 |
| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/c/c5/Jesse_Owens3.jpg |
When was the last time someone mentioned they were using Microsoft WORD to you? How about a mention of those cool new browser features? I’m guessing not since they were first introduced.
There’s a tremendous branding lesson here. Word of mouth moves like money through a politician’s hands. But once a product has entered mainstream or common use, we never speak of it.
If you’re an innovator, you’ve got those precious few days to capture conversation and get branded. Yeah I know, easily said, but hard to do. I don’t pretend to have the secret formula here. I only want to point out, as a business strategist, that a well conceived plan to target those very talkative and listened to tweeters and bloggers should be planned long before launch. You might even consider adding features to attract the more attractive talkers. Following this, launching the campaign should even precede the product launch. Get folks talking, anticipating and finally commenting.
It’s no coincidence that Apple lost a version of a soon to be released iphone or released disappointing battery-life test results before launch. They wanted talk started before launch. They were gathering the troops to get that rapid early marketing link. Sure this is Apple, but it also works for startups. If you can start the conversation, do it like yesterday.
