you cannot do that for free.” Fred Cary
IdeaPros Wants to See your Business Thrive
We prepared some great resources for you on How to build a Serious App, a Product Launch Countdown and a Startup Checklist of all the things you need to do before you launch your product.
Being an entrepreneur is not an easy path, and if you feel you need a helping hand to get to the finish line, don’t hesitate to CONTACT US!
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