Have you ever created a website or mobile app? Disappointed by the number of downloads or amount of traffic? Even if you have quite a good number of users, were you disheartened by the initial response of your product? Just could not figure out how to solve the chicken and the egg problems with your services? You, my friend, need to make people get excited for your product. Don’t know how to do it? Keep reading on!
Have you seen trailers of “Ekk Tha Tiger”?
Yes, I saw them too! But, in the end, they say coming this eid! Eid? Oh my god, that’s like a million of years away (well, not literally!). Why did they start showing trailers in May?
Even Rovio, the creator of might Angry Birds franchisee teased people worldwide with a new game Amazing Alex back in may. They hadn’t finished working on it, yet they had already started popularizing their upcoming game and have already amassed more than 30,000 likes on facebook. Whew, that’s a lot number of likes for an unreleased game.
Do you see a pattern in here?
These companies have made a perfect platform to launch their product. And that is what we should do.
Having just the perfect launch campaign can really give your project a big kick-start and just enough motivation for you to carry on. When I published my apps on Market, I didn’t know this and just announced it on facebook after publishing. Results? The number of downloads sucked! I agree, the number of downloads wouldn’t have been much even if I had a launch event, but all those downloads would have been when I had just released, might have helped to me trend on market, or I would have been motivated by so many downloads that I would have given that extra effort in marketing and advertising.
I don’t have budget to stage a launch event, what should I do?
Well, most of us won’t have that kind of budget, but we could at least create a launch page about it, which we could circulate around telling people who ask or to your followers. They might not be curious to know what they are doing, but they could be excited after seeing the launch page and knowing that you are onto something. Happened with me for GadgetVala and TunePatrol.
(This example has been picked from The $100 Startup)
Karol Gajda and Adam Baker once discussed a “fire sales” tactic. In this tactic, people believe that “Everything must Go!”. With this, an idea struck their minds. What if we put together a modern-day fire sale, with an emphasis on giving away a ton of value for a low price, but only for a limited time? They asked their friends for some digital products they could provide for this sale. Their pitch : Contribute your products to the overall mix to be sold as a group for a low price and during a limited time. Oh, and if you help promote the offer to your own audience of customers and followers, you’ll earn an 80 percent commission on everything you sell!
The big day came, and they put their offer online. For ten minutes, nothing happened. No sales at all and they started doubting their project. Turns out, they were just ten minutes early. All of a sudden, a trickle of visitors became a stream, then a flood, as more and more people heard about the offer and came by to purchase. The same kind of traffic continued for all the 3 days except it kept on increasing. When the smoke cleared, they added up all the sales. An astonishing $185,755. Their friends did help a lot in marketing but their success was destined. They had crafted an amazing launch. (You can find them at only72)
And this is not it. My very favourite theoatmeal uses this tactic very cleverly! He has his products to be purchased on his website. But what he does is, he keeps a sale once every year on a friday(you know, the kind that makes girls go crazy). On this special friday (called Black Friday!), he puts his items for sale at nearly 50% off. All products have varying amount of discount but there is a discount on each and every product during Black Friday. He announces all these things on his website, on the social media and pretty much everywhere he can. The anticipation he builds among his fans is fascinating. Result? He did a business of around $70,000 during his sale in 2010. (As stated in his interview.)
So, you see, a well crafted product launch could do wonders for your next release.
But wait! Remember Apple Inc. ? They keep their work secretive. And they are the most profitable company ever. You liar, I am never going to trust you ever!
Yes, I agree Apple keeps their work secretive and this has worked for them, but not because they keep it secretive. You see, they are secretive because they don’t want other to be able to copy their product. But their conferences are one of the most anticipated events of the year, and year after year, they have launched a new product or announced it in that event. So everyone knows that they should expect a product announcement by apple in that conference. So, in a way, they are also using the launching tactic to get better results.
But wait, don’t just go and create your launch event. Having a launch event does not guarantee you success. Your product matter, a lot! A crappy product won’t be received nicely even with a great launch. But a great product might not be able to get the success it deserves without that perfect launch.
What are your views and ideas for a launching event? Tell us below in the comments!
(Many of the ideas were taken from The $100 startup)
Tags: 100startup, Launching