Choosing the product or service you plan to bootstrap may be just as important or more than what you do next.
Accountant Dan Lutchansky gives this great overview on what to consider when going into business including the admonition that new entrepreneurs should pretend they are broke when starting out.
These considerations should also go into a decision about what kind of product or service you can provide.
Here are five tips for choosing your next bootstrapping venture.
1. Find an otaku. A favorite Japanese term used by Seth Godin, this implies finding a small group with an obsession in the hopes they will spread the word about your product without the need for big (and expensive) marketing and advertising campaigns. There is a further implication in Godin's recommendation. You must choose a product or service with an otaku for this to work. (Godin's example? Mustard vs. Hot Sauce.)
2. Consider social marketing options. Tom Pick shared a great recent post ranking the best social networks on line. However, you will need to do some considerable experimentation to see what works best for reaching your target customer. (ex. MySpace seems to work for promoting your band but not necessarily for business to business marketing) Also, social marketing goes way beyond the Internet. Marketing can be done in your community as well for bricks and mortar business.
3. Make your product stand out. Internet entrepreneur Chris Pitillo griped recently about the proliferation of social networks with no clear benefit to the user. (YouTube which offers video upload vs., say, just another Facebook.)
4. Develop a conversation first. Sage Lewis and Mike Sansone of ConverStations stress the importance of talking to your customers and, of course, this might be important not just in selling your product or service but also in deciding what product or service to provide in the first place. (What a great way of stumbling across an Otaku.)
5. Define your expertise. One of the greatest reasons for starting a blog as a way of bootstrapping your business. No, it's not an endless billboard on the Internet spewing marketing messages, it's a way of sharing what you know.
Please share your suggestions in the comment section or create a post linked to this one and I'll provide a link back.
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