Thinking Out Loud
Building products are beautiful! But to build the best, you have to test the best. 📈 I wrote some learnings on how to run an effective alpha, beta, and pilot. PMs or PMMs: any other tips you would share?
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We'd love our launches to reach a maximum audience. The challenge is we are limited by a ceiling of what channels we own and what budget we can spend: it can only go so far.
How can we get in front of all the audiences we want to?
My tip: Do it with a partner. Invest in co-marketing with a parallel brand to amplify your message and double your audience. Why I like this is for the triple benefits: 1) more reach 2) less overhead and 3) stronger relationships. That’s a win-win-win.
Example: Pizza Hut is famous for their Original Pan pizza, but wanted to generate more awareness and engagement in a cheeky way. They decided to co-partner with Gravity Blanket to launch a pizza weighted blanket. Both companies welcomed several million new and re-engaged customers from these campaigns.
Sizzling Idea: Co-publish a '2021 Trends eBook' with a partner and cross-post at the start and the end of the month.
Action: What organization can be your launch partner in 2021?
The best form of 'love' is unconditional. And if we can give 'love' to our prospects & customers, many will give 'love' back.
How can we show this kind of love? In my opinion, be helpful via the content you share. Think about your audience and their workday: their bumps, challenges, and frustrations. Your product should be able to soothe some of this. Show them how in your marketing: share tips on how your product can make their day a little easier.
For prospects, make sure your content proves that their peers are succeeding with your products via testimonials & case studies. For customers, make sure your content can boost their understanding of your products via guides and templates.
This encourages your audience to trust you, visit you, and often buy more from you via your owned channels — and that's love right there.
Example: Hubspot has built an incredible community through its blog all from offering love. How? Through offering templates, frameworks, and examples all for free. For example, they share tips on how to write a blog and offer templates to build a marketing strategy.
Sizzling Idea: Ask your customers via email to send their best tips with your product (e.g. tips@company.com), then create an infographic with their submissions.
Action: How can give love (value) to your prospects in your content marketing?
For B2B companies, your sellers are major superheroes for growing the company. They don the cape to bring your product to customers' doorstep.
So what does this mean? As a marketer: you need to be the best sidekick ever: a Robin to their Batman. And that means building a robust content library they can use with clients: pitch deck, one-sheeters, case studies, roadmap, and client examples. Have this ready to go on Day 1 of your launch, so your sellers can make your product shine with your biggest customers.
If your sales team can focus on conversation, not creation; great things can happen.
Sizzling Idea: Do a Zoom Poll in the next sales all-hands on their ‘Favorite Asset’. Commit to refreshing that asset yearly and post on Sales Hub.
Action: How can you enable your sellers to make them digital superheroes?
Two titans in history: Picasso, for his creative genius, and Einstein, for his scientific prowess. And your launch marketing can take inspiration from both.
To channel Picasso, dream big and bold. Try out new channels that are wildly unique: post a Story from your LinkedIn Page, create a TikTok, host a Clubhouse room, or sponsor a podcast.
To channel Einstein, brainstorm ways to measure these new initiatives. Apply similar rigor from your other channels to figure out the right KPIs to measure success.
Example: Cisco wanted grow awareness of its 5G technology for its agricultural customers. So it tried something innovative: it built an app called Me+Moo to track a real-life cow’s health and well-being (via 5G sensors) through a “moonitor” dashboard. Results? App drew in more than 11K visitors and Cisco was able to use this cohort for additional marketing.
Sizzling Idea: Use your LinkedIn Page and create a focus group out of your Page followers Run polls to ask different topics: copy, feedback.
Action: What marketing can you both experiment and measure this year?
If we want our launches to flourish, we can't forget the importance of product in our marketing. Both are twin pillars that are essential for a great launch.
The product is the true endgame; you want users to continue to experience delight after getting inspired by your marketing. So work with your team to determine 'handoff' hooks from your content to your product. How can you help educate and inform your product?
Example: Asana, a project management tool, does a great job connecting a marketing channel (blog) with their product. To help guide users, they use product tours, tooltips, and banners to continue their education.
Sizzling Idea: Write a ‘Top 5 features’ blogpost and link to your product tour to show it off
Action: How can you ensure your product does marketing?
Looking forward to your sizzling launches from you & your team! Best wishes.
This month, I was thinking about how things catch on — like a wildfire blazing in the forest.
In a matter of days or weeks, something can spread so fast and so forcefully, it becomes a cultural phenomenon.
It’s stunning to see this process unfold, but what amazes me: sometimes the catalyst comes from sharp and savvy marketing.
Here are a few notable things that caught my eye over the years:
Image Source: Yahoo, Redbull
In October 2012, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from 23 miles above the Earth at almost 1000 MPH. A daring, dangerous feat…that was perfectly marketed by Red Bull, the energy drink company. By live-streaming on YouTube and branding it Red Bull Stratos, the company created massive global exposure for the campaign — and it became the most prolific online event for that year. Results? The campaign did great for the business – sales rose 7% to 1.6 billion in the US in six months. (AdAge)
My marketing lesson: Embrace your brand — for both its success and failure. Red Bull knew it was taking a huge risk. Any failure or loss of human life would have been extremely terrible for the company. But they didn’t doubt themselves. They knew who they were (a bold, gutsy brand) and backed it up with a big, brave bet—and it paid off extremely well.
Can you think of a remotely compelling way to talk about railroad safety? Well, Australia’s Metro Trains and agency McCann did that…to astonishing success. In 2012, they turned a potentially boring PSA into one of the most successful marketing videos: Dumb Ways to Die. It was devilishly cute and adorable, and you couldn’t help sharing it with your friends. The video exploded in popularity through social activation — reaching 100MM social views. It spawned a mobile app, train station posters, and even a safety book. Results? It generated a million pledges to be safe around trains, with a 20% reduction in rail-related accidents. (AdAge)
My marketing lesson: In your message, sometimes you don’t have to preach the obvious. Metro Trains and McCann could easily have done a direct, boring message about train safety. Rather, the companies decided on being light-hearted and entertaining. By trying a unique approach, Dumb Ways to Die became much more memorable and impactful than a traditional approach.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, usually doesn’t get attention compared to other diseases. Yet in summer 2014, something wonderful happened. A grass-roots phenomenon called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge exploded on the scene. The idea? Record yourself throwing a bucket of ice-water over your head, tag three people to do the same in 24 hours, and then donate to the ALS Association. An remarkably easy, simple feat – and it scorched through social media. Everyone got on it — politicians, celebrities, activists, athletes and yes, even me! Results? The campaign raised $220 MM in total for medical research and treatment.
My marketing lesson: Break down your campaign to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). The campaign could have been easily complicated — with cumbersome ways to inform, publicize and donate. Rather, the activity was made extremely approachable and shareable by lowering the inertia to participate.
Working in this field, I am often struck how sharp marketing can ignite something and take it to a whole new level. Now I have to work on sparking my own wildfires of the future!