Cost-effective strategy to promote a startup

Mahbub Hasan, a mid-careerist with three of his colleagues ventured an online shopping store (in the way to be an e-commerce site soon) name khamari.net in 2015. The portal is basically a virtual grocery retail shop and they have been getting orders in a slow and steady means from their friends and families through organic Facebook campaigns. Maruf Rony, a Dhaka University graduate, with six of his classmates and friends started a restaurant venture name Nostalgic Café with the tagline meet.eat.repeat based in Dhanmondi in 2014. He, along with all his partners, is the first time running a food and hygiene related business. They crossed the breakeven within the first six months and planning for further expansion of their business. Mahfuz Akram by profession a Merchandiser of a German based buying house in the country working to establish a news portal name bdtalks24.com and has been trying to promote his site through Facebook sponsored advertisements. Akram recruited a team of experts who have been working on a part-time basis for News accumulation and social media endorsement.

These three instances underscore the need for promoting startups through various channels. Despite the fact, Mahbub Hasan said that due to their official engagement, they are not in a position to promote their project in full swing though they have the intention to take it forward in coming days. In the initial stage, the organic Facebook posts serve their needs, Mahbub said. Maruf Rony shared that at this stage they are in need of promotion of nostalgicbd.com as because the first couple of months they campaigned among their friends and families through Facebook and then Facebook sponsored ads. After that, they were able to publish some features in some esteemed dailies about their food menus. He said now what they need is branding. Due to the competitive market, so many restaurants are in progress of promotion and campaign and after the Holey Artisan Bakery incident, they face sales down and it is high time to attract customer through promotion. Each and every individual restaurant has its uniqueness. So, Nostalgic Café’s uniqueness is to build up a trust for quality food and up to the mark of customer services. They are now keen to promote the cafe’s brand, Maruf included. While Mahfuz Akram informed that as he is not from a Journalism background nevertheless keen to be a Media Entrepreneur thus his intention is to promote his 
startup through social media platforms in this initial stage, though he has plans to organise some events for a wider spread of 
words of his media startup in near future.
So, promoting a product or service is a headache for an entrepreneur. And this headache belongs both for giant national and multinational companies to startups. Billions of dollars have been invested in sales promotion by such kinds of big fishes. But, what else for the startups? If wisely think, have to find out a cost-effective strategy within its individual realm. Though startup founders can think of organic social media campaign, f-commerce (Facebook commerce), content and email marketing and public relations activities etc.
Principally, sales, promotion, advertising and branding all are from one root term of ‘Marketing’. From my personal view, I think branding means trust. The ‘big brand’ means how large scales of people trust it. And it takes a longer time to build the trust. For startups, in the earlier stage, forget about marketing strategies, branding, 4p (People, Product, Price, and Place), 8p or else because these are not penny less. So, for promoting startup, the first target customer/audiences should be friends and families and something else platform where founders can promote their products and services free of cost. 
There are some online portals which stretch from various sources definitely, serves for promotion by enlisting here. This is often the hardest part of the startup life cycle and there are hundreds of platforms to help. However, after a study, these are the best platforms to promote a startup for no cost in perspective of Bangladesh. These sites are free of cost registering procedure and work greatly for promotion as startups can easily be in its directory. As a startup, people have to bring a fresh standpoint to get their venture noticed. So, thinking of a cheaper way to get acquainted of the startup within his/her milieu is a strategic decision. Here are some ways how startups can promote goods or services without paying.
Founded in Bangladesh: Inspired by Founded in Holland, Founded in Bangladesh (FiB) prepared a list of truly innovative Bangladeshi startups. It has the ambition to transform the startup ecosystem in the country. 
To be engaged in its initiative, founders can submit their startup details to show their logos and venture details. Part of the worldwide Founded X community, foundedinbangladesh.com is also working together with many local partners.
Intern City: This is a Bangladeshi startup that connects the talented, entrepreneurial and passionate young people in Bangladesh. It unites experienced individuals, entrepreneurs, organisations both locally and internationally with the talented young entrepreneurs of our country. https://intern.city offers a platform to compete and establish a network. The startup also provides support for getting mentored and to be exposed to a global business hub.
Jete Chao: jetechao.com brings a wide range of events, all over Dhaka and beyond, on one platform – the easiest way to find a list of events. The startup founders can easily promote their events through its efforts.
Startup Ranking: This online portal features the best and new startups worldwide. With a great audience of startup founders and early adopters and it is the place for the startup to get new users and their customers. The website gets 80,000+ page views per week. The newsletter has 15,000+ subscribers and is sent out weekly. The number of click-through per week is on average 250. For details may visit startupranking.com/top/bangladesh.
Angel.co: Through enlisting, here founders can tell the world about their startup, showcase product, services and the team. Startups are ranked on several algorithmic factors — the quality of startup profile, the level of activity and how candidates respond to startup etc. More details may find at https://angel.co/bangladesh. Hope initially this helps. 

The writer is CEO of NewsfeedPR He can be reached at: [email protected]

Cost-effective strategy to promote a startup

Mahbub Hasan, a mid-careerist with three of his colleagues ventured an online shopping store (in the way to be an e-commerce site soon) name khamari.net in 2015. The portal is basically a virtual grocery retail shop and they have been getting orders in a slow and steady means from their friends and families through organic Facebook campaigns. Maruf Rony, a Dhaka University graduate, with six of his classmates and friends started a restaurant venture name Nostalgic Caf with the tagline meet.eat.repeat based in Dhanmondi in 2014. He, along with all his partners, is the first time running a food and hygiene related business. They crossed the breakeven within the first six months and planning for further expansion of their business. Mahfuz Akram by profession a Merchandiser of a German based buying house in the country working to establish a news portal name bdtalks24.com and has been trying to promote his site through Facebook sponsored advertisements. Akram recruited a team of experts who have been working on a part-time basis for News accumulation and social media endorsement. These three instances underscore the need for promoting startups through various channels. Despite the fact, Mahbub Hasan said that due to their official engagement, they are not in a position to promote their project in full swing though they have the intention to take it forward in coming days. In the initial stage, the organic Facebook posts serve their needs, Mahbub said. Maruf Rony shared that at this stage they are in need of promotion of nostalgicbd.com as because the first couple of months they campaigned among their friends and families through Facebook and then Facebook sponsored ads. After that, they were able to publish some features in some esteemed dailies about their food menus. He said now what they need is branding. Due to the competitive market, so many restaurants are in progress of promotion and campaign and after the Holey Artisan Bakery incident, they face sales down and it is high time to attract customer through promotion. Each and every individual restaurant has its uniqueness. So, Nostalgic Cafs uniqueness is to build up a trust for quality food and up to the mark of customer services. They are now keen to promote the cafes brand, Maruf included. While Mahfuz Akram informed that as he is not from a Journalism background nevertheless keen to be a Media Entrepreneur thus his intention is to promote his startup through social media platforms in this initial stage, though he has plans to organise some events for a wider spread of words of his media startup in near future. So, promoting a product or service is a headache for an entrepreneur. And this headache belongs both for giant national and multinational companies to startups. Billions of dollars have been invested in sales promotion by such kinds of big fishes. But, what else for the startups? If wisely think, have to find out a cost-effective strategy within its individual realm. Though startup founders can think of organic social media campaign, f-commerce (Facebook commerce), content and email marketing and public relations activities etc. Principally, sales, promotion, advertising and branding all are from one root term of Marketing. From my personal view, I think branding means trust. The big brand means how large scales of people trust it. And it takes a longer time to build the trust. For startups, in the earlier stage, forget about marketing strategies, branding, 4p (People, Product, Price, and Place), 8p or else because these are not penny less. So, for promoting startup, the first target customer/audiences should be friends and families and something else platform where founders can promote their products and services free of cost. There are some online portals which stretch from various sources definitely, serves for promotion by enlisting here. This is often the hardest part of the startup life cycle and there are hundreds of platforms to help. However, after a study, these are the best platforms to promote a startup for no cost in perspective of Bangladesh. These sites are free of cost registering procedure and work greatly for promotion as startups can easily be in its directory. As a startup, people have to bring a fresh standpoint to get their venture noticed. So, thinking of a cheaper way to get acquainted of the startup within his/her milieu is a strategic decision. Here are some ways how startups can promote goods or services without paying. Founded in Bangladesh: Inspired by Founded in Holland, Founded in Bangladesh (FiB) prepared a list of truly innovative Bangladeshi startups. It has the ambition to transform the startup ecosystem in the country. To be engaged in its initiative, founders can submit their startup details to show their logos and venture details. Part of the worldwide Founded X community, foundedinbangladesh.com is also working together with many local partners. Intern City: This is a Bangladeshi startup that connects the talented, entrepreneurial and passionate young people in Bangladesh. It unites experienced individuals, entrepreneurs, organisations both locally and internationally with the talented young entrepreneurs of our country. https://intern.city offers a platform to compete and establish a network. The startup also provides support for getting mentored and to be exposed to a global business hub. Jete Chao: jetechao.com brings a wide range of events, all over Dhaka and beyond, on one platform the easiest way to find a list of events. The startup founders can easily promote their events through its efforts. Startup Ranking: This online portal features the best and new startups worldwide. With a great audience of startup founders and early adopters and it is the place for the startup to get new users and their customers. The website gets 80,000+ page views per week. The newsletter has 15,000+ subscribers and is sent out weekly. The number of click-through per week is on average 250. For details may visit startupranking.com/top/bangladesh. Angel.co: Through enlisting, here founders can tell the world about their startup, showcase product, services and the team. Startups are ranked on several algorithmic factors the quality of startup profile, the level of activity and how candidates respond to startup etc. More details may find at https://angel.co/bangladesh. Hope initially this helps. The writer is CEO of NewsfeedPR He can be reached at: [email protected]