I’m going on a solo start-up of bringing an existing product to the internet market in 30 days. Normally I wouldn’t call this a start-up, but all the elements of what I’m going to do is closely related to a business start-up.
A little background…
The product is about using mapping pins to create a picture. It used to sell in a push-cart type shop at a shopping mall for 3 months. This is the website if you’re wondering. www.artofpins.com
After the push-cart shop has been closed, it hasn’t been selling well at all, definitely less than 10 units a month. Up until now, no orders came from the website. All the orders are from local repeat buyers.
Analysis 001: Product
It has tons of potential. I’ve never seen anything like that. I would love to receive a gift like that from someone. I just have to find a way to bring it to eyes, make it an ideavirus as Seth Godin coins it.
Analysis 002: Website
It has a great shopping cart to be honest. However, it obviously isn’t well planned out yet. A lot of empty sections, 3 out of the 4 top banner projects say “Sample Project”. I wouldn’t bother too much about this, just, bad website.
Analysis 003: Exposure
It obviously has no traffic to the website. I’m not trying to put the product down, I think there’s a lot of wasted potential here. But this is a problem for products that doesn’t really solve a problem or fulfill a need, I’ve to come up with one and market it that way.
Action!
Onwards. The obvious action is this:
- Think of a need
- Launch a site catered to this need
- Market aggressively
1. Think of a need.
What comes to mind immediately is introducing it as a new type of art/craft. It will work because it’s really new. Lol, self-explanatory. But the bigger challenge here is this, getting it to the eyes of the interested. I know I wouldn’t be interested in doing this as a hobby. And marketing something I’m not interested in is just a recipe for failure.
But not all hope is gone…!
Early in this post, I said that I would love receiving this as a gift. That’s exactly how I’m going to market this! People are constantly searching for great gifts for their friends, and this would be an excellent gift! Wow! Call me a genius!
No. People who look for gifts = technically everyone in the entire world. If the entire world is your target market, guess what? You don’t have a target market.
Back to the brink of despair!
This led me to this question.. Since it’s such an awesome gift, who are the people who are willing to spend large amounts of effort sourcing for a great present for their friends?
Teenagers, college students.
But it’s still a little broad, that’s like an entire generation of humans. Which leads me to this question… Who would I love receiving this gift from?
The answer instantly came to my mind.
My target market is now — teenagers who are in love.
For my 2nd step, launching a website, I’ll be aiming to get it live as fast as possible, even with crappy quality. After all, it’s a 30 day journey. My aim is to get to $2,000 by the end of 30 days.
I’ll be posting every day on the progress.