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Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

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Re: Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

#11

Post by abbasmehdi »

I can think of 50 products that won because they out-marketed a better competitor. It's hard to care about something you don't even know exists. Its hard to feel loyalty without an emotional hook. Marketing exists to do those things.

You cannot argue against the function of marketing in a waterfall framework. Then praise the lean methodology. For this to be apples to apples, you should compare waterfall to lean, and marketing to no marketing (an extreme form of which would be to have no web presence).

The way I see marketing is things that need to be done but a hacker might not enjoy doing.

Re: Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

#12

Post by Hisoka »

jpdoctor wrote: post #3

> He knows trade show girls. Of the dozens of trade shows I've been to, trade-show girls are good for one thing: Collecting contact info of horny guys. The resulting lead lists had incredibly low signal-to-noise. Then again, I've never worked in the adult game arena.

The term horny guys is kinda redundant..

Re: Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

#13

Post by lsc »

abbasmehdi wrote: post #11

I can think of 50 products that won because they out-marketed a better competitor. It's hard to care about something you don't even know exists. Its hard to feel loyalty without an emotional hook. Marketing exists to do those things. You cannot argue against the function of marketing in a waterfall framework. Then praise the lean methodology. For this to be apples to apples, you should compare waterfall to lean, and…

I don't think the article is arguing against marketing. He's arguing against the 'launch' as the focus of marketing, and suggesting instead that building a brand should be the focus of marketing.

Building a brand is a long, ongoing process. You need to have a self-consistent set of values, and those values need to show through in your products. (I mean, there is more to having a brand, but without those consistent values, the other stuff doesn't matter.)

Re: Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

#15

Post by daniellicht »

lsc wrote: post #13
abbasmehdi wrote: post #11

I can think of 50 products that won because they out-marketed a better competitor. It's hard to care about something you don't even know exists. Its hard to feel loyalty without an emotional hook. Marketing exists to do those things. You cannot argue against the function of marketing in a waterfall framework. Then praise the lean methodology. For this to be apples to apples, you should compare waterfall to lean, and…

I don't think the article is arguing against marketing. He's arguing against the 'launch' as the focus of marketing, and suggesting instead that building a brand should be the focus of marketing. Building a brand is a long, ongoing process. You need to have a self-consistent set of values, and those values need to show through in your products. (I mean, there is more to having a brand, but without those consistent va…

You can have a launch strategy while building a brand, the two are not mutually exclusive.

I find it really ironic that this article comes from an "ad man" and a "principle of a strategic marketing firm" because he knows very little about marketing.

Re: Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

#16

Post by dmk23 »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #8

I really like this sentence: "[Let] your product trickle out when you think it’s good enough to get people excited, then listening hard for excitement. If you hear some, figure out where it’s coming from, and do more of that" (OP's emphasis)

I would expand this premise by saying that a launch should be about unveiling the company, not the product.

Once the product trickles out and gets adopted quietly you establish a track record of results. THEN you can tell the world about the wizards behind the curtain, what is next and what is in it for customers, partners and investors. The purpose of the launch should be to accelerate your momentum, not create it where it does not exist.

Re: Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

#17

Post by abbasmehdi »

lsc wrote: post #13
abbasmehdi wrote: post #11

I can think of 50 products that won because they out-marketed a better competitor. It's hard to care about something you don't even know exists. Its hard to feel loyalty without an emotional hook. Marketing exists to do those things. You cannot argue against the function of marketing in a waterfall framework. Then praise the lean methodology. For this to be apples to apples, you should compare waterfall to lean, and…

I don't think the article is arguing against marketing. He's arguing against the 'launch' as the focus of marketing, and suggesting instead that building a brand should be the focus of marketing. Building a brand is a long, ongoing process. You need to have a self-consistent set of values, and those values need to show through in your products. (I mean, there is more to having a brand, but without those consistent va…

My point exactly, launch as a focus of Marketing or any other dept. for that matter is a bad thing and is an example of the Waterfall method.

Also, building a brand and marketing sound similar but are very different. In personal terms, you, as a brand would be 'what others to think of you', and marketing is 'what you say about yourself / present yourself'. Sales is how you 'turn an audience into followers'. Since sales = marketing + brand, in the analogy above 'audience to followers' = 'what you say about yoursef' + 'what people think of you').

Re: Launch is for Amateurs: Focus on Building a Product & a Brand

#18

Post by mcutler »

shoham wrote: post #10

Great article. I disagree with the notion that 'launch is for amateurs'. Launch may be at times for amateurs, but it's really great for the big names, as well -- seems like Apple does pretty well with its launches... I think that the real point of the article launch is really not so good for amateurs -- though amateurs might want to wait for a big launch in order to release their product, which can be a bad idea.

Advice here is really for new companies and products that don't yet have an established emotional connection (i.e. 'brand') with their target audience. So, rather than launch first and hope to stumble in to some sort of resonance with users... reverse the process and first build the brand through end-user experience with the product, then launch. :)
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