Never Ending Conversation

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Our conversations with our prospects started way before launch. We have 9 different email campaigns running in parallel, targeting different sets of groups. We have video tours walking interested people through the application. We have a presence on facebook, myspace, linkedin and all major social networking sites. We encourage people to follow us on twitter, friendfeed and of the likes. We have 3 blogs running in parallel to our launch campaign. We are open to feedback, discussions and conversations with people - as they are the most important enablers of our business.

Conversation is the key which opens doors to people’s minds and hearts. I believe that more than anything else, marketing thrives on communication. You have to get to know them and find out what they want. It is a false assumption that the more populated your lists are the more popular you are. Popularity is not achieved just by adding people to your list of contacts. They should be able to recognize you and know you. Be one with the people, bond with them and most important of all, LISTEN to them. From the conversations that you have with them, you can make each stage of your launch a raging success. Remember that “there is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for.”

We would know in advance what people want and expect from our launch just by talking to them. We intend to keep everyone updated, as everyone likes to be in the know, and this will help us build the buzz around launch. The main reason for us to engage in conversations is to build trust.

Trust is one of the most under-rated things in marketing - if people don’t trust you, they won’t believe you and you’ll have a hard time convincing them. Get them on your side. The basis of any relationship is trust and it is important for you to win it as it is a great defense against naysayers and competitors. Don’t put an end to this relationship after your event has been launched. You want these visitors who have become buyers to become permanent customers so don’t break the thread of this conversation.

Our Launch Story

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A story is a message or impression that we communicate with people. It is meant to be consistent throughout the campaign, across multiple channels. The marketing messages, blog posts, website content, emails, everything needs to be aligned to the story. Please don’t confuse the word ’story’ with something fictitious. Its just the actual and real message thats sent out for the world to see.

Today I”m just going to talk about what the core message will be around the time of our official public launch. We will of course let everyone know (via public announcements in our social networking groups and also through our email campaign) about the exact launch date. People who’d be eager to use the platform before that can try to get to it through existing members.

As for people who are already members and users of the platform (our early adopters) - we’d run a Super Promoter campaign with them hoping to attract those members who have more than 500 active fans (or followers) under them in their social networks. The idea is to get those members who can promote the site to the most number of people and give them an incentive to earn more commissions for event ticket sales.

Now, I mentioned earlier that we’d want a 21 days straight launch campaign to get as many new subscribers onto the system as possible. But before that, the number of subscriptions coming from existing promoters is anticipated to swell before the gates are opened to the public. This is going to be the time of the most rush.

Hopefully, by the time launch day is upon us we will have generated more pre-launch members through our early adopters than expected. We do not want to test our servers to the extent of opening the doors to an undisclosed number of new members without proper risk-control. So this will be a nice and measured way of doing it.

The WOM effect is simple. Every new promoter can invite as many fans who can also become promoters and build out event pages so if we allow 5,000 members to join at once and they invite 100 fans each its half a million people, if these half million then invite another 100 each our servers would simply crash.

An announcement will have to be made a couple of days out from the launch that we are going to be limiting our new member subscriptions to 1000 new members on launch day. Scarcity and server safety. Those who can’t gain access on launch day will need to leave their names and email address to be on our list to be notified of the next time we are opening our doors. In the mean time people can still become members if invited by any current member or they can request to become fans of current promoters and if accepted will get an account.

Our aim will be to control new memberships to manage our risk, and to have conversations with those leads who missed the opportunity. We can give them ideas on how to become a member through existing members or notify them of dates of our next open door launch with tips on how they can get in early this time to make sure they beat the cut off.

Launch Stories - make a perfect blend and serve it hot

Posted by writer

Stories have an important role in making a launch a raving success. Your launch story is simply how you present information to your prospects. What are you about? Why should they care? I’ve always wondered why some launch stories hit it big and others just fizzle out like they never even existed.

We all want big successful launches, and it turns out that a lot of it is in our hands. All of this assumes that the product or event that you are about to launch is worth the hype.

I’ve written about how to build your stories here and here. Today, I’m just going to expand on it a bit more. If you are marketing your services or launching products, you need to really know how to tell effective stories. Story telling is an art that you can learn and adopt for your businesses and it helps define complex things into simple words. We come across countless situations where we can benefit from this skill - when you’re in an elevator with a potential business partner, when you get a chance to meet an investor, when you’re pitching to your clients, when you run across an old school friend on a weekend getaway and most importantly, when you are about to launch products or events in the market.

Telling a launch story is about summing everything up nicely and presenting it in a way that can influence your potential clients or audiences to take action. This is done by hitting the right mental triggers to the right people at the right time.

The mental triggers that you choose to hit will depend on your individual products, but we can safely say that the old tested rules of “hero play” still apply. And boy do they work! We, as humans, are attracted to stories of drama, intensity of emotions, shock, winning. We want that adrenaline rush. We want that human to human association. We want that heroism. We want to listen to people who understand where we come from. If you can incorporate these into your story, you’re bound to have a greater impact and response from your targeted audiences.

Make your key message (verbal or email) as informal and relatable to your audiences as possible. Make it like a conversation between two people. Here is a structure (also proposed by Industry leader Jeff Walker) that you can use for your message:

1- start with reiterating the fact that you are just like them. That you have a lot in common. The purpose of this intro is to get the attention of your key targeted audience and make them think “hey this guys just like me..”

2- Then name a few frustrations that you have (related to your launch). E.g. “I’ve been looking around for cool places to hangout, where I can just take my mind off work and network with likeminded people.. but there is just no such place in the entire town…”. This should make them think “yea. I totally get it”.

3- When you’re sure you have that nod, talk about how you aspire for things to be different. You can throw in ideas and thoughts and let their minds wander off. Don’t limit their thoughts to specific examples, let them imagine as much and as far as they can.

4- Finally, when you know that they are excited about how all of this can turn around, present your solution and discuss how it can benefit people like you (i.e. him).

It takes very little time to come up with the good meaningful stories that you can use to turn your business around. So get down to work and get creative. Let me know if you need further inspiration or assistance.

Each event is a brand - do you have the right story figured out?

Posted by writer

Every event that you plan is like a separate product - each event requires its own brand and identity. Its sad to see how people keep on launching events without giving thought to the event’s brand story. Today, I am briefly going to talk about ways of building brand stories for your events, whether they are small soccer club gigs or huge global conferences. The essence is always the same - does the brand of the event make people want to brag about and be a part of it?

There are different approaches to building the brand story, but I like the simplest approach the best. Its more genuine and honest and takes up less time.

Step 1: Understand what sets the event apart

The first step to building your brand story is to understand who your ideal attendees are. What are there thoughts, fears, requirements, ideas? What gaps exist in other events that you will be filling? Once you understand your targeted attendees, you will be able to identify things that you want to highlight about your event that fills their needs. This can be anything, from better payment terms to cool merchandize. Write down the things that set your event apart. Let’s call them the brand attributes.

Step 2: Build a story based on your brand attributes

Now that you have the brand attributes written down, it’s easy to build a story around it. A story is a description of how the event idea came about, in layman’s terms. The story doesn’t have to be a fabricated knit-up but it should be positioned in a way that is easy to remember and repeat. A story could be: “we were furnishing our baby’s room and couldn’t find good economical furniture for small baby rooms in this town. First we looked around then, we decided to take things in our own hands and custom build them. They turned out so great and everyone loved them. We now have a small furniture outlet in our own garage for other parents like us where we arrange bi-monthly meetups for parents to share ideas and come up with designs. Our little get-togethers are open for all expecting or existing parents and even furniture designers.” This is a story people will not only remember, but spread to every parent that they know.

Step 3: Tell the story to your audience

If you have been following my posts, you probably already have a community (audience or list) that you are actively building a relationship with. When you are ready to share your story with your community, just tell them the exact story that you have spun in the previous step and let them absorb it. Never push anyone to your events, let them get lured themselves.

Step 4: Make references to your story and encourage others to spread it

Make it easy for people to share your story with their friends. A great way to do this is to have materials ready, that they can send to their networks. Also, keep referring to different aspects of the story or different analogies of the story off an on, as a subtle reminder to the community. For example: “you know how we have this great little garage all set up”, or “we are avid believers or DIY home products..”, or “our babies in a cute and inquisitive stage these days..”, or “its interesting to see how great ideas can be generated in fun brainstorming sessions..”, etc. These references will revive the entire story in the listeners mind and will make sure he or she doesn’t forget it.

Just like product brands require special attention, your events deserve the same level of thought into designing them. Good luck.