Most of the startups have just bottleneck – they face the challenge of competing with the other business without having a decent budget and funds for their business. In a shoestring budget driving sales is a bit tough. A good marketing plan in place can help but you can’t work on your marketing plans too if you haven't already made some sales.
So, it’s very important to make the right move of budgeting in the nascent stages of marketing for a growing startup. You may not have large cash to spend in the initial stage and you’ll have to survive on a shoestring budget. So, how to make the most of your shoestring budget?
Here are the top 6 tips to promote your product successfully without spending a fortune and making the most of your limited budget:
Know your Affordability
The most important aspect of budgeting is knowing your resources, how much can you afford and how to use it. You need to figure out how much your startup can afford to spend.
For this, you need to evaluate your earnings and calculate how much of it you can dispose of or can afford to spend.
The most popular way to calculate your liquidity and affordability is to make your marketing budget based on the percentage of your sales. You can analyze your current sales or potential projections and then calculate your budget based on these two aspects. The best part is, you can step up or down at any time considering your current performance in your marketing budget.
Several entrepreneurs opt to spend 5% to 7% of their sales revenues and follow this thumb rule religiously. With this budgeting approach, you would be able to invest a part of your revenue that is small, affordable and would last for long.
This story is from the March 2020 edition of Small Enterprise.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 2020 edition of Small Enterprise.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Job Creation: Startups Starting Up!
Do startups create jobs? This could unarguably be one of the most sought after questions in recent times. While it is out and clear that startups make way for employment opportunities, the discussion boils down to the importance of startups in creating jobs. The startup ecosystem indeed plays a major role in job creation and is touted as an economic panacea.
Importance Of Technology For SMEs
We, humans, by nature, tend to be lazy. We always try to make tools, machines, gadgets, etc., to save us time and energy and give us satisfactory results. Technology is the charisma that kept changing our way of living and our style of doing things drastically. Our way of conducting business is also not spared by the Tsunami of technology.
Importance Of Digital Economy
Economic activities that result from billions of interactions between individuals, businesses, data, devices, and processes constitute a digital economy and India is well on its path to becoming a digitally advanced economy. Driven by cheap data cost, faster connectivity, and affordable smartphones, India had over 1,160 million internet subscribers in February 2020, as per the Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI), second only to China.
India's Economic Growth – Can The Startups Redefine?
Recent years showed a considerable rise in the startups of India. During globalization, MNCs or Multi-National Companies had a massive role in India’s economic growth. Now, it seems that startups are revolutionizing the Indian economy. These startups are amplifying the revenue generation and enriching the GDP.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION FOR BUDDING MINDS
In the present economic situation, having knowledge of an academic subject is no longer sufficient for a new graduate. Students are increasingly required to have skills and abilities which will increase their employability, such as: the retrieval and handling of information; communication and presentation; planning and problem solving; and social development and interaction.
CHALLENGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
The Economic survey in 2019-20 using World Bank’s data on entrepreneurship stated that India ranks third in the number of new firms created. However, India ranks significantly lower in terms of intensity when compared with countries like UK and US.
HOW INNOVATION PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE PERFORMANCE OF SMEs? WHAT ARE SOME INNOVATION FACTORS TO FOLLOW?
Innovation in a business must respect the business strategy in terms of the SME's long-term missions, visions, and goals and is systematic implementation procedures and changes to improve the products and services your company offers. The innovation implementation ensures an appropriate response in terms of increased sales and enhanced customer satisfaction. The image strengthening of your firm will lead to better customer relations with your company and at the same time provide financial stability for the company.
ECONOMIC REFORMS THAT CAN CHANGE THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM
The year 2021 marked 30 years since economic liberalisation surfaced in India and writing on this occasion, the richest man of India; Mukesh Ambani said that bold economic reforms such as ending the license –quota raj, liberalisation of trade and industrial policies, freeing up capital markets and financial sector helped our GDP grow ten folds since 1991 and India transformed from an economy of scarcity in 1991 to an economy of sufficiency in 2021.
ROLE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA – THEN AND NOW
As per the 2019-20 annual report of the MSME ministry, among 63.3 million MSMEs that India has, women–owned 20.4% of them up from 13.72 % in 2013-14. This data supports the fact that there has been growing acceptance of women in entrepreneurial roles but it hasn’t always been the case.
TECHNOLOGY AN ENABLER FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Today times are such that firms operate in a dynamic environment and they must act dynamically too, at least firms should keep an eye on obsolete processes and technologies and replace them with updated versions to stay competitively ahead.
