Tech Trailblazers Tech Startup Index highlights social media and promotional divide between Europe and US startup culture

Company maturity drives strategic use of social media, PR and government support

London, UK – Wednesday, 9^th July, 2014 – The only independent global enterprise tech startup awards, the Tech Trailblazers, today announced the first wave of results from its research program,  The Enterprise Tech Startup Index.  The annual survey looks at many of the challenges faced by and the opportunities available to, the enterprise technology startup community around the world.

Close to 200 enterprise tech startups from around the world participated in the Tech Trailblazers’ Tech Startup Index. Over 75% of the respondents were either CEOs or founders and startups from North America (44%) with Europe (41%) dominating the community. 

The popularity of social media and blogging was comparable between Europe and America, with the latter only slightly more popular by less than 10%. To promote their new ventures, social media was used by 83% of startups, while traditional print advertising was the least popular media, with just 10% indicating it as an option.

Results also suggest the popularity of these different promotional options depends on the maturity of the start-up, with approximately 25% of startups aged 6+ using print advertising, compared to 0% of startups younger than 12 months.

Europe vs America:

The North American preference for the use of PR is striking with 74% usage in the US verses only 46% in Europe.  SEO was an even more disproportionate result with US at 68% adoption vs 38% in Europe.

“In fact, across the board US startups used more promotional tools than their European counterparts, suggesting a more mature or perhaps a better funded start-up culture,” said Rose Ross, Founder of the Tech Trailblazers Awards “However, European startups investments in indirect activities such as channel events and strategic partnerships was comparable to the US.”

Even with a disparate level of awareness raising activities, 27% of both groups still claimed they found it “easy” to secure great coverage for their startups and technologies.

Partnerships:

Approximately 65% of startups in both regions were involved in some form of strategic partnership to promote their business while roughly a quarter were involved in channel events. In the rest of the world, including respondents from the Middle East, Asia and South America, strategic partnerships were even more prevalent with nearly 74% participating in such activities to raise awareness. 

Government support:

“Respondents were very knowledgeable about the types of promotional activities that their startups were involved in but one of the most surprising results was in attitudes and knowledge regarding governmental assistance,” comments Ross.

In the US, only 15% of startups said that they believed their local or national government do enough to support startups.  However, a massive 46% of US respondents simply “did not know”, suggesting that government support of startups was simply not an expectation. 

In Europe, 31% said the public sector was doing enough compared to 54% who said that they were not - while only 15% didn’t know about government support.

“Raising awareness is possibly one of the most critical aspects of a successful startup and the Tech Startup Index has highlighted some interesting trends as well as regional differences,” says Ross, “Over the next few weeks we will be releasing further insights around financing, go-to market strategies and the wider role of government which hopefully will encourage the start-up community and provide guidance to organisations that aim to promote and sustain innovation across the globe.”

The Tech Trailblazers Awards Third Edition is now open for entries. The early bird savings deadline is July 31^st 2014. Please visit the website to enter or for more information visit our FAQ, email innovate@techtrailblazers.com or follow the buzz at www.twitter.com/techtrailblaze and #TTAwards.

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Notes to editors:

Please contact Rosalind Carr at Omarketing for more information on the research, images and infographics and to reserve your copy of the executive summary of the research findings which is available in August.