3 Fast Steps to Help You Get to Market -- Right Now When you need to get your idea to market right away, here are three services you'll want to remember.
By Derek Newton Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
For many entrepreneurs, getting that Big Idea into the public market quickly is vital. But speed and accuracy are often at opposite ends of the entrepreneur balance beam.
Related: How to Determine If There's a Market for Your Business Idea
There's a definite give and take between spending enough time to get something right and wasting time on things that be handled with less fuss. And as an entrepreneur, you already know that your task is to find just the right balance.
That push-pull between getting the job done exactly quickly and getting it done right intensifies even more if what you're doing is something that's public-facing -- like a website, a press announcement-- even the company name itself.
After all, no one wants to screw up in public. And making even minor errors can damage your brand image and company before you even get started. Nothing says "unprofessional" more than a typo or amateur-looking company logo.
It's possible, though, to get great public-facing startup business products and services done fast and well. So, if you're one of those entrepreneurs pushing both yourself and your team to get to market at lightning speed, here are some links to bookmark, and shortcuts to take, to get your project up and running right away.
1. Getting your domain name and logo in place -- fast.
Instead of spending hours online checking available domain names, only to be frustrated by what's not available, BrandBucket has collected literally thousands of .com domain names for just about any business. Brandbucket has even already matched those names with professionally designed logos so entrepreneurs can skip that step, too. It's one-stop shopping. In 15 minutes you can have a great domain name and logo while your competition is still plugging combinations into domain searches.
"Most entrepreneurs understand that time is money," Margot Bushnaq Brandbucket's CEO and founder, told me. "I started as an entrepreneur, so I know how long finding the right name, domain and logo can take. That's why we created a way to skip most of those headaches."
2. Getting your website up and running -- fast.
Once you have a domain and business name and logo, you'll need a website. Square has some really nice templates that can be customized quickly to suit almost any need. Best of all, they come integrated with ecommerce capability; that way, you don't have to find merchant services separately and work them into your online storefront. Square also offers business loans. So, once you get started, that's another step you may be able to skip.
Related: 7 Steps to Defining Your Niche Market
3. Getting your PR machine humming -- fast.
With a company name, domain and website in hand, entrepreneurs looking to establish their footprint in the marketplace will need to get the word out -- especially through search engine optimization (SEO).
It may take some time to find a PR expert or firm that's a right match for your company. Until you do, there are some pretty easy-to-use, DIY resources to help spread the word. A good one is PRWeb, the online press release distribution service.
Like most online distribution services, PRWeb is better at boosting your SEO than it isat generating actual readers and market penetration. But, for a few hundred bucks, you can get links to your press announcement into literally hundreds of outlets in minutes. "Getting links to your website has value," Alyssa Miller told me. Miller is principal of AMMediaWorks, a New York full-service public relations firm which specializes in working with early-stage tech companies and entrepreneurs.
"It won't replace good message development, quality storytelling or media pitching," Miller added about the important task of gaining website links, "but it can be part of a complete PR package. And it's fast."
With BrandBucket, Square and PRWeb, any entrepreneur can go from idea to marketplace in hours. You could be taking orders, developing leads and improving your page rankings while your competitors are still hashing out what color their logo should be.
Best of all, you can get your goods to market not just quickly, but professionally.
Related: Why Getting Your Product to Market Fast Is Not Always a Brilliant Move
