The new way to launch your product or company -- NOT
Don Dodge today claimed that the new way to launch your product or company doesn't require marketing, PR, advertising, or anything like that. Noting the recent seeming success of CoComment.com, Don recommends just sending a link to your product or service to one of the "A-list bloggers" like Dave Winer, Om Malik, Michael Arrington, or Robert Scoble, and you're done! Wow! Isn't Web 2.0 amazing? Who cares about the users -- just get an A-list blogger to notice you, and you are on your way!
While we're at it, I have a great bridge in Brooklyn to sell you too. And this amazing land in Florida too.
Don's claim is that if your product is truly great, it will sell itself to these A-list bloggers. They will immediately see whatever value is in it and promote it to their readers. What could be more obvious?
Well, let's try a few thought experiments. What if I am launching a new deodorant? Sending a link to my amazing new product description isn't exactly going to create the amazing experience Dave Winer is probably looking for.
Oh, it has to be a Web service? OK, so let's send Robert Scoble a link to my great new service that removes all the unsightly facial wrinkles from his iPhoto books before they get printed. I'm sure he'd be happy to promote that. Oh, he doesn't use iPhoto because he's Windows only? What's up with that?
The reality is that nothing really has changed. This new way of launching products only applies if you have a product whose target market is the specific A-list bloggers you are sending it to. That happened to be true with CoComment.com. But even after they note that your product is cool, there's a ton of real marketing work before you are in business. You're still going to have to figure out little details like:
There's a name for the answers to these questions. It's called a marketing plan (or if you want to get really fancy, a marketing strategy). And your company will have to have answers to all of these questions to have any hope of surviving in the world of Web 2.0
Why? Because as of this minute, Michael Arrington's, Robert Scoble's, and Om Malik's mailboxes are full of thousands of links to products that their creators think are cool. But at the end of their day, their opinions don't really matter. What matters is the opinions of paying customers. And the only way you get their opinions is to give them something of value to them, not to you. That's called marketing.
While we're at it, I have a great bridge in Brooklyn to sell you too. And this amazing land in Florida too.
Don's claim is that if your product is truly great, it will sell itself to these A-list bloggers. They will immediately see whatever value is in it and promote it to their readers. What could be more obvious?
Well, let's try a few thought experiments. What if I am launching a new deodorant? Sending a link to my amazing new product description isn't exactly going to create the amazing experience Dave Winer is probably looking for.
Oh, it has to be a Web service? OK, so let's send Robert Scoble a link to my great new service that removes all the unsightly facial wrinkles from his iPhoto books before they get printed. I'm sure he'd be happy to promote that. Oh, he doesn't use iPhoto because he's Windows only? What's up with that?
The reality is that nothing really has changed. This new way of launching products only applies if you have a product whose target market is the specific A-list bloggers you are sending it to. That happened to be true with CoComment.com. But even after they note that your product is cool, there's a ton of real marketing work before you are in business. You're still going to have to figure out little details like:
- Who is the target customer? The A-list bloggers get the message out, but you probably need a target market of more than five or 10 hot shots. And as was illustrated in the iPhoto example above, even some of those bloggers may not be the best people to target. Who are you really selling to?
- What customer problem are you solving? Recommended by an A-list blogger is nice, but no one will care unless you are solving some broader problem that causes a lot of people pain. You'll probably need to communicate what that is before anyone will give more than a passing glance to your Web site.
- How do you reach those target customers? Is the A-list blogging community really the best way to reach, say, left-handed basket weavers? Or might it be more efficient to post some information on some basket-weaving Web sites?
- How are you different from other solutions to this problem? Ninety-nine percent of products and services compete with other products for your attention. What are three reasons your target customers pick you?
- How much should customers pay for your solution? A-list blog references are great, but they create zero revenue. Price your solution too high, and no one will consider it. Price it too low, and you'll have the market cap of Pets.com, namely zero. How much does your target customer base value solving their problem?
There's a name for the answers to these questions. It's called a marketing plan (or if you want to get really fancy, a marketing strategy). And your company will have to have answers to all of these questions to have any hope of surviving in the world of Web 2.0
Why? Because as of this minute, Michael Arrington's, Robert Scoble's, and Om Malik's mailboxes are full of thousands of links to products that their creators think are cool. But at the end of their day, their opinions don't really matter. What matters is the opinions of paying customers. And the only way you get their opinions is to give them something of value to them, not to you. That's called marketing.
Technorati Tags: Blogs, Business, Internet, Marketing, Opinion, Web, Web 2.0
posted by Carl Howe at
7:12 PM
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