20 Killer Ways to Launch an Online Business on a $10 Marketing Budget

A launch strategy is very much a game plan one (or team of ones) is going to follow closely, during the beginning phases of a new business or business idea.  In essence, there are hundreds of launch strategies out there.  One can find everything from the traditional formal letter writing and power networking efforts, to full digital media campaigns.  Thankfully, there are great tools out there to implement the ladder strategically and effectively.  In fact one of the most detailed launch strategy step-by-step instructional I’ve found yet, is posted on the Daily SEOBlog.   It details 18 Start Up Tools from everything like setting up visitor analytics, to site de-bug and testing software, scalability metric implementation, to social media and blogger relationship management.  Almost all the tools have free trials, perfect for the low to no start-up budget. It is indeed one of the most complete "launch strategy tools" list ever.
 

Even better?  I’ve said it before and I will say it again.  In this economic climate, one of the most successful launch strategies I’ve yet to encounter is the group coupon models (Groupon).  Where else can one get a complete turnkey point of sale, a huge surge of permission based market penetration, complete back end metrics plus a prediction based dashboard to forecast sales of the new product or service.  Granted it is a profit sharing model, but what entrepreneur would not rather split proceeds in the initial phases of inception, versus fronting money for marketing with no guarantee of results?  The group coupon compensation model is all performance based (ie: the perfect commission based salesperson).  It also offers tons of free administration services to process client transactions, answer questions and of course track sales as they are happening.  These functions alone would cost a start-up a small fortune to implement in staffing alone!  It’s instant quality control management with little to no effort on the vendor/entrepreneur’s part.  Oh did I mention that you get a fat customer list to pop into MailChimp's next-to-free (like $10) email broadcast app afterwards?  Yep.  You can continue dancing with all your awesome new clients forever.  Kinda like marriage but not really.  Mint on people!

To Prototype or Not to Prototype? This Week's Micro-Business Discussion

Every week the Internet Marketers get together and share ideas and thoughts on the latest industry happenings. This week's discussion was about the "Prototype". Here's what I shared:

(1) Do you believe that the concept of prototyping your business is sound (or not) and why?

"I believe it’s very sound because in a fast paced tech world where everything evolves so quickly one needs to test the waters before investing in marketing and branding campaigns. Soft launches help an entrepreneur gage where the risks are and best manage scalability."

(2) What do you perceive as the top 3 advantages of creating a micro-business prototype?

"I think the top three advantages are:

1. Garnering an understanding of what your market really thinks
2. Examining (in detail) the pitfalls of the model
3. Following up and implement improvements based on feedback"

(3) Are there any negative repercussions that you can see from releasing a prototype as opposed to a fully vetted business system?

""I guess the negative would be the risk of someone stealing the idea and improving upon it. Not unusual in this business 2.0 world, but worth the attempt in my opinion. One never knows unless one tries.