I do not get around to posting on this forum as much as I would like, but I do get to read a lot of posts. I have read some very interesting things while I have been here. This post is intended to share one of my favorite topics of marketing. How do you market before your product is even developed? I believe that pre-launch marketing is very important, so I will share one of the strategies that I am using.
First a little background:
I am 24 years old, but I have seen almost every single type of marketing possible on the web. I first started doing a lot of research on web marketing when I was around the age of 14. I have seen extremely poor marketing campaigns. I have seen scams and I have been scammed. I have also seen amazing campaigns. I have learned a lot through experience, which has defiantly helped me get to where I am currently at. I do admit that I don't know everything, and I am always looking to learn. That is why I am here.
My Business:
I am building a social network for Higher Education. I intend to compete with the major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Myspace, Google+, etc..). My social network is a bit different though. We focus on profit sharing with schools and students, giving users a professional platform, and bringing advertisements to life. In addition, I would say that my social network prioritizes building connections for success over social sharing.
Marketing Without a Product
I am in a development phase that is currently going to last between 6-8 months. I am only 4 months into the development of my product. I want to build the hype and create the awareness, but I don't have the product to show, so what do I do? ONE of the answers is a pre-launch campaign.
A pre-launch campaign:
A pre-launch campaign can be extremely valuable to raising awareness about your product and building leads. All that you really need to do is build a landing page and give users the ability to sign up for updates. It can be that simple. In fact, you don't want to spend too much time on your pre-launch, you have bigger and better things to focus on (the actual project), just don't make the page ugly.
Viral - The Golden Nugget of pre-launch Awareness
If you make a pre-launch campaign then I suggest you make it viral. Giver users the ability to share with friends. You want your traffic to generate more traffic for you. I also am a believer in giving an incentive for people to share.
My Approach -
You can be extremely creative with your pre-launch campaign. It took about 2 weeks to make my landing page. We actually are giving users the ability to pre-register for my site. Upon pre-registering the user can sign up for their school, and share a link. Each time that a link is shared, they earn a chance to win a prize. I also developed a separate sign-up for businesses alone.
Leads-
One of the most valuable aspects about a pre-launch campaign is that it helps you build leads. You then have ability to build a stronger relationship with your leads. I always contact my members and personally thank them. In addition, I send out updates through constant contact. I just sent out a Happy Thanksgiving email, and I received a lot of happy responses. Creating a stronger connection goes very far.
Statistics -
A pre-launch can help you gain important statistics prior to going live. Here is an example: I went into the backend of my system and determined how many schools are represented on my site. I put the stats into excel and generate some reports. I was able to determine that in only 2 weeks we had students and alumni from over 20 different schools pre-register with us. In two weeks, we expanded our reach to the entire East Coast.
My numbers are valuable to me. I now know what schools to focus on. And I can go to the schools and show them that students are signed up. In addition, I can pinpoint a list of secondary targets by mapping out schools that are geographically located near the schools that are signed up.
Your leads can generate great information for you. Find a way to use the information and you can really start to create a focused marketing campaign.
You can also find a lot of good pre-launch examples by Goolging "prelaunch landing page"
I hope that I helped some people. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions.
First a little background:
I am 24 years old, but I have seen almost every single type of marketing possible on the web. I first started doing a lot of research on web marketing when I was around the age of 14. I have seen extremely poor marketing campaigns. I have seen scams and I have been scammed. I have also seen amazing campaigns. I have learned a lot through experience, which has defiantly helped me get to where I am currently at. I do admit that I don't know everything, and I am always looking to learn. That is why I am here.
My Business:
I am building a social network for Higher Education. I intend to compete with the major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Myspace, Google+, etc..). My social network is a bit different though. We focus on profit sharing with schools and students, giving users a professional platform, and bringing advertisements to life. In addition, I would say that my social network prioritizes building connections for success over social sharing.
Marketing Without a Product
I am in a development phase that is currently going to last between 6-8 months. I am only 4 months into the development of my product. I want to build the hype and create the awareness, but I don't have the product to show, so what do I do? ONE of the answers is a pre-launch campaign.
A pre-launch campaign:
A pre-launch campaign can be extremely valuable to raising awareness about your product and building leads. All that you really need to do is build a landing page and give users the ability to sign up for updates. It can be that simple. In fact, you don't want to spend too much time on your pre-launch, you have bigger and better things to focus on (the actual project), just don't make the page ugly.
Viral - The Golden Nugget of pre-launch Awareness
If you make a pre-launch campaign then I suggest you make it viral. Giver users the ability to share with friends. You want your traffic to generate more traffic for you. I also am a believer in giving an incentive for people to share.
My Approach -
You can be extremely creative with your pre-launch campaign. It took about 2 weeks to make my landing page. We actually are giving users the ability to pre-register for my site. Upon pre-registering the user can sign up for their school, and share a link. Each time that a link is shared, they earn a chance to win a prize. I also developed a separate sign-up for businesses alone.
Leads-
One of the most valuable aspects about a pre-launch campaign is that it helps you build leads. You then have ability to build a stronger relationship with your leads. I always contact my members and personally thank them. In addition, I send out updates through constant contact. I just sent out a Happy Thanksgiving email, and I received a lot of happy responses. Creating a stronger connection goes very far.
Statistics -
A pre-launch can help you gain important statistics prior to going live. Here is an example: I went into the backend of my system and determined how many schools are represented on my site. I put the stats into excel and generate some reports. I was able to determine that in only 2 weeks we had students and alumni from over 20 different schools pre-register with us. In two weeks, we expanded our reach to the entire East Coast.
My numbers are valuable to me. I now know what schools to focus on. And I can go to the schools and show them that students are signed up. In addition, I can pinpoint a list of secondary targets by mapping out schools that are geographically located near the schools that are signed up.
Your leads can generate great information for you. Find a way to use the information and you can really start to create a focused marketing campaign.
You can also find a lot of good pre-launch examples by Goolging "prelaunch landing page"
I hope that I helped some people. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions.
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