You want to know a harsh truth ! Your new business could fail ! Unless you are well aware of the dynamics of establishing new business and aware of the mistakes and causes of failure.
According to statistics, most startups fail in the first year of the business. if not this, they fail within 7 years of establishment.
If your business is on its beginning phase you surely should read the full article.
Here You and I will talk about the 5 most common mistakes startups make, which they wouldn't have made if they knew these in the initial phase
1. Lack of Planning and Market Research
According to recent research most startups fail because they are providing a service or product which no one needs, or is dominated by a massive competition.
This is because of lack of Planning and Market Research. You have to go out there and do proper surveys and talk to experts and analyse the competition.
You need to have a step by step goal oriented blueprint for what you want to achieve through the business, It comes to notice that many startups have excellent Ideas and excellent service or product. but fail because of lack of proper planning;
Pets.com was startup launched in August 1998, and failed terribly after 2 years, because it was ahead of its time. You might have heard to old saying "An Idea before its time is worse than a bad idea", with proper planning and Market Research this wouldn't have happened.
2. Lack of Marketing
Proper strategic marketing is very, very important. Marketing is such tool with which even failed startups could turn into profit making successful ideas.
You might have great Idea. You might have great Product. You might have great team of engineers and researchers but if you lack marketing, you will fail terribly.
In 2002, Volkswagen launched a car model called the Phaeton, it was a premium class,full-size luxury; it failed, because of bad marketing and lack of understanding the importance of product positioning. On the contrary Tata Nano, which failed after the launch, later succeeded because of re-positioning and proper marketing.
3. Lack of Human oriented design for product or service
Alright. Now you have done proper market research and planned out the steps accordingly. You have considered the strategies of marketing.
While you might be thinking that you are on the right track, after launch of the product and hearing reviews of customers you realize that you haven't designed the product or service as per the feasibility of application.
Apple had launched a product, Newton MessagePad 2000, which failed terribly because of two reasons, one being the cost and second being the design of the product.
You have to consider the ease of use for the prospect while designing the product or service.
4. Unrealistic Expectations
Setting up a successful Business requires patience and timely execution of the plan. It generally takes almost 3 years for a startup to be well established. The pay back period could vary according to the capital investment made and profits generated, some might take less then a year and some might take more then 2 years.
Expecting unrealistic returns in the initial phase could be disheartening and demotivating for the business.
You need to be consistent, patient and practical for your business to bloom.
5. Lack of Digital Presence
With advancement of technology, most of us rely on digital means. Ten years ago, first thing we would do in morning was to check the newspapers; Now. we check our smart phone instead.
Today people research and shop online, and if you fail to be there when they are searching for you, it is indeed our loss. Using tools like SEO, content marketing, social media marketing and other tools out there, you can increase your reach in the market and you can also target your demographic group.
With help of digital presence you can keep your customers engaged to your brand and connect with them even more to turn them to Loyal customers.
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