The market has been explored, the product is ready to go – and now just get out with it? Better not. So that the launch of your startup doesn’t fizzle out ineffectively, you should consider these six things.

Rent sufficient server capacity

If your own website cannot cope with even a small influx of visitors, it causes disappointment on both sides. The visitors are frustrated and close the browser window quickly. The startup, on the other hand, immediately loses valuable new customers. So what to do Everything depends on the available server capacities: Amazon, for example, offers startups special conditions for using the AWS platform . Of course, corresponding packages with automatically scalable capacities can also be booked with German hosters.

Contact the local newspaper first

Media coverage is an important lever for organic growth. After all, this is usually the only way to achieve viral effects. However, founders should not immediately assume a report on relevant portals such as Gründerszene or t3n, since reports there are usually only after a significant financing round.

The route via the local newspaper is easier: anyone with their startup outside of Berlin can contact a journalist on site before the launch. Most of them are very interested in a local founding story and often come with a photographer. The reporting in local newspapers, in turn, makes your own startup more interesting for the specialist media.

Provide a press kit

However, media attention does not come about by itself – precaution is also required here. A press area on the website is extremely important, where journalists can download general information about the startup as well as logos, screenshots and photos of the founders.

Please do not save money at this point: It is worth taking some money into your hands for a professional shoot. Because poorly lit portraits – in the worst case still in black and white – tend to create a mood of sadness.

Appoint a contact person for press inquiries

And what if it works with the interests of other journalists after the launch? Then there should always be a contact person who reacts quickly to relevant inquiries. Initially, this can either be the founder himself or an employee with experience in marketing. Ideally, the contact person always has a link to the press kit and a factsheet about the startup ready for each email.

Promote your idea to Product Hunt

Dozens of startups have already won many thousands of customers overnight thanks to Product Hunt : New products from the tech scene are advertised on the platform every day. To do this, users post a link to a website and others can then upvote it. The more votes there are, the more prominently the startup is advertised. It takes a bit of luck, but it doesn’t cost anything to try.

Accompany the launch with a blog

Every startup should write a blog post just in time for the launch. It can answer important questions about the product: How did the idea come about? What problem does it solve? Who is behind it? New customers appreciate this form of approach because it is authentic and creates trust. Companies like Outbank or Scanbot provide great examples of such blog  postings .

Customer orientation is a significant competitive factor for every company. By using CRM software, customer management can be more time-saving and the quality can be significantly improved.

Cloud technologies offer many advantages, especially for customer management, and they also pay off when visiting customers. All customer data and processes can be viewed and updated on site. Startups in particular can benefit from this: cloud solutions are scalable as required and can grow with the startup. Tasks that require competence, specialist personnel and time expenditure, such as installation, configuration and data security, can be outsourced. In startups in particular, there is often a lack of resources and the necessary specialist staff. Furthermore, startups have a relative cost advantage through the use of cloud software, as the software costs are incurred on a monthly basis and the risk of a bad investment is significantly reduced.

In this article we present five helpful CRM tools for startups that offer a cloud solution, a German language version of the software and a product version tailored to startups. Further selection criteria for the products include ease of learning and a high level of user-friendliness, a mobile app and important integrations with other tools and monthly costs of less than 15 euros per user (providers with a free version are preferred).

Project planning and management in Bitrix24

Project planning and management in Bitrix24.

 

Bitrix is ​​a very easy to use system with a huge variety of functions. In addition to classic customer and contact management, Bitrix offers document management, integrated email marketing, sales automation, invoicing and sales team management. There are also numerous functions from the field of project management, including task management, Gantt charts and, in the plus version, time recording. Telephone system functions such as group chat, video conferencing and telephony are also available in the free version.

Price : Bitrix24 offers a free version for twelve users and 5 gigabytes of storage space. The plus version is available for six users for 69 euros a month and provides companies with 50 gigabytes of storage. For 99 euros per month for 50 users, functions and storage space can be expanded.

Major integrations : Freshbooks, Dropbox, Quickbooks, Microsoft Office 365, Google Docs, Onedrive and more.

Special feature : Bitrix differs from the competition with its huge range of functions and can be used as a complete project management software.

Contact management in CentralstationCRM

Contact management in CentralstationCRM.

CentralstationCRM concentrates on standard functionalities and offers a clear customer and task management. The tool also shows open offers and all associated notes, emails and documents so that users can see all the details of the offer at a glance. Companies can import their contacts into the system via V-Cards (from Outlook, Apple Contacts, Gmail) or Excel lists. The software offers a smaller range of functions than, for example, Bitrix. If these functions are not enough, the system offers integrations with many different products and an API interface.

Local contact : CentralstationCRM is a software manufacturer from Cologne with data centers in Germany.

Price : CentralstationCRM is permanently free for startups (three users, 200 contacts, 20 megabytes of files). For 19 euros a month for three users, companies get 3,000 contacts and 1 gigabyte of files, for 39 euros a month for ten users 10,000 contacts and 3 gigabytes of files. The software can also be further scaled as required.

Important integrations : Newsletter2go, Fastbill, Snapaddy, Userlike and others.

Special features : CentralstationCRM has all CRM functions necessary for startups and is characterized by simplicity and a reduction to the essentials. This makes the software clear and easy to learn.

Automatic tracking of customer interactions in Hubspot CRM

Automatic tracking of customer interactions in Hubspot CRM.

 

In addition to contact and customer management, Hubspot also offers automatic logging of sales activities as well as functions for sales automation and maps the sales funnel. The CRM system is not the product with which Hubspot tries to earn money: The goal of the provider is to win over companies for the additional products Hubspot Marketing Hub, Sales Hub and Service Hub through the free CRM software. Hubspot’s marketing and marketing automation tool in particular is unique. Hubspot can pull data about people from their internet activity and email engagement rates, among other things. This means that data no longer has to be entered or uploaded into the CRM by a sales representative. The CRM system now also offers e-mail marketing. Users can have up to 2.

Local contact : Hubspot has a branch and thus a contact in Germany.

Price : Hubspot CRM is free for 1,000,000 records with no limits on the number of users and storage space, making it the only tool on our list that is 100 percent free.

Important integrations : Weclapp CRM, Hubspot Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub and others.

Special features : The Hubspot CRM system stands out from the competition with its impressive data acquisition capabilities.

Sales pipeline in Pipedrive

Sales pipeline in Pipedrive.

Pipedrive is tailored for small business sales teams. In Pipedrive, users find a visual sales pipeline with which they can easily and clearly keep an eye on sales processes. You can view future events and estimated sales dates, manage sales teams, and forecast sales. Furthermore, the tool always prompts companies for the next activity. Another great feature of the tool is the customizable dashboard. In the dashboard view, users are shown their results in real time.

Local contact : Pipedrive has a German website and prices in euros, but unfortunately no customer service in German.

Price : The silver version of the software costs 12.50 euros per user and month (with annual billing). Companies get the advanced version of the software for EUR 24.20 per user per month.

Major integrations : Dropbox, Google Apps, Google Drive, Highrise, and more.

Specifics : Pipedrive is a great program for closing deals, but less so for customer care after the deal. Therefore, Pipedrive is best suited for businesses such as real estate companies that are not interested in after-sales support.

Reporting in Zoho CRM

Reporting in Zoho CRM.

The free version of Zoho CRM offers contact and customer management, task management, opportunity display, charts, a document library, call center interfaces and web forms. Furthermore, users have access to a wide range of reporting functions. With an upgrade, functions for sales forecasts, marketing campaigns, e-mail integration, social CRM, inventory management and process management can be activated.

Local contact : Zoho has a German website. However, prices are in dollars and customer support is in English.

Price : The CRM system is free for three users; it is limited to 25,000 entries and one gigabyte of storage space. Companies can upgrade to the standard version for 18 euros per user and month with monthly billing and 12 euros per user and month with annual billing. The upgrade to the professional version is available for 30 or 20 euros.

Major integrations : Mailchimp, Dropbox, G Suite, Adobe Sign, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Eventbrite and others.

Special features : Zoho is known for the smooth import functions between the various Zoho tools (Zoho Books, Zoho Reports and more).

 

The role of the CDO can currently be the most important position in the company – or the least useful. This is due to the lack of a clear definition of the role and its anchoring in the company.

New competitors, who digitize themselves faster and more consistently and thus quickly gain market share, bring previously very successful companies such as P&C, C&A, Toys’r’Us, Mytoys or Gerry Weber more and more difficult. In order to react to this, the companies have been gradually bringing more and more Chief Digital Officers (CDO) to their management floors since 2016. For successful digitization , you need brave new CEOs, sales, IT and HR managers who understand not only traditional retail, but also the digital world 100 percent. A CDO can provide support on an interim basis at most.

“Kill your company – every day in an emergency”

In the future, only those dealers will survive who are either large and dominant in the market, who have verticalized as manufacturers or who have specialized to a high degree. The middle is dead and the regional USP is losing importance thanks to ever better shipping processes.

For companies this means: They have to revolutionize their killer factors, i.e. radically automate and digitize processes for maximum cost efficiency and speed. You need the necessary flexibility, also in the way you work in order to be able to react more agile and faster to changes in the market. And they have to develop from a regionally shaped business model to one that is nationally competitive. It is not only important to radically further develop the relevant killer factors product, price, frequency, marketing, services, features, IT and processes and organization. Companies must also have the courage to change, let go of tried and tested success drivers and learn from the success of new models. To put it bluntly, it means for companies: “Kill your company – every day in an emergency.” Misery discussions in gigantic rounds do not lead to anything. Now decisions have to be made.

CDO – currently the most misleading position in many German companies

“IT follows the strategy” – the saying that still applies today is known from the 80s. The difference to earlier is: When you talk about IT today, you don’t just mean the fax machine or ERP software. Today, IT forms the basis for all business models (online shops, social channels) and also for maximum automation and the associated increase in competitiveness. For this purpose, many companies are now bringing in a Chief Digital Officer. A part of the company defines him as the one who understands the new e-business world and will therefore find the solutions for the further development of the business strategy. The other half see him as a technical and process-oriented person.

It is completely forgotten that in view of the current market development it is not about a slight evolution of the existing business. What is required is a tough revolution, a real change, the courage to make maximum changes. But that cannot be the job of a CDO. That was, is and remains the task of the CEO – together with the management. A CDO can support you as an interim business revolutionary and, with a profound understanding of digital, drive the further development of the business model, including product, price and marketing strategy, together with the management.

The same applies to the role of the CDO as an automation and process digitizer. This is also not a CDO responsibility, it has always been the job of the IT boss. However, it is essential that the role and working methods of the IT bosses change. He must take responsibility for the process-related digitization and become much more agile and flexible in his way of working.

A CDO cannot implement cultural change either. This is the job of the HR manager and has to be driven either by HR, appropriate program managers or coaches. But change only begins when it is exemplified and implemented by the entire management. Unfortunately, many companies make the mistake of confusing process optimization with digital change. You pay lip service to CDO, but then don’t have the courage to take the appropriate action.

A CDO can only successfully digitize at eye level with the CEO

A CDO is therefore neither a new e-commerce boss, nor a new IT boss, nor a new marketing boss, but is responsible for corporate development in close coordination with the CEO. The CDO has to come from a business background, understand the new customer needs, develop new digital business models from them, bring international know-how, understand working methods and develop strategies together with the teams and above all: implement and implement them!

In order to be able to do this successfully, a CDO needs one thing: power and real decision-making authority – and a CEO who is brave enough to consistently follow the path. Positioned next to the CEO and given clear responsibilities, a CDO can successfully initiate the change in close consultation. To put it simply: the CDO becomes the CEO with equal rights in the company and shares with the existing management the tasks of the existing business and stakeholder management as well as the development of the new business. And what does that mean for the heads of IT, sales and marketing? Either they can also develop radically digitally or have to be replaced. Here too there are only two alternatives: courage or goodbye.

Without this clarity and definition of the role, a CDO is nothing more than a declaration of intent – and thus ineffective like antidepressants for heart attacks.

A marketplace is hip! Marketplaces are today’s Tamagotchi. Everyone is playing around with it. Unfortunately, unlike the Tamagotchi, merchants cannot restart if the game goes wrong. 

Marketplaces are all the rage: after Real and the Hitmeister takeover, Karstadt struck Hood. And DPD cooperates as the exclusive service provider with Buyerzon, a completely unknown marketplace. The marketplace fever seems to be taking hold. Even if it is generally to be welcomed that the importance of a marketplace strategy has arrived in the industry, it should become clear that a marketplace strategy does not necessarily require its own marketplace. Especially not a full-range supplier who simply has everything in its range and so would have to be an Amazon or Ebay competitor in terms of positioning.

Not everyone needs a marketplace

A certain size is necessary to operate a marketplace. For many traders, including larger traders, it can make more sense to use existing marketplaces. Marketplaces need huge assortments right from the start, many dealers and must have a large reach. As well as processes and manpower to support the dealers.

These are, among other things, reasons why Real with Hitmeister and Karstadt with Hood have bought complete marketplaces. With Hood.de, however, the last marketplace with a noteworthy reach is gone, for other marketplace interested parties all that remains is to rebuild. And anyone who still wants to open a marketplace today needs extremely long breath.

Full-range supplier, the Amazon clones

Opening a marketplace that positions itself as a generalist is extremely difficult. The last successful new opening is likely to be Siroop.ch in Switzerland. Who benefit from the special features of the Swiss market, which is still very self-contained compared to the domestic market.

Establishing a new generalist or full-range supplier who simply sells everything is much more difficult on the German or European market. Most recently, the Swedish marketplace Fyndiq could tell a thing or two about it, who withdrew from Germany because the business wasn’t worth it. An enormous advertising power in the direction of the end customer and retailer is necessary to reach a profitable threshold. That requires large, two- to three-digit million amounts as investments.

Marketplace strategy: Unique selling points are necessary

It can make more sense to set up a marketplace with a clear unique selling point, a special focus such as Mytoys is currently planning , which focuses completely on the family as the target group. It is much more promising to prove product range competence in a category and to target advertising budgets specifically to specific target groups than to actually want to compete with Amazon in full .

“David and Goliath” have no place in a marketplace strategy

For smaller retailers, a marketplace strategy is always about two things: Firstly, to moderately expand their own range in their own shop and, with cooperation partners, to open up new sources of revenue in completely new ways with services, services or content. And secondly, about the intelligent use of existing marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay, Otto, Real or Rakuten.

Whatever retailers do, it doesn’t always have to be an attack on Amazon. You don’t always have to play “David against Goliath”. These images are quickly evoked in media reporting, always with a positive connotation. According to the motto “someone is finally doing something”. Yes, namely nonsense. In contrast to the Bible, such arguments do not end with a victorious slingshot. Traders prefer to look for an intelligent way to use the large marketplaces for themselves, even if that involves risks. Today’s customer reality dictates that.

Marketplace strategy does not mean “Let’s do it like Amazon” or “Let’s attack Amazon”, nor does it necessarily mean “We have to have a marketplace”, it means for your own company to find the best possible way to deal with the new world of platform economy.

The first impression shouldn’t go bad. This is not only the case in real life, but also in the digital world. But what can you do when search queries only display undesired content and attack your own online reputation?

The Bettina Wulff case and the discussion that started on the search suggestions displayed by Google, the so-called autocomplete or suggest function, showed which waves the topic of online reputation can make in public and not only affect companies. If you entered the name of the wife of the former Federal President in the search bar, this was supplemented by various attributions, all of which put Ms. Wulff in a bad light – which she finally took legal action against. After a long discussion, Google has now deleted a few search results.

True or not, her case is not unusual. What appears on the first page of the Google search results quickly puts you in a certain drawer. The searcher forms his own opinion on the basis of this content, which in most cases only reproduces a minimal section of the information available on the Internet. And it is not uncommon for this information to arise not from facts, but from attributions from untrustworthy sources.

Care Product Online Reputation: Companies and People

More and more companies and people are recognizing the scope of this opinion-forming, or the value that the most prominent search results have. Google is the number one information platform on the Internet and is used by countless users as a decision-making aid before buying a product or using a service. The turnover of a company is therefore directly and significantly related to its online reputation, as the company Biesalski & Company was able to determine in its “ Serviceplan Corporate Reputation ” from this year. Critical voices on the first page of search results are a deterrent and leave the searcher with considerable doubts about the quality of a product or the seriousness of a company.

The reputation on the internet is therefore an extremely valuable asset that must be carefully maintained, protected or built up. And this is exactly where reputation management comes in. Many companies have already developed a higher sensitivity for the subject than was the case a year or two ago. It is now becoming more and more evident at the decision-making level that one’s own online reputation has a direct impact on day-to-day business – this applies to the local locksmith as well as to the internationally established stock exchange company.

Oust negative entries from prominent positions

Online reputation management is usually about displacing unwanted content and pages from prominent positions in Google search results. Such a deletion is only possible if you can convince the portal operator to take the corresponding article or comment offline himself. And that only works in the rarest of cases.

First and foremost, there is a comprehensive situation analysis in the context of which certain questions are investigated: Where exactly is the undesired content? How strong are the respective portals? What positive or neutral content already exists about the company? Which pages and content are suitable for optimization? Where exactly is there still need for action? Which channels can providers use? The situation analysis shows how big the effort will be and what specific measures can be used to restore the online reputation.

SEO as a measure

Existing positive content can be used or new content created to suppress negative content. To improve the ranking of the individual pages, typical SEO measures are used, which can be ascribed to either on-page or off-page optimization. The aim of the work on the onpage is to optimize the website in such a way that the web crawlers can index it completely and the search algorithms of the search engines classify the content of the site as particularly relevant.

Offpage optimization, on the other hand, deals with the environment of a website, with the focus primarily on generating backlinks. The more links lead to a website, the more trust Google places on this site and the higher it is listed in the search results for the relevant keywords.

Online PR is the basis: press releases and interviews

But which channels are available to the providers? What options can they use to combat the problem? A basic distinction can be made between publishing and creating new content. As far as publications are concerned, one could write a press release and try to position it on relevant sites.

Another possibility would be to place an interview with a managing director, for example about company goals. Writing and publishing texts goes in the direction of online public relations and is a tried and tested means of establishing positive content online and strengthening a certain brand. The keyword density in the texts plays an important role.

Reputation management in the social web

When it comes to creating new content, two measures are particularly useful: social media and microsites. Company pages on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Co. are not only ideal for customer communication, but also for suppressing unwanted web presences. It is important that the respective profiles are updated regularly, since the topicality also affects the ranking of the websites.

In addition, companies should only post high-quality content that also offers added value for the reader. In the best case, the user is addressed directly, which can quickly lead to a lively discussion. It is also possible to point out events or promotions as well as to run a competition, which may even be shared by individual users on their own pin board and thus achieve a particularly high reach.

You should also secure the corresponding vanity URLs, for example facebook.com/companyname, in good time. All existing company pages on social networks then link to your own website, because there is no more relevant linker domain than your own homepage. The topic relevance factor is crucial for the Google algorithm. The search engine ideally honors corresponding links with a better ranking.

Increase visibility with microsites

Microsites are independent web presences that are primarily intended to fulfill two tasks in the area of ​​online reputation management: They increase the visibility of a company or a brand on the Internet and are ideal for suppressing negative content. The sites are usually not as extensive and general as the official website, but rather focus on a specific area or topic. In the case of a wine trade, it would be possible to create a separate microsite for each location. It would also be possible to have a blog on the subject of wine, on which relevant articles appear regularly.

Companies should only entrust the programming of microsites to specialists, as there are a large number of on-page factors that affect the subsequent ranking of the respective page: type of headings, internal link structure, meta descriptions, title tags, directory and file names , Graphics and keyword density. Incidentally, working on a company’s existing websites also includes their on-page optimization. It is important to analyze in detail where improvements can be made on a technical and content level. Once these have been implemented, the pages will almost certainly jump up on Google.

Active reputation management is required

Negative content in Google search results can result in significant economic damage. For this reason, your own online reputation should always be protected and maintained. This does not distinguish it from the general reputation of the company, only it often spreads faster and easier. Actors should be aware of their reputation on the Internet and its importance at all times and ideally not only act in a crisis situation. Reputation management can also be carried out preventively by creating or strengthening your own web presence. This makes it more difficult for any negative news to get far ahead in the Google search results and jeopardize an already established positive first impression.