Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Dotcoms

Most startups that I run into forget the one basic question which will determine their fate - what is your marketing strategy? They get excited by some "revolutionary" idea and jump straight into building a killer website, hiring a team, raising money, etc.

No one will hear a tree falling in a forest - no one will come to a website, however great...unless there is a strong marketing effort to get traffic.  And, basically, there are only three ways to get traffic:

1) SEM - you have to have a deep war chest and spend a lot on Google and Yahoo before you even know if it will work!

2) SEO - hard to do in US since all the top spots are taken; easier to do in India - it is a landgrab and good land is still available!!

3) Viral - IMHO, viral just happens and you look like a hero if it does - but you cannot count on it and it is almost impossible to make it happen on your own

That leaves B2B - one deal with a big portal and you are the next Google! This is obviously easier said than done.  And, don't even think of a sales force unless you are selling a high value item that companies need

Now you see why so few startups survive :)

Srini Anumolu

See my other blog too: http://srinivasanumolu.blogspot.com/

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