According to Information Week , a highly influential money man says don’t put your money in marketing.
Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson doesn’t see any reason for startups to budget funds for marketing anymore.
Indeed, Jurvetson, a partner with the legendary Silicon Valley venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, has one question for companies that do.
Why?
Instead, Jurvetson tells businesses to go for “zero cost” marketing, where customers themselves spread the word about the products and services for sale. “If they have other plans, we wonder what on earth they are thinking,” says Jurvetson, who coined the phrase “viral marketing” back in 1997.
The guy’s an engineer. Enough said. 🙂
Seriously though, it’s not “zero cost” marketing; e.g. the article mentions hiring PR folks to deliver messages to influential bloggers, sending out samples, buying keywords, etc. It’s “lower cost” marketing.
No marketing for start ups? Foolish. The man must have no experience with the service industry.