Here’s the way it is; you’re a new startup in the industry with a clear picture of where you want your brand in the next few years. You are not a frog in the well—you are well aware of the value of making the right investments in your company’s key areas and methods for growth.
But for a minute, this question got you thinking: Do I invest in marketing what I have or in product development? Yes, it’s a very critical question that you need to have answers to.
In this article, I will be enlightening you on the importance of investing in each or both of these areas.
Why should you invest in Product Development?
Product development typically refers to all the growing stages of an idea, right into a fully launched product and beyond.
It is safe to say that the process of product development is a never-ending one. This is because individual tastes are constantly changing; times are always changing; one day people like something, and the next, they like a totally different thing. This opens up new problems and needs for solutions, and so on.
It’s important to invest in product development because:
1. It improves your chances of succeeding
When you rightly invest in product development for your brand, chances are you might succeed more than you would have imagined.
People like quality—as they should. Investing in your product to optimize it for comfortable customer use is great for the continuity and improvement of your brand’s establishment in the market.
2. It saves your brand’s time and money
You may rightly be wondering how this works. Well, here’s what I mean when I say investing in product development saves you time and money.
Before developing your product, you have to do some very mandatory user research. That fact alone leads you to make better decisions for your brand. You won’t be developing your product in a way that your customers wouldn’t appreciate, which would save you the time and money you would have spent.
For example, you may have been considering changing the color of your product. So you may have taken a quick survey among your users, maybe in the form of a Twitter or Instagram poll along with more formal means of conducting surveys, and realized that more than half of your customers don’t care for a change in that area but would prefer to see something else or nothing at all.
So you see, the process of product development just saved you the money and time you would have spent on the unnecessary change.
3. It increases your customer engagement and satisfaction
When you’re constantly looking for ways to improve your product, it invariably leads to your brand engaging even more with your customers.
Everything product development has the customers in mind first before anything. You would constantly be seeking their opinions on your proposed plans and not just acting on what you think they would like, and risk flopping.
In addition to that, your increased engagement with them and the implementation of their likes and consideration of their dislikes will lead to increased customer satisfaction.
4. It increases your revenue
This is already pretty obvious. As I stated before, people like quality. If you’re constantly making relevant changes to your product, people are bound to bite.
Your brand would slowly but surely establish itself in the market, which would in turn increase the amount of revenue that would come in.
See also: 4 Product-led Content Examples B2B Startups need to check out
Why should you invest in Marketing?
Marketing encompasses all the actions you take to promote your business—whether that is in-your-face marketing or a seemingly more subtle art of getting your business out there.
It’s a great investment that yields a lot of returns when done the right way.
1. It helps to build brand awareness
Positioning yourself in the right way for the right audience does a whole lot for your brand. Investing in marketing provides you with a surefire way to get your brand and what you offer out there.
And because a lot of people are aware of what your brand does, it places you at the top of their list slowly but surely.
2. It fosters growth and great brand positioning
It is common knowledge that if you are looking to grow as a brand in your industry and position yourself as one of the best who actually knows what they’re doing, marketing is the way to go. It brings in the kind of business you are looking for where the people approaching you are very much aware that they are coming to the right place.
3. It increases sales
When your brand is out there, it will be no surprise that you will rack up more sales than you were before you started making marketing efforts.
See also: How to budget for marketing in your first year as a startup
Should you invest in Product development or Marketing?
To answer this question, you need to first ask yourself where your brand is currently.
Where do you stand as a brand?
Sure, you’re a startup relatively new in the industry, but that doesn’t say much about where you actually stand.
As a brand, do you feel like you already have the product part down? Were the few customers that have come to your brand very pleased with your product outlook and desired no major changes to it?
If your answer to the above question is in the affirmative, then maybe, you do have the product part down.
This might just be the time to put your resources into marketing that great product and shelve product development for later so that you don’t become obsolete after you eventually rack up the customers you need.
Conversely, if you do some investigating and realize that the case is the contrary, that’s when you need to focus on product development first.
If you don’t have a great product to spike interest in your audience, your marketing efforts will most definitely prove fruitless.
See also: 10 Content Marketing Resources Startups need to check out
It doesn’t always have to be an either/or situation
Sometimes, the question of investing in product development or marketing doesn’t have to always be an either/or sort of thing.
Great marketing strategies and great products complement each other in a business. This is why giving adequate attention to both aspects does a great deal for your brand and product.
If you have a great product, it won’t matter if you lack a great marketing strategy to get that product to your target audience and vice versa. This is exactly the reason it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation.
Conclusion
As a startup new to the scene, you will definitely need all the advice you can get. And most of the time, you may not have the foresight required for some decisions like these. This is where professionals like Hera come in.
Apart from offering great content marketing services, we could also help with quality marketing advice for your brand that could catapult you to being a winner in your industry.
So go ahead, hit us up today!
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