What a silly question is the first thought that comes to your mind. Maybe I can salvage myself by saying "Of course it does". This post actually discusses the strategy used by startups pre funding vs post funding. Are they different and should they be?
Poor => Make people talk
As a poor startup, one cannot afford to undertake large campaigns which will reach millions of consumers. Startups normally choose the next best alternative, trying to reach passionate users in the hope they will talk.
They even entice the key bloggers by giving away limited invites, build a story around the product & founders to eventually make the startup talk worthy.
When one blogger talks, you could potentially be reaching a 1000 readers. Its not just effective, it is more credible than anything you can do to communicate directly about your startup.
Social Media Marketing is tried in any form that helps spread the story far and wide.
Money => Acquire consumers?
Once money flows in, something changes in the mental makeup of a startup. They no longer focus on getting people to talk. Its now about adwords, promos, strategic tie ups, all of it ending in acquiring one profitable consumer.
Sometimes making your communication and product talk worthy takes a back seat and every spend on marketing is directed towards getting another buyer.
Not sure if that one consumer is more worthy of your attention than the 1000's of other bloggers who are waiting for an interesting story to talk about.
Who would you target, the one who buys or the one who talks. Don't say both, that just helps you justify what you are doing irrespective of the objective.
This was featured on Pluggd.in as a guest post. Thanks Ashish
Image Source: David Wong's Photostream
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