Startups are businesses too much as they are compartmentalized separately with a title to boot. Strip off the finery and you have a business that’s starting their journey from scratch. To stay in the race, startups need to think of themselves as businesses too, albeit with a different method of functioning. Needless to say though, every startup needs to differentiate themselves in their offering, whether they be a physical product, a digital platform or a pureplay service. The journey transcends multiple stages as they create an identity for themselves.
Here’s where startups begin to understand the need for creating a niche for themselves, if they hadn’t already. Most of the time, a business plan needs to truly reflect their differentiated proposition, but in the progression, startups take some quantum jumps or practical pivots when faced with the reality of the market, thereby reworking on their differentiation strategy. The basis and the basics remain of differentiation remain the same and it works through multiple levels and stages as I’ve tried to outline below.
Selecting product or domain
Startups maybe products or services or ancillaries to either, (think ecommerce and marketplaces). Being a derivative of a core model Whether you are selling a product or providing service, it’s important to know about the competition over there because there is no point in getting into over explored market if you don’t have better innovation or a better quality with that product.
Keep Improving and Innovating
In a hyper competitive startup world, it is necessary to innovate and provide something of new and of better quality constantly due to the rapid pace of evolution every second with a overabundance of ideas and strategies In a similar vein, customer preferences are also evolving due to the presence of a wide variety of competitive products.
To have a connect with customer and market on daily basis
The world has never been more borderless as it is today and nothing exemplifies this better than social media, which has truly made it de rigeur to have a closer connection with your customers on a regular basis. Social Platforms, a product of Web 2.0 (archaic as it sounds today, given the super rapid advances in Web 3.0) still play a very important part as the interactive conduit between brand and customer, meant to facilitate a flow of meaningful information exchange. While the brand communicates its sense of It helps in building goodwill in the market too. It’s necessary to narrate the company’s plans and initiative.
Every one doesn’t needs funding
Let’s face it, every startups likes to have a large slice of investor money but but not all get what they are really looking for. So one can also start with a small chunk to put their plans into action, stay lean and build an offering that’s of strong value. Tough as it may be, there are startups who have achieved this scale without any external investment. Most recent example being Zerodha from India reached the unicorn club without any kind of funding.
Staying Solution oriented
Providing an immediate solution to a customer’s problem is necessary, because a satisfied customer increases your growth. As in today’s age other than selling the product, satisfying customer’s needs is also necessary.
It’s important to map out organization’s long term and short term goal: Achieving profit every quarter must not be the goal of the company as it is necessary to have significant growth in all aspects and to expand to remain in the market among the competitors. Because after a certain stage it starts hitting the saturation level. It also helps in designing the working style which will be suitable to achieve the landmarks.
To spread a word
Its important to be active and participate in the market not only through marketing but by attending events, podcasts where we can amplify new movements and remain connected with the customers.
Thus in this overcrowded culture it’s important to find and implement ways to be different and more attractive from others because change is the new constant.