3 big barriers to startup success—and how to leap over them
You’re leading your field with a novel approach to a social or environmental problem, a breakthrough technology or a pioneering business model. Your team is top-notch. You know your market, and your offering matches their needs. But they’re not buying, and you’re not growing. What’s wrong?
Most likely you’re hitting one—or more—of three barriers to startup success that form the Wall of Frustration. And each of them is at least partly a communications challenge.
1. Status quo bias
Most of us can think of things we should be doing differently but aren’t, even though we’ve identified a good alternative. For example, do you like the way giant banks operate? There’s a good chance you don’t—and an even better chance you haven’t moved your money to a sustainable bank or community financial institution. Your prospects may be similarly stalled. The reasons boil down to this:
Change takes effort. This is especially true of big corporate buyers. If your prospect has to get multiple approvals and sell your solution up the ladder, that’s a heavy lift and a time-consuming slog.
New = unknown = scary. The ancient tech truism “Nobody gets fired for buying IBM” captures this phenomenon. It feels—and may be—safer for your target customers to buy a familiar name or stick with what they already have. They may not be achieving standout results from either option, but they know what they’re getting and they won’t be fired or blamed for continuing to get it.
Behemoth incumbents have all the advantages of behemothness. If incumbents have elephant footprints all over your market, they can box you out using tactics like offering a less-good-but-good-enough version of your solution as a cheap add-on to a big sale.
Powerful weapons against status quo bias include benefits messaging that responds to unspoken objections and high-profile customers who are willing to speak to media or collaborate on thought leadership. Case studies, the Swiss army knife in the communications toolbox, provide a particularly high return on investment: They ease sales by providing real-world use cases with customer-verified results. They can fuel media coverage, particularly in trade outlets. And they provide compelling examples for thought leadership articles.
2. Market noise
Imagine a bazaar. It’s loud, crowded, colorful and for some overwhelming. Vendors extoll the unique qualities of seemingly identical wares. Distracting shiny objects are everywhere. Your market is probably much like that bazaar: It’s harder than ever to grab attention. Competing claims confuse your customers. And it’s difficult to distinguish quality from junk.
Those factors add up to a two-part challenge: First, getting found. And second, getting past the analysis paralysis this marketplace induces. Media pitches that tie into top-of-mind issues; vetted, provable, clearly expressed impact metrics; and sharp subject matter experts who can analyze the market as whole will chip away at this barrier.
3. First-mover disadvantage
While the advantages of being first to market are top of mind for most startups, planning to deal with the many disadvantages often gets neglected. Three of these are fundamentally communications issues.
Visionaries attract skeptics. Solutions that seem “out there” get more intense critiques than widely used options—even those with enormous downsides.
The new-car smell wears off. Novelty can net publicity, but it won’t last long. Once trend-focused journalists and influencers move on, it takes savvy ongoing media outreach—with ever more impressive proof points—to stay in the conversation.
The market needs education. Some of the most ground-breaking solutions address problems people don’t know they have or drive progress they don’t think is possible.
Thought leadership is an essential strategy for addressing this barrier. Writing articles, speaking, and serving as an expert source enhances your credibility, educates prospects, enables you to define new standards and maintains your presence between news events.
A smart communications strategy tailored to your situation won’t completely knock down these barriers to startup success, but it will create cracks in the wall. And those cracks may be all you need to slip through and rise to your next level.
Related posts
Strategic PR drives startup’s explosive growth
Real thought leadership has these 4 brand-building qualities
