Starting a business, need advice.

[swatpulla]

So I have started this side-business dealing with web and software development, and I am thinking about ways a budding start-up can reach out to more people. I have a few questions regarding this.

• What is the best platform to advertise ourselves? Just-dial proved to be a total failure, while google ad-words has worked well so far. Any other free or paid services I should look at to reach quality potential clients?
• I am kinda undecided between choosing my target audience. Should I target more Western countries or should I stick to Indian clients for the initial phase?

If anyone can lend a word of advice on this, I would really appreciate that.

[Kalia_Test]

It will help if you give more details - Web and software development is a big bucket. - Is it you alone or are you planning to hire anyone? ( contractors, employees,etc). What number do you have in mind initially? Given limited info, I can tell what worked for my friends. It may or may not be similar to what you want to do so take it in that context. 1. Register your firm (or as an individual ) in freelancing giant portals like elance,odesk,freelancer,etc and bid for work ( some portals are closed for Indians unfortunately - result of spammers. Check for latest status ) . Don't undersell yourself i.e have fair pricing - low rates will put off many Clients as they will doubt quality. When you do some work, request the Client for endorsements - it really helps your profile. You will also get opportunities to develop contacts - all this adds up. Work gets more work. 2. Have a website and a blog as part of it. Nothing is more embarrassing when a Client asks you what services you can provide and you write paras in e-mail. A website listing all offerings is best. Its not expensive to host a website and if you can do design yourself, good for you but I would hire a pro web designer. 3.Adwords is good for initial push but not much later. Social media marketing 1. LinkedIn is the best SM for professionals. Go for paid package if you can afford it. Keep adding contacts and post thoughts on Industry trends. Get into circles of influencers, recruiters,etc. It will be daunting initially but keep at it. Most bang for buck comes here. 2. The usual FB page, Twitter - integrate with your blog and follow influencers. On India vs Western Clients - really depends on what you offer. As a thumb rule, you will not survive if you depend on Indian Clients initially ( unless you have a mama or chacha that can win you Govt tenders ). You need US or Euro Clients. The labor cost arbitrage is still huge. Also, try and attend Industry events like Digital, Big Data, Mobile Computing,Microsoft Technologies, etc. Atleast in Hyderabad, we have one almost every week and about half of them are free if you have a firm,etc. Give visiting card with your website to co-participants. MS offers 3 years of MS Azure Technologies free ( Cloud based) for any startup. There are lots of such things - you will know about them if you get into the right circles. That should be your first goal.

[swatpulla]

It will help if you give more details - Web and software development is a big bucket. - Is it you alone or are you planning to hire anyone? ( contractors, employees,etc). What number do you have in mind initially? Given limited info, I can tell what worked for my friends. It may or may not be similar to what you want to do so take it in that context. 1. Register your firm (or as an individual ) in freelancing giant portals like elance,odesk,freelancer,etc and bid for work ( some portals are closed for Indians unfortunately - result of spammers. Check for latest status ) . Don't undersell yourself i.e have fair pricing - low rates will put off many Clients as they will doubt quality. When you do some work, request the Client for endorsements - it really helps your profile. You will also get opportunities to develop contacts - all this adds up. Work gets more work. 2. Have a website and a blog as part of it. Nothing is more embarrassing when a Client asks you what services you can provide and you write paras in e-mail. A website listing all offerings is best. Its not expensive to host a website and if you can do design yourself, good for you but I would hire a pro web designer. 3.Adwords is good for initial push but not much later. Social media marketing 1. LinkedIn is the best SM for professionals. Go for paid package if you can afford it. Keep adding contacts and post thoughts on Industry trends. Get into circles of influencers, recruiters,etc. It will be daunting initially but keep at it. Most bang for buck comes here. 2. The usual FB page, Twitter - integrate with your blog and follow influencers. On India vs Western Clients - really depends on what you offer. As a thumb rule, you will not survive if you depend on Indian Clients initially ( unless you have a mama or chacha that can win you Govt tenders ). You need US or Euro Clients. The labor cost arbitrage is still huge. Also, try and attend Industry events like Digital, Big Data, Mobile Computing,Microsoft Technologies, etc. Atleast in Hyderabad, we have one almost every week and about half of them are free if you have a firm,etc. Give visiting card with your website to co-participants. MS offers 3 years of MS Azure Technologies free ( Cloud based) for any startup. There are lots of such things - you will know about them if you get into the right circles. That should be your first goal.

Thanks for quite a detailed reply. You are absolutely right about keeping my prices fair. I tried reducing my margins to get more people interested, and that turned out to be a nightmare for a lot of different reasons. I definitely need to grow my circles too, and I'll work on that. Here are a few things I have covered already -

• A detailed website listing all my services.
• I have registered the company and completed stuff like google map verification for my new office /social media integration etc.
• Hired a couple of people to reach out to potential clients.
• I have built a decent client portfolio too.

So, with all that out of the way, the focus right now is at reaching more people and generating leads because that helps me sustain and grow my efforts. From what you suggest, at this point "Freelancing portals + Google Adwords + Social Media" should be enough. I have been doing that, so all looks good.

[zen]

[*] I am kinda undecided between choosing my target audience. Should I target more Western countries or should I stick to Indian clients for the initial phase?

Let me help you to think through this: 1st - you have already chosen your target audience = companies that would want to use your products (the need) 2nd - the next question is what type of companies are going to use your product? Would it be - Fortune 500 companies, SMBs, etc. 3rd - Once you have identified the size of the company, you may want to look in to sectors such as manufacturing, services, etc. 4th - Coming back to your question, if the company fits in to your targeted profile, whether it is Western or Indian should not matter (apart from marketing initiatives). However if you are targeting Western companies, you are also making an entry in to those "geographic" markets so you may have to consider pros and cons for that

[dial_100]

Networking, networking, networking... That's the key to success. Only thing that it gets easier a wee bit with social networking sites. But you need lots and lots personal contacts. If you don't have, then prepare presentations in your area of business and participate in some paid conferences/seminars and present on some industry upcoming trends etc to attract more clients. Collaborate/partner up with someone so that your business appears as a credible option. It takes years to get there. One last thing, please don't give up. Its not easy to get where you want to be.

[swatpulla]

Thanks for the input all of you. Really appreciate all your replies. It's going to be a long slog, but I'll try to stay persistent.