These last few months we started a brand new chapter in one of our Modelate Lab’s divisions. One of our services that we favor is digital strategy and the goal of this new program is clear and straightforward – to help startup companies live up to their potential. It is also equally important to create buzz, as well as thinking outside the box. We understand that creating your own startup company or even building a startup company can be rather difficult and everyone now has the same question where to start.
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For this to happen, we support Startups with a holistic set of services ranging from:
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● Product positioning
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● Creation of promo materials
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● Brand development strategies
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We have already solved various success cases with young, trendy, and creative companies that leveraged our expertise. Cooperation with a provocative and no boundaries startup is Glossom, a great example of a fruitful partnership. When you first come across Glossom on the App Store, you see a light, pastel picture with a lowercase “g”. Already, you are curious to see what it’s about. It is a beauty, fashion & lifestyle video platform that strives to be the easiest way to create, share and watch how-to & style videos. Aside from YouTube being the main source for DIYs, this app houses people who are specifically passionate about make-up. What makes it stand out is the user can also interact with specific make-up artists and have the ability to search for products, tags, and even brands. We were thrilled to be given this project since this startup has the potential to be the center of the beauty industry for people everywhere.
Building a Startup? More like Building an Empire
When it comes to working with startups, it's essential to start from the ground up. Initially, we were assigned to increase the number of downloads on the App Store. This might seem like a well-defined objective to reach. Usually, that is one of the first goals tech startups want to accomplish. However, we decided to take a step back to see the main and bigger picture.
As a result, more systematic challenges faced by the vast majority of startups were identified – lack of customer research and poor product positioning. If poor product positioning happens, you leave it up to the customer. How would you want them to think of you? When startups are dazzled by their own bright ideas, founders often fall into the trap of not conducting a proper market study and rush their business concepts into the execution. Creatively speaking, “He bites his tongue who speaks in haste”, a classic Turkish proverb.
Research is key
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One of the most important tips to help startup companies is to rewind to the beginning, analyzing the target audience:
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● Who are they?
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● What are their needs?
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● What are their goals?
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● What are their frustrations?
Companies are now facing demands for a more personal and interactive service. This can especially be applied to startup businesses. You never know what your audience(s) may be thinking or what they will say next. There are, of course, sometimes where you may not like the answer. However, it’s better to start off on a positive note.
To get inside these minds, a series of interviews with the real app’s users were taken, as well as beauty & fashion industry research and analysis. After everything was conducted, it enabled us to come up with four thought out “personas” that represented core customer segments. Personas are a cornerstone of a brand’s digital marketing, another helpful tip to assist with startup companies. You should never leave them out, it's important to bring these personas to life. They want to be treated like real people and not just another example of data. They form the basis for developing short and long-term strategies to deliver the most relevant and convincing content for the users.
When you know every little detail about your customer, it is time to start thinking about the best ways to reach them. This is also another tip to have when you do work with startups. Do you use Facebook? Email? Send a carrier pigeon? What’s crucial is to make sure that your visual language and tone of voice are both consistent and understandable to your users. If the language turns sour or becomes confusing, it turns off the potential users immediately. You basically need to walk in their shoes as well as into their hearts and minds. Give the people what they want.
That’s exactly what we did with Glossom when working on their new logo, visual identity, as well as all other promo materials for the initial marketing campaigns. We also made sure that these creative assets were communicated in an open-minded, thoughtful, and spontaneous manner to appeal to the developed personas.
The Launch of a Startup
Glossom was aimed to successfully launch its app on the App Store in early spring of this year. It also was added to GooglePlay. Mission accomplished! Thanks to Modelate, they were also able to rush into the Berlin startup ecosystem, create attractive and decent buzz around their provocative project, and to get their users onboard as soon as possible. Glossom has grown to little over 100 users and will hopefully have more. It is now powered with strong messaging and revamped brand identity. One final useful tip, having a strong brand identity is a large important factor of its success. You want a business that will forever stand out. What’s more? Communication with their app’s target audiences just got a whole lot easier and simpler. Way more people are now satisfied with the app and recommend it to their friends – that’s the best fuel to keep the community growing fast. When you have a couple of strong leaders, most likely they will have a large group of followers too. To top it all off, the new digital strategies have also proved their effectiveness for the long-run. Last but not least, the process of working with Glossom was really enjoyable, educational, and a lot of fun. We see a great future ahead with this company.
The Final Result
The solutions provided by Modelate helped to solve Glossom’s tasks for the long-term run. It encouraged a startup to be put on a map and it helped to figure out who the true users are. At Modelate, our hardworking team strives to solve not only the most complex and technological problems, but to help businesses improve their brand, digital strategy and their design and marketing. After we build these digital strategies lives bring us to a crossroad of clarity and surprise. We are confident when a winning digital strategy is done right it connects its brand with its audience. We believe that your future is bright and we hope you, your startup or company will get onboard our digital train and take off with us!
"Modelate helped Glossom stand out from the rest of the makeup and beauty apps that crowd the app store. We were impressed by how quickly they turned around a quality digital strategy for us — we’ll definitely be using it long-term"
