Low-Cost Research for Pre-Sales Startups

Starting and growing a business is a challenging process, but the power of marketing research can help make it easier. Whether you're pre-revenue or post-profitability, well-done marketing plays a crucial role in testing product and messaging viability, and will let you learn and improve faster than is possible without it.

According to a study by CB Insights, one of the most common reasons for startup failure is a lack of market need. Conducting research can help businesses better understand their target audience and ensure that their products or services are meeting a real need in the market.

But research is expensive! And it takes time!

And marketing is even more so!

That definitely can be true, but not necessarily. Below, I will break down the kinds of marketing that can be done by a pre-revenue startup, with approachable and low-cost tools that can be used in free bits of time here and there. This is all that will be necessary until you make enough money to offload this work to focus on your thriving business.

Pre-Revenue Marketing

Marketing is essential for businesses that haven't yet generated revenue.

It is the time to understand your market fit, while your position can still be changed.

It is the time to finesse your brand messaging, while you don’t have a style-guide set in stone.

It is the time to make things better, when changes come with such little cost.

The start of your business is the time to pilot your marketing. And just like a TV pilot, you need two things:

• An idea of why you exist, and what you can change

"Nobody cares about your product except you. Create interesting content around your mission, and people will pay attention." - David Beebe

The above quote is the biggest reason why early businesses can struggle with marketing, is that they focus on the business. But no one else cares about the business. Your audience will only be excited if you can solve their problems, so focus here.

Identify the reason why you exist. Instead of mapping out everything that you do better than everyone else, instead find proof of people having problems that you can solve right now.

Look at Google Trends - are people looking for solutions to problems that you solve? Are the problems that you want to solve even things that people are struggling with?! If you can’t find people looking for something like you, they probably won’t start when you’re in front of them.

Get in front of people - a £10 budget can get your content in front of a thousand people, and a well-crafted template can let you email hundreds of people per month. Use this to see if your messaging is really funny or just a bit cringe, and if your audience values rugged authenticity over paid-for stock imagery.

Keep it loose - as much as possible, try not to commit to anything at the start. In a survey of 1.8K business leaders of 2+ employees, the top trait they used for themselves was adaptable, a term they used 33% more than the average person. Allow yourself to change things until they are proven effective and don’t commit to a ‘cool’ brand until a rough-and-ready pilot has given you reason to.

• An eye on the meters at all times

"Without measurement and tracking, an early-stage business is like a ship without a rudder, drifting aimlessly towards an uncertain fate." - Steve Blank

So you’re testing everything, looking everywhere, and keeping all ears open for hints of positive reception to your business, but are you looking in the right places and responding in the right way?

There are really only 3 areas that you need to work for a profitable product - being interesting, valuable, and trusted - and the measures of success aren’t complicated.

Are your ads interesting? Is your product relevant?

Metric: Cost per click, Cost per view

This might technically be two questions, but they cannot really be separated from each other. An ad that is interesting and a product that is irrelevant are met with the same response: apathy. So you need to measure how much your audience takes action (any action) in response to you.

Are your videos being watched more than necessary? Is your ad call to action being clicked? How many people search for your name?

All signs that you have the foundations set for:

Can you get real engagement from your audience?

Metric: Pages per session, pre-purchase conversions

Notice how I don’t include social engagement in the above? That’s because I am not talking about engaging your audience with likes or comments but having an exchange with them. Once you can get your audience to give you their time or their information, it means that they see something that could be of value in your business.

Time is not money, but it can damn-well feel it, so treat your audience’s time with respect, giving concise and useful information to them, and you may well be deemed worthy of more.

Are you trustworthy enough to pay for?

Metrics: Sales, revenue

As an early-stage business, you are likely going to be a risk. It’s why Etsy and Amazon Marketplace can thrive by giving big-brand credibility to small-business sales, but without that, you need to make sure that your audience's interest in you exceeds the perceived risk of you.

So while you have been raising interest and appeal in the previous stage, now you need to make your business seem easy and inevitable. You can be bought easily, and you can be returned easily. But you won’t be returned because, just like for all of these people {testimonials, case studies}, you are going to be perfect for your customer.

Conclusion

Marketing is a crucial component of any startup, and you at the early stages of business are better places than any massive company to really solve people's problems.

By utilizing low-cost tools and approaches, you can test your product and messaging viability, learn and improve faster, and ensure that products or services are meeting a real need in the market. By focusing on identifying and solving customer problems, measuring and tracking success, and building trust with the audience, you will create the solid foundation you need for long-term growth and success.

So, get started on your pre-revenue marketing efforts today and see how it can help your business thrive!

Read next: Top 5 tools for cheap and quick product research for start-ups