The time between opening the doors and the first month of positive cash flow can be harrowing for many entrepreneurs. Certainly anything you can do to keep expenses in line through bootstrapping is critical. But as this piece from StartupJournal points out, we should not ignore things we can do to boost revenues during this time.
Some experts say that smaller, lesser-known companies are particularly well-suited to buzz campaigns. While at large companies, there is more pressure from upper management to maintain control of a marketing message, “the whole point [of a buzz campaign] is to get consumers talking,” says Max Kalehoff, vice president, marketing at BuzzMetrics, a New York word-of-mouth research and planning firm. “Word of mouth is the ultimate form of consumer engagement,” he says.
Creating a buzz or word of mouth can start well before the doors open. This helps to increase the customer flow from the first day of operation. I call this priming the pump.
Some entrepreneurs find blogging to be a good tool for this in their businesses, such as Jason, who we have been following as he prepares to open his coffee shop in Montana. Street teams are a common tool used in the music business.
One of the keys when creating a buzz before the business opens is timing. You want to do it soon enough to actually build a buzz, but you don’t want to do it so soon that people lose interest or assume you are never going to open. Keep in mind that there are inevitable road blocks to almost every business opening, so don’t pull the trigger too soon on your buzz marketing.