Reaching the mainstream market used to mean creating a single product with broad appeal, then advertising it broadly so that everyone could hear you and buy what you offered.  That approach rarely works these days, because we live in a world filled with choices – and we increasingly have everything we actually need.  However, there must be a way to reach what used to be considered the “mainstream marketplace”…

In 1991, best-selling author Geoffrey Moore published the seminal book “Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers”, which focuses on the specifics of marketing products during the early startup period leading to mainstream adoption.

Moore explores and expands upon the “Diffusion of Innovations” model, shown below:

Diffusion of Innovations is a theory of how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. This theory was originally put forth by Everett Rogers in 1962. He defines diffusion as “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.”

Isn’t that interesting?   A “social system”…

Let’s break it down further:

• The process by which an innovation is communicated
• Through certain channels
• Over time
• Among members of a social system

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?  What if there was a way to create and encourage a process by which an innovation is communicated so that instead of it taking years to permeate through traditional channels and social systems, it could take place much more rapidly – in a matter of just a few weeks or months?

Now that channel exists.  It’s called Social Networking!

Social networking provides the channels for the word to spread beyond early adopters and reach mainstream buyers much faster – and importantly, with enough social proof and actual proof to enable mainstream adoption to take place much sooner than before.

This is interesting, so let’s explore it a little further.

The following is Geoffrey Moore’s revised Technology Adoption Lifecycle chart:

As you can see here, the infamous chasm is where most products fail to gain adoption by the Early Majority, stall out, then crash and burn, fading into non-existence.  It has proven quite dangerous to try and leap across this chasm too quickly.  Different industries adopt new products, companies and technologies at different rates, so it’s often impossible to just leap this chasm outright (yes, even using the new rules of launch).

However, one answer to this common pitfall of new product introductions is to focus on launching to buyer segments. These segments are groups of like-minded people who reference each other regularly and who share similar interests, vernacular and buying preferences.  Moore calls this the “bowling-pin strategy” in his book “Into the Tornado”.

Without delving into more detail on the theory of early market introductions, let’s consider how this relates back to the product launches and establishing an early beachhead in a market.

The launch of anything new, interesting and useful will naturally attract the Innovators and Early Adopters. The trick is in convincing enough mainstream buyers, comprising the Early Majority, to give the product a try in order to jumpstart the bandwagon effect and create the herd movements required for mainstream adoption to take place.

Unlike marketing and selling in the traditional offline world, we are not restricted to the long time constants associated with word of mouth marketing and the corresponding slow adoption patterns that take place when using the old rules of launch.

The rate at which a social network spreads a message, combined with its ability to reference both proof and social proof in a compelling, convincing way (read: non-sales)  is one of the keys to reaching mainstream buyers.  How can we do this?

With stories – true stories. Hence my preoccupation with the use of stories in our marketing and selling.

For example, let’s say you’re introducing a new product that would benefit both large and smaller IT shops alike.  Using the new rules of launch, when mainstream customers see other name brand companies (like them) who are trying the new product, having success and commenting about it on a blog, this serves as compelling evidence (proof) and the necessary social proof (safety in numbers) that signals it’s time for them to have a closer look.

To keep things simple initially, I recommend focusing your launch on like-minded buyers (with similar buyer personas); however, if you have the resources and can muster a multi-pronged launch, it is certainly possible to launch to multiple market segments simultaneously.

For example, let’s say you’re launching the latest version of a solar-powered flashlight (I have one, they’re very cool).  This device appeals to various buyer segments and each segment cares about different things, reads different blogs and buys for different reasons.  Let’s take three groups of buyers and understand each one a bit better:

1. Homeowner Emergency Buyer – this buyer is primarily interested in a flashlight that can be trusted in an emergency situation, such as after a hurricane or other natural disaster, or anytime the power goes out.  The fact that solar-powered flashlights don’t require a battery is a very compelling benefit.
2. Camping and Outdoor Buyer – this buyer doesn’t want to carry batteries or anything heavy or bulky with them while backpacking, camping and enjoying the great outdoors. And should they get stranded for some reason, they want to know they’ll have a reliable, renewable light source at hand that can be trusted to provide emergency light.
3. Environmental and Conservation Buyer – this buyer prefers using renewable, environmentally-friendly energy, dislikes the disposable nature of traditional batteries and doesn’t mind paying extra for the peace of mind that living right brings with it.

One approach to take with this solar-powered flashlight is to create a separate launch mini-community focused on the needs and interests of each buyer segment.  Another approach is to create “solution” categories on a single website. This makes it easy for visitors to quickly learn more about how the product fits into helping them get each job done that is of interest to them.

This is in direct contrast to how most products are launched, which treats all customers as if they’re the same and centers on what the product does (features and benefits) and how it does it. This forces prospects into translating from what I call product language into buyer language.  Incidentally, I wrote this post on Buyer Language earlier that’s well worth a read.

I hope this post provides you with a fresh perspective on how to reach the mainstream buyers and markets faster, by:

• Having a clear buyer segmentation strategy that addresses groups of like-minded buyers
• Using buyer language that resonates with a specific group of buyers
• Using relevant stories that break through the market noise and clutter so your buyer language gets heard
• Making links to relevant stories visible via social media updates (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)

Related posts

• The New Rules of Launch (11)
• 3 Psychology Secrets of Social Product Launches (4)
• 10 Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Bass Fishing (11)
• When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead: Useful Stories (9)
• Twitter Research Formula (16)
• The Truth About How To Use Twitter in a Product Launch (11)
• The 7 Rules Bestselling Authors Use To Hook Their Readers (1)
• The 3C’s of Product Launch (1)
• Targeted Buyer Language vs. Generic Product Language (0)
• Storytelling Tweet goes viral overnight (11)

Over the past 18 months, I have written a lot about launching new products, websites and becoming successful at defining, developing and selling new products online.

It was high-time to distill all of this down into a “launch brief” of sorts.  So that’s what we did.  My partner in WinningWare.com, Jeff Sulma, and I invested several weeks of effort to boil it all down into 22 pages of best-practices, tips and practical how-to advice on how to launch new products and websites online.

So now you can download it here:   “How to Successfully Launch Your Product or Website Online”.

(registration is required to download this report)

Register now to receive this 22 page, step-by-step guide containing strategies and best practices to create buzz and drive sales using the power of the Web and social networking – you will learn:

• The 4 Phases of a successful launch process
• 10 Steps you must take before your launch
• 5 Strategies your launch must apply
• A Step-by-step process to launch your product or website successfully

Increase launch sales and profits

A properly structured launch creates increased buzz, anticipation and desire for what you have to say and what you sell. This translates to increased sales – a LOT more sales. It’s very important to know and apply best practices and techniques to boost sales results and market penetration with a properly executed launch. Let us share our fifty-five years of marketing and launch experience with you…

Register now and get instant access to this 22-page report that’s full of task-specific information you can apply today to successfully launch your product or website online!

Happy Launching!

Related posts

• The New Rules of Launch (11)
• The Truth About How To Use Twitter in a Product Launch (11)
• The 3C’s of Product Launch (1)
• How to Launch a Product, Website or Company in 2010 (1)
• How to Launch a Product using Social Networks (3)
• How to Finish Your Launch Plan in an Hour (3)
• (0)
• WinningWare QuickLaunch – Product Launch Automation Software (9)
• Top 5 Product Launch Success Factors (and Pitfalls to avoid) (10)
• The all-important Launch Blog – Some tips for your success (7)

The New Rules of Launch

FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD (no registration required)

The Internet and Web have changed the rules for how we launch anything new, including products, websites, and companies – even political campaigns – using social media like Twitter and Facebook to create purpose-built launch communities and make more sales.

This 62 page e-book provides strategies, tactics and processes you can put to use in your business to launch successfully and with maximum impact, jump-starting the sales growth engines and making your product Profitable on Day One™.

The Internet and Web have changed the rules for how we launch anything new, including products, websites, and companies – even political campaigns – using social media like Twitter and Facebook to create purpose-built launch communities and make more sales.

The Web and the ubiquitous global communications it enables now interconnect over 1 billion people for the first time in human history. Practitioners who learned based on the old rules have been slow to change and adopt new methods, such as social media and building appropriate communities around their launch process.

This information in this e-book enables everyone who wants to leverage social media and Web 2.0 interactive media for launching a company, product, service, website, political campaign, or just about anything else –  to grasp how to leverage the immense power of the Internet and social media networking to do so.

Download and Read the New Rules of Launch

But be prepared to update the way you think about launches…

Download the New Rules of Launch here.

P.S. Please feel free to post copies of this free e-book document on your blog, website or email it to anyone you believe would benefit from it. This e-book is licensed under the Creative Commons License, as indicated below, which means the content may be used freely for non-commercial purposes, so long as such use is attributed properly according to the license terms.

Inside the New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Related posts

• The New Rules of Launch (11)
• The Truth About How To Use Twitter in a Product Launch (11)
• The 3C’s of Product Launch (1)
• Psychology of Social Product Launches – Part 3, Storytelling (10)
• Product Launch 3.0 Sales Process (2)
• New Product Strategy (12)
• New Product Launch Template (2)
• New Product Launch Email Campaigns Now Available (1)
• Launching a Product (0)
• How to Launch a Product using Social Networks (3)

Under the old rules, marketers use shouting and interruption techniques to reach buyers and get their attention, and it just doesn’t work well anymore.  The outbound marketing techniques that worked so well in the 1980’s and 1990’s don’t work anymore because people have ways to filter the advertising out.

Buyers now use caller ID, Tivo, email filters, RSS subscriptions and other techniques to filter unwanted interruptions by advertisements and unsolicited sales calls.  Turning up the volume louder only causes people to tune out further and look for new ways to block you and ignore you in the future.  The lonely marketer with his little megaphone no longer controls us.

What buyers want today is a relationship – and great content. They want to know more about you and your people, and they want to know that you are listening to them – they actually want to engage in a conversation with you.  Since they’re doing most of their shopping and more of their business online, they want to know more about who’s on the other side of transactions – before they buy.

Unfortunately, when many marketers started using the Internet and Web for their marketing, they brought their usual interruption-based, broadcast methodology with them. This resulted in unsolicited emails, banner ads, pop-ups and other forms of interruption.

Fortunately, many of these same marketers have come to realize they cannot generate a profit with only a 0.1 to 0.5 percent (or less) response rate.  People have become very proficient at filtering the interruptions out of their life, because we have to in order to get anything else done.

If you continue to use interruption-based techniques as your primary means of marketing online, you will fail and you will lose money (and customers). Today, customers have too many choices to put up with annoying popups, banner ads, unsolicited emails and other forms of marketing harassment.

Instead, people use their available time to check email and open only the ones that interest them, surf the web to find interesting and useful content, and interact on Twitter and Facebook. We use Google to search for what we want to know more about.  We get educated about topics of interest on sites like Wikipedia.

We spend time downloading and listening to our favorite music, watching interesting videos on YouTube and many other sites.

We download podcasts from iTunes and other podcast sites to our iPhone and take them with us, making productive use of travel and commute time.  We work offline, as well as online.

The only way to reach us is by providing competitive content that’s more interesting than our other alternatives.

Today, we pay attention to whatever we choose – and certainly not anything that advertisers try to force upon us.  If you’re advertising and shouting, we’re just not listening – we’re ignoring you. And unless you appeal to us in the right ways, the right places and at the right time, we’ll just continue ignoring you.

Advertisers are no longer in charge – buyers are in charge. You can’t just buy our time and command us to pay attention – at least not online (and the offline methods aren’t working so well now, either). And this phenomenon is just as prevalent in B2B as it is with consumers.  Just because you’re selling to business people, don’t kid yourself – we’re people, too.

People are consumers first and foremost, and business people second. Our consumer behaviors determine how we prefer to look for and find what we want – and how we make most of our decisions.

Instead of bucking these inescapable trends, smart marketers have learned to update their canvassing and branding strategies.  Instead of interrupting people and either shouting louder or jolting people to gain their attention, these marketers figured out if you simply talk about what prospects are actually interested in, they’ll gladly pay attention.  What a concept!

And it works.  The key to gaining people’s attention is giving them great content that’s interesting, engaging and useful.  People love good content and they will go out of their way to actually find it.  That’s right. Instead of broadcasting and interrupting everyone to find those chosen few who actually have an interest, you attract qualified prospects to you.

Bloggers know that content is king and the only reason their audience shows up is because the content is worthy of the reader’s time and interest.  And Twitter provides yet another direct way to find relevant content, as well as poke your head into someone’s social network tent from time to time and see what’s happening.

Blogging platforms like WordPress have made it so quick and easy to become an information publisher than anyone can do it. In fact, WordPress is so robust and flexible now that it’s often the best way to build a new website, very inexpensively and quickly.

Millions of people are now information publishers. People are now so busy socializing, publishing and consuming interesting content and taking care of business online, they no longer have the time to deal with interruptions – and when they do get interrupted, instead of paying attention, they get angry and look for ways to block future interruptions (by hitting the SPAM button in email, blocking the user and making a mental note to avoid this time-waster from now on).

Welcome to the age of “inbound marketing”.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to join the conversations taking place in your marketplace and add some value, so you’ll be noticed and buyers who are looking for you can actually find you.

Now, having made the case for inbound marketing, there is certainly still a place for outbound marketing.  It’s just that marketers need to choose the right balance in their marketing mix to ensure both routes to customers are used properly. And be careful not to “cross the streams” – don’t use traditional outbound techniques with social networking, for example.

Instead of “driving” people to take action (the old marketing vernacular), we now “invite” people and “attract” them to join us and become a part of our launch.  In this way, the majority of our time and energy shifts from “getting the word out” to building a relationship with those who are actually interested in and excited about our launch – and delivering high-quality content for them.

Inbound marketing is a bit like going fishing. To catch fish, you must use the right bait and go fishing in the right places – where the fish hang out.  And if you locate fish that are feeding, you catch a lot more fish.

Related posts

• The New Rules of Launch (11)
• Twitter Research Formula (16)
• The Truth About How To Use Twitter in a Product Launch (11)
• The 3C’s of Product Launch (1)
• Psychology of Social Product Launches – Part 2, Proof (1)
• Product Launch Manager Interview with Jeffrey Pezzella (2)
• Product Launch 3.0 – The New Rules of Social Network Launches (10)
• How to Launch a Product using Social Networks (3)
• 3 Psychology Secrets of Social Product Launches (4)
• Your Relationship Development System – Profiting or Costing You? (3)

Launching products has evolved in recent years, with the advent of social networking, Web 2.0 and modern Internet Marketing techniques.  Those who have learned to tap into these powerful online launch methodologies are enjoying higher profits and greater success.

To learn the latest product launch technology, you will find numerous articles about how to launch a product here.

And there’s now a 60 page e-book full of state-of-the-art information that will help you:

• Close more sales during a product launch
• Develop a community of early adopters for your product
• Reach more buyers much less expensively by leveraging social media in your launches.

Download and read the free e-book The New Rules of Launch.

Related posts

• The 3C’s of Product Launch (1)
• The New Rules of Launch (11)
• Product Launch 3.0 Sales Process (2)
• New product launch process and methodology (3)
• The Truth About How To Use Twitter in a Product Launch (11)
• The all-important Launch Blog – Some tips for your success (7)
• Step-by-step Launch Plan for Web Sites (1)
• Startup Launch Marketing Process (4)
• Product Launch Manager Interview with Jeffrey Pezzella (2)
• Product launch automation software on the horizon (1)

I recently learned that doing things in three’s is extremely powerful, because people are able to learn and remember 3 things easier than any more (or less). So, I decided to boil product launches down into the 3 most important things one must do.  And the new rules of launch involve a simple, three-step process I call the three C’s of launch:

1. Canvassing – in this step, we use all available venues to spread the word about the launch and attract participants who are interested in our launch. Using standard permission marketing and relatively new emerging social networking techniques, we build a list of interested prospects (aka “leads”). We call this our “Launch List”.

2. Conditioning – once we have our Launch List underway, we go through a series of moves called a “pre-launch sequence”, which is specifically designed to educating and condition those on our launch list and take them on an interesting “learning journey” with us. During this learning journey, we will become closer to our buyers, uncover what they want most and then do our best to provide it to them via videos, articles and other useful content.

In addition, we’ll expose them to social proof, actual proof and answers to their common questions and objections.  These are all key parts of the pre-sales cycle portion of the new rules of launch process (which is covred in more detail in the free e-book).  We develop what starts out as a list of individuals into a launch community - a group of buyers, advocates and influencers who provide both initial sales and a foundation for sustained growth beyond the launch.

3. Closing and Cashing-in – once launch day arrives, it’s time to cash in on all the preparation and hard work that led up to the big day.  Immediately prior to launch day, we ramp up the communications level, creating increased anticipation, buzz and excitement – so much so that people are chomping at the bit to snag our product and sink their teeth into it.We also begin applying certain kinds of pressure that often leads to a stampede of buying as soon as the product becomes available for sale; e.g., scarcity.  Then we follow with a “launch sequence” involving the sharing of social proof, proof and success stories that continue fueling the launch momentum and driving increased sales results from fence-sitters.

Explore the 3C’s of launch in greater detail in my new, free e-book entitled “The New Rules of Launch – How to Launch a Product, Company or Anything Else via the Internet”.

Read more…

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• The all-important Launch Blog – Some tips for your success (7)
• New product launch process and methodology (3)
• 5 Product Launch Success Factors (3)
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• The Truth About How To Use Twitter in a Product Launch (11)

The truth is, today Twitter only enables us to reach a tiny fraction of a typical market (unless it’s the Twitter market itself).  The reality is that Twitter is just one of many “canvassing tools” that should be used for launching a product, website, or company, as shown in the diagram below.

Here’s an excerpt from the New Rules of Launch, How to Launch a Product, Company or anything else via the Internet covering use of Twitter (and other social media like Facebook and the launch blog):

Twitter is a social networking tool that’s great at getting the word out about your launch and for attracting prospects to join and promote your launch.  However, Twitter is just one element of a proper launch strategy, as shown in the launch canvassing big picture here:

Twitter is one of the available social media venues for canvassing the market and targeting specific buyers.  It’s also a key part of staying in touch with your launch community throughout the pre-launch and launch stages.

At the time of this writing, I like to use Twellow.com to locate prospects in the target market. Twellow searches Twitter profile “bios”, which people use to describe themselves.  TweepSearch.com is another bio search tool (it’s in Beta currently and seems to be up and down right now).

The bio search is a great way to find people who describe themselves as in your target market; e.g., if you’re selling to CIO’s of IT shops, then search for “CIO”, or ”hiker” and “camper” if those activities are your target, or “VP Marketing” and “CMO” if you’re targeting upper management in marketing departments.

You then “Follow” each of the people in your target market using Twitter.  Be sure to make several useful, interesting Twitter posts before inviting people to follow you on Twitter.  Most people will “Follow” you back (if they’re active, valid Twitter prospects).  Then LISTEN to what your market and potential buyers have to say… and then engage in the conversation with them and LEARN…

Then you can invite people to your launch in the usual ways – by giving them useful, free content and offering them the opportunity to register for the launch on the launch landing page.

Remember that Twitter users are not always online following you, so you will need to repeat yourself once or twice a day (at most) to ensure maximum coverage.  Importantly, on Twitter, you need to attract lots of “ReTweets” to increase your exposure.  If enough people retweet your tweets, you can reach tens of thousands of people very quickly.

There are plenty of articles available on ways to get people to retweet. use Google to search “get more retweets” to learn more:  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=getting+more+retweets&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Also, Twitter is a great way to locate and develop a relationship with key influencers in your market, again using TweepSearch.  I also use Google to locate influential bloggers, then locate them on Twitter from there.  You will need to build rapport with these influencers and develop a basic relationship with these folks, before asking them to assist you.

If your launch and product are newsworthy and relevant, bloggers will likely want to break the news to their audience.  Be prepared to give them free access to your product so they can do an independent review.  These people are busy, so you should begin this process far enough in advance of your launch to provide yourself enough time.

Twitter and Facebook are good places to supplement email notifications throughout your pre-launch and launch sequences.  They are also great places to locate affiliates and other launch partners to support your launch.

Your blog is the “hub” of your launch content publishing and delivery strategy.  Your blog is where everyone can find the “table of contents” for your launch – the list of posts; i.e., all of your important launch content, including informational posts, videos, recorded teleconferences, articles, etc.  Importantly, it’s also where everyone can see direct social proof, in terms of tweet counts and comments made by those in your launch community.

You should be using a “Tweet” tool on your blog that displays the number of tweets and make it easy for others to tweet your blog entries to their followers.  You can see an example of this on my blog here (and most anyone’s blog who is in the know today).  This is an extremely powerful tool for creating visible social proof.

Of course, in order for people to want to share your blog entries with others by tweeting, it must be “tweet-worthy” (if that’s not a word, it should be).  Your blog entries generally must be passionate, relevant and stir an emotional response to get tweeted (or to get comments for that matter).

And to get read in the first place, your blog entries must begin with great headlines based on a “killer hook”.  This blog entry provides 14 ways to develop killer headlines and hooks:  http://www.winningware.com/killerhooks

Hopefully by now it’s clear why the Big Idea (discussed in the New Rules of Launch) underpinning your launch is so important.  If your big idea doesn’t resonate, it will not garner the attention required to get people to spread the word about it.  In order to make effective use of social media to spread the word about your launch, the big idea must be:

• Remarkable – so that people want to share it with their friends and follows
• Newsworthy – so that people want to be recognized for bringing the news to their friends and followers
• Relevant – so that it’s worth everyone’s time and attention.

By now it should be crystal clear that unless you’re launching the next Apple iPhone or Harry Potter movie with major brand equity with an established market base, your big idea is what’s going to give your launch and message the weight required to carry it throughout the market.

If your big idea resonates, it will get repeated and spread.  If it falls flat, nobody will care, it won’t get repeated and your launch will be a dud.  It’s a simple as that, so make sure you get the big idea right (like we discussed in the New Rules of Launch, by testing and validating it early on).

So Twitter is a great launch tool, but just one arrow in your launch quiver.  Learn to aim and shoot this launch arrow well, and you’ll reach more influencers and buyers in your target market, providing lift and reach for your launch.

And that’s the truth about using Twitter in product launches today.

To read more about the New Rules of Launch and how these rules will enable you to launch anything via the Internet and achieve maximum results at the lowest cost, download the free e-book here.

So, what are your thoughts on and experience using Twitter for launches?

Related posts

• The New Rules of Launch (11)
• The 3C’s of Product Launch (1)
• How to Launch a Product using Social Networks (3)
• Why Safety is Risky Business in 2010 (13)
• Twitter Research Formula (16)
• Top 5 Product Launch Success Factors (and Pitfalls to avoid) (10)
• The all-important Launch Blog – Some tips for your success (7)
• Psychology of Social Product Launches – Part 3, Storytelling (10)
• Product Launch Software – Independent Blogger Review (3)
• Product Launch Automation Software with Free Trial Available (3)

Effective marketers realize their goal is to both understand and influence human behavior in order to achieve business objectives.

There are many ways to influence human behavior. For the purposes of a launch,  here are three that will amplify your success:

1. Social Proof
2. Proof
3. Stories

Social proof is also known as informational social influence. This is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations, when people are unable to determine the most appropriate mode of behavior.  When we lack clear direction in certain situations, it is human nature to make the assumption that others around us know more than we do about the particular situation, which we can leverage during a launch….

Proof consists of evidence that can be used to demonstrate the truth about something.  This evidence convinces someone about what is true and what is not.  In marketing, we see many forms of evidence used to assert proof that what we say is true – and having the right kinds of proof available at launch time is one of the keys to gaining mainstream buyers…

Stories are how human beings spread ideas that are important or interesting to them.  Storytelling is as old as mankind.  We tell stories in many ways, using words, images, sounds, gestures and expressions.  Storytelling is at the heart of how we communicate with one another, providing a disarming, learn-by-example way of conveying our marketing benefits without hard-selling…

Read the full article…

Related posts

• The New Rules of Launch (11)
• Psychology of Social Product Launches – Part 3, Storytelling (10)
• When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead: Useful Stories (9)
• Twitter Research Formula (16)
• The Truth About How To Use Twitter in a Product Launch (11)
• The 7 Rules Bestselling Authors Use To Hook Their Readers (1)
• The 3C’s of Product Launch (1)
• Storytelling Tweet goes viral overnight (11)
• Story: Struggling organic farmer saves the family farm (1)
• Story marketing: Why it works and why you should try it (6)

The New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet in 2010

FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD

The Internet and Web have changed the rules for how we launch anything new, including products, websites, and companies – even political campaigns – using social media like Twitter and Facebook to create purpose-built launch communities and make more sales.

The Web and the ubiquitous global communications it enables now interconnect over 1 billion people for the first time in human history. Practitioners who learned based on the old rules have been slow to change and adopt new methods, such as social media.

I hope this e-book will enable everyone who wants to leverage social media and the Web for launch of – a company, product, service, website, political campaign, or anything else –  to grasp how to leverage the immense power of the Internet and social media networking to do so.

While I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, the path and way major launches will reach the masses is clear – through social media and online networks. I think this e-book provides some food for thought that will be helpful and worthwhile.

Download and Read the New Rules of Launch

But be prepared to alter the way you think about launches…

Download the New Rules of Launch here.

Merry Christmas 2009!!  And here’s to a Happy New Year and lots of great launches in 2010!

Rick

P.S. Please feel free to post copies of this free e-book document on your blog, website or email it to anyone you believe would benefit from it. This e-book is licensed under the Creative Commons License, as indicated below.

P.P.S. Please come back here and share your comments on the e-book whenever you can so I can improve it…

Inside the New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The New Rules of Launch.  4

How to launch a product, company or anything else via the Internet  4

The old rules of launch.  5

The New Rules of Launch.  6

Why You Need to Learn the New Rules.  7

Today, savvy marketers use online networking to reach and influence buyers directly.  7

Psychology of Social Product Launches.  7

Reaching Mainstream Buyers and Markets Faster.  11

Targeted Buyer Language vs. Generic Product Language.  14

The 3C’s of Launch.  16

It’s the Network, Stupid!  17

Obama Presidency Launch Campaign.   18

The Power of Grassroots Movements in Launch Campaigns.   19

Network Influence is the Launch.   21

Nobody Cares About Your Product   24

Tuning In to What Customers Want   26

Big Idea = Big Launch.   28

New Rules of Attention.   35

The Magnetic Force of Free.   38

Buzz = Word of Mouth Storytelling Gone Wild.   41

The Launch Community.   43

Launch Partnering in Powers of 10.   44

Introducing Launch 3.0.   46

Launch 3.0 Process.   49

Canvassing – Building the Launch List and Community.  53

The Launch 3.0 Sales Process.   58

New Rules of Launch by Rick Braddy / ConXentric is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.winningware.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.winningware.com/contact.php

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PRODUCT LAUNCH 3.0  - Adding Social Media and a Launch Community

At a time when marketing budgets have been slashed and advertising budgets are under extreme scrutiny and pressure, leveraging social media as a means of achieving broad global awareness, and building a community of qualified buyers around a hot topic or product line, is essential for companies to carefully consider.

I’m in the early stages of pulling together my thoughts on what I’m currently calling “Product Launch 3.0″ (a working term for now), to describe the latest, most-effective strategies and tactics being used to launch products using Web 2.0 technology and social media.

Let’s begin with a quick review of how product launches have evolved.

Product Launch 1.0 – these are “traditional”, primarily offline product launches which focus mostly on getting the word out internally, with employees, and externally with traditional media (press, industry analysts and partners) ahead of a launch event.  For larger enterprises, these remain important steps to take – but they’re no longer enough in today’s fast-paced social-network collective world.  A key emphasis in Product Launch 1.0 is ensuring “field-readiness” – educating the sales force and resellers to ensure they are sufficiently knowledgeable to engage in customer conversations and sell the new product, once it becomes available.  In these launches, it’s common for the coming out party to be tied to a trade show event, where the new product is introduced on stage by company executives, and private press/analyst interviews are conducted before and during the event.

Product Launch 2.0 – these are “Internet Marketing” online launches, originally invented (from what I have observed) by John Reese with his original million dollars in a day launch of Traffic Secrets.  Then Jeff Walker spread the word about this online launch paradigm that he and John Reese cooked up together (along with some help from Frank Kern, again, piecing this all together).

Jeff Walker took this and packaged it up into an information product known as Product Launch Formula, which became the gold standard of Internet-based launches for many years in the IM market (arguably still is even today).  To learn more about Product Launch 2.0, check out this video, where Jeff provides an excellent overview of the strategies and tactics of Product Launch 2.0.  (UPDATE 12/12/2009 – the above video link no longer displays the product launch formula process publicly as it did for several years prior to this post – you can now find the blueprint video here instead).

Frank Kern then added several new dimensions to create what I’ll call the 2.5 version launch with, among other things, the use of effective storytelling, some NLP and compelling personal videos with his Mass Control system.

Product Launch 3.0 – these launches incorporate “purpose-built communities” into the launch process. The process leverages interactive online media, including:

• Opt-in Email
• Blogging
• Social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.)
• Social bookmarking (Digg, Del.icio.us, Mixx, FriendFeed, etc.)
• Forums
• Video Sharing
• Viral e-books and videos
• Teleconferences
• Podcasts
• Webcasts

Various combinations of online media are used to build and educate a focused community around a hot topic of interest or a new product concept that’s of interest to a community – before a product launches that’s relevant to that community.

An example of Product Launch 3.0 in action was the recent Harry Potter launch, which David Meerman Scott talks about in detail in his keynote video.  In this case, Cindy Gordon, the VP Marketing of Harry Potter, did something new and different that moved the state of the art forward.  Instead of spending millions of dollars on a traditional 1.0 style launch, she invited the Web’s top 7 bloggers to an exclusive interview with the set director of the Harry Potter theme park.  These bloggers, of course, did what they always do.  They soaked up everything they could from the interview, then blogged about the upcoming Harry Potter film and the exclusive interview.

Within just a few hours, other bloggers starting blogging about it, mainstream media reporters picked up on it, and before long 350 million people worldwide knew about the upcoming Harry Potter movie – without the usual spending of millions of dollars on advertising, trailers and the usual pre-launch tactics.

Now clearly not everyone has a product this newsworthy.  But what companies do have are customer and prospect mailing lists, blogs and ecosystems who follow them – and partners with more of the same that provide additional market coverage and reach.

I’ll soon be covering this in more detail. Product Launch 3.0 builds upon and complements its predecessors, bringing social media and online interaction to the forefront of market conditioning and education during pre-launch, along with follow through in the launch and post-launch stages, as shown below:

Building a focused community around a hot topic or a product line is one of the keys to creating rapid, worldwide awareness, understanding and adoption of a new product.

Many of these concepts are covered in more detail in the Launch Leverage Report (which is a free PDF download).

Stay tuned… a lot more is coming on Product Launch 3.0.

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