At the core of the business is the product or service you’re offering. So if the budget is limited, concentrate on making the product awesome rather than spending on marketing.
Here is a simple 2×2 matrix which might help in putting things in perspective.
Quadrant 1
The aim is to move to Quadrant 2 as quickly as possible. All your effort and time should be spent on making the product/ service AWESOME. If you make the mistake of moving in quadrant 3, your business will crash very very quickly.
No amount of awesome marketing is going to sell a product which no one needs or wants.
Quadrant 2
If you’re in quadrant 2, and have no money, don’t worry. Things will work out. Get all your customers to talk about our product. Chances are if they’ve used your product and loved it, they will love you and want to hear from you. Use that opportunity to spread the good word about your product.
Quadrant 3
If you’re here, immediately stop all marketing and put everything you have to move to quadrant 2 or quadrant 4, depending upon how much budget you have.
Quadrant 4
If you’re in 4, awesome, spend more on your product and related services to get your customers to say AWESOME.
After all, the best marketing is word of mouth marketing and the thing that feels completely awesome is when a customer says, “I love what you do/ build”.
Go out, do something awesome. Best of luck.
Gr8 post. Whether you choose 1->4 or 1->2 depends on two factors. Money available and market readiness. If money is available and market is ready, if you don’t choose 1->4 someone else will capture the market.