There's No Business Without Customers...
It was that simple. I had good business ideas. But if I didn't learn how to get customers online, then my good ideas would fail. No customers, no business.
And guess what?
I failed for over three to four years!
But I eventually figured it out. Eventually I built a successful tech startup that I ran for 12 years. I had no VC money. No investors. No connections in the industry. The only way my idea survived was because I learned how to get customers.
So let me share with you my story of where I failed and how I finally learned to succeed... because you'll soon see that you and I are probably not that different. And what I went through, is probably what you're going through right now.
Anyway...
My Big Failures
It's 2002, and I was living in Calgary. During the day I worked in the Oil and Gas industry (mostly in IT and purchasing). And then at night, I'd work on my business ideas.
But looking back, I wasn't really working on a "business".
Let me explain...
I spent months working on a business plan. I worked on my website. I'd work on my logo. I'd work on my business cards. I'd sign up and go to small business workshops.
One idea I had was to import popular selling items from Europe -- that weren't available here in Canada. I would find a European business and check out their website. And if it looked like it was making money, I would write them an email telling them I could translate their website in English, and sell their stuff here in Canada.
Another idea was a website where people could pay their city fines online. So if you got a parking ticket, you don't have to go to City Hall to pay it... you could do it online. Remember this was back around 2002 - 2003... online banking wasn't a big thing yet. But eventually it was. So that idea died.
I had a few other ideas, but those were the two big ones.
My point is, the ideas died because I failed to find customers.
And I failed to find customers because I focused on the wrong things. I put more time and energy into the brand, name, logo, website, and business plan.
I never thought once to TEST my ideas first. I never thought once to see if there is even a market for my ideas.
It FELT like I was doing business. But I really wasn't. Working on business plans, websites, and logos is not doing business.
Doing business means getting customers.
My Accidental Breakthrough
Then in late 2005, I accidentally had a HUGE breakthrough.
A coworker asked me if I knew anything about resolution and scanning photos into digital. I was 24, tech savvy, and knew how to use Photoshop... so I helped him out with technical questions.
Then one day I was surfing an online forum, and noticed somebody asking a similar question: what resolution to scan photos.
So that gave me an idea:
Because of my past failures, I didn't want to spend another 2 or 3 years working on a business idea, only to see it fail.
This time, I accidentally did something right: I tested my idea BEFORE investing time and money and effort into the idea.
So I did a small test.
At work we had a classified ads board. So I put up an ad asking if anybody needed to scan their photos into digital.
And it worked!
I got TWO people who said they wanted me to do it for them.
So then I decided to put a classified up on Craigslist... and guess what? .... MORE people wanted my services.
But here's the funny thing:
I Did The Opposite Of What I Normally Did, And It Was All The Difference!
Normally, I would have spent at least a year working on my idea:
- Business plan
- Logo
- Branding
- Website
- Flyers
- Business cards
- Getting equipment
But this time, I did NONE of that. No website. No scanning equipment. No brand. No logo. Not even a name.
Instead of all that -- I tested my idea, as fast as I could, as cheaply as I could, to see if there was any interest BEFORE I committed time and money into the idea.
An Hour Of Testing Saves Ten Months Of Work
I learned that you need to TEST everything. Test small. Find something that works on a small scale THEN scale it up.
You see, in my mind everything works. But 99%, it's just a guess. I guessed that my ideas would work.
But I learned that if you want to learn what works, you need to test it and see the results... and if you're getting consistent results on a small scale... then that's when you ramp it up... that's when you put everything behind it.
And that's what I did...
Once I put out free classified ads and noticed there was a demand for my idea, that's when I put everything behind it.
I got customers FIRST, then that's when I went out and bought my scanning equipment... that's when I worked on my website... that's when I came up with a logo and business name.
Not the other way around.
And slowly I built my small business into a national online business (ScanCanada.ca). I had thousands of customers. And I landed some of the biggest brands and organizations in Canada as my clients (Much Music, The Canadian Football League, Associated Press, Random House Publishing, ATCO, BPH, Government of Canada, museums, etc.).
My point?
Marketing Starts With Finding A Market FIRST
I learned that the only way for your small business to survive isn't good marketing. It's good market research. It's testing. It's finding an unmet need that isn't being fulfilled yet.
Then you use marketing to AMPLIFY your idea -- but only once you've found a market with an unmet need.
Let me explain...
In 2009, after talking to my customers, I discovered another unmet need: people wanted to scan their own slides and photos, but didn't know how. And there was NO one helping them back then.
So I put up a blog (HowToScan.ca), and showed people how to do it themselves. People around me told me that I shouldn't give away my "secrets" for free.
But I always like doing the counterintuitive things: I gave away all my stuff for free. My blog helped people for free.
This might not sound revolutionary... today, people give away content for free... but remember, back in 2009, content marketing wasn't a thing. Email marketing wasn't a thing.
But in 2009, what I did was the beginning of how most businesses do digital marketing now:
I set up a system where people would get high-quality content for free, and that helped them. Then if they wanted more, they would have to sign up for my email newsletter. And then in my emails, I would send them my high-end paid products.
And it worked!
The best part, because I know programming -- I automated the whole thing. I created my own email autoresponder (there was no Mail Chimp back then). And this "machine" worked when I wasn't around.
That was my second successful startup. And again, marketing starts with finding a market FIRST. I discovered an unmet need, and created products and services to fill those unmet needs and wants.
Then in 2019, I started my third startup (by accident). I always drew and loved creating 2D and 3D art. So as a freelancer, I made video game maps for indie game devs (https://www.artstation.com/dariuszkonrad).
And as I worked with these indie devs, they kept telling me the same challenge and problem:
"How do I market my game!?!"
And since I have a lot of experience with marketing niche, new ideas from a small business, I helped them with free advice.
Their biggest challenge was also my biggest challenge: how do you get heard in an oversaturated marketplace -- especially when you have no money to advertise, brand, and market?
But I figured out how...
Again, find a market FIRST before you put everything into it.
Marketing isn't "magic". We can't just post on Twitter or TikTok, and expect players to line up and go buy a game.
We can't just get a YouTuber or influencer to play our game, and expect people to visit our Steam page and start wishlisting the game.
Marketing does NOT solve problems.
You see, these developers would spend 3 years making a game, and they would have NO idea if there was a market for their game or not.
It's the SAME mistake I made when I started in 2002. I would spend years on an idea, and never once think to test it to see if there was any demand.
If there's no market, then no amount of marketing is going to save you.
I Want You To AVOID This Mistake Too
Most digital marketing I see online is about branding, getting YOUR name out there, creating some sort of attention by being funny, entertaining, cute, or showboating.
But here's the "secret" I learned...
When you already have customers... when people are already familiar with your game studio... when players know what to expect when you release a new game... then your marketing is all about branding, getting YOUR name out there, being funny, cute, entertaining, and even showboating how great you and your game are.
BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you have no customers... nobody likes you yet... nobody knows about you yet... the same marketing doesn't work.
It doesn't work because these companies already have TRACTION. We can't just copy the marketing of a big company who probably has a lot of VC money... a huge ad budget... industry connections... and more importantly, a fan base.
When your studio has none of these advantages, then you need a different, counterintuitive marketing strategy.
And THIS is what you'll learn in this blog:
How to find new players, get traction, grow your wishlists, grow your revenue if you're a small game studio that has very few customers... has no VC money... no industry connections... and no big fan base to help you spread word-of-mouth.
What I'll do is, I will share with you my exact process on how I create digital marketing (vidoes, articles, gifs, SEO, ads, email newsletters).
My goal is to show you how I market my client's games... so that you can get some ideas to help you market your own game. This will help you save time. And this will help you increase your chances of growing wishlists and game sales.
Sound good? To get started, check out how I market video games, here.
And if you don't have time to market your game, and would want me to do it for you, then I'd love to meet with you and see if my marketing tools are a good fit.
Here's my contact info:
Dariusz Michniewicz
Discord: dariuszkonrad
Email: dariusz at videogamedigitalmarketing dot com