Successfully sailing the seas...
There are countless ideas for the next great app, world-changing technology or ways to solve complex market needs. So why do some make it to market successfully, while others never get out of the harbor?
It’s often not the quality of the vessel. The standardization of design and manufacturing platforms create a level playing field for creators. Engineering schools are turning out brilliant minds daily.
So what are the reasons Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman and others were able to create awareness, shape perception and drive results to successfully navigate across the ocean?
Everyone wants to see their new product or company on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, the lead story on Tech Crunch or mentioned by Quinten Hardy in the New York Times. “Just right me a press release, so we can get into the major dailies,” they cry.
I’ve sat in countless meetings with some brilliant minds over the past 15 years. I’ve heard this expectation being repeated many times. I have never seen it happen, despite knowing journalists at each of these publications. It never happens because a PR pro simply creates a press release. That doesn’t mean you don’t needa press release, it means there is more to the game.
There a few CRITICAL elements you need before you draft that all important release.
The first thing you need is a PLAN. This is what Jobs, Zuck, Hoffman and the rest had. The PLAN should answer important questions like; who will buy your product and why? If you are selling a product into the enterprise, (a b2b play), is demand generated by fear? If it is, a different plan is required than if you are selling to consumers, (b2c), who may purchase on appeal, sparkle, or desire. What if you are selling b2b2c, the ocean is now more complex.
Knowing this will determine your target audience? What if they don’t read the New York Times? Why would you want to be where your target audience isn’t? Sounds simple. Makes a lot of sense, right. Then why do I continue to hear this false expectation?
The public relations and journalism milieu is an ever-changing ecosystem comprised of over 300,000 influencers, all of whom are tasked with entertaining and enlightening a dynamic, often jaded audience. If you want to be in the WSJ, then you better have a story that will entertain and enlighten a million readers in just a few minutes. Plus the editor has 1000 pitches a day sent to them. When you look at the challenge in these terms, hiring someone on Upwork to write a press release is like bringing a water pistol to the gunfight at the OK Corral.
Creating awareness for your product or company deserves the same patience and respect as any other investment. Here are the three most common go-to-market mistakes tech entrepreneurs make:
1. No Plan - Would you set off to sail across the ocean without a plan, a compas,s and navigational tools? Why would you risk the all-important perception of your product, business, and reputation by not having a solid go-to-market plan?
2. Under Capitalized: There are two ways to be under-capitalized, 1) No money to invest in the professional marketing and services required to successfully launch. If you want to buy a new car, do you go to the dealer and say, “I put all my money into getting to your dealership, so let me drive one of your cars for free for awhile, then when I have money I will pay you it?” How long do you think you would last on the dealer’s lot? Yet, this is very request I hear from technology entrepreneurs all the time. If you have put all your money into the development of the product and cannot afford sales and marketing, you need to either sell that idea to someone who can, or raise funds to create a company to launch it properly, AND 2) intellectually under-capitalized. I once had a client who was moving from a traditional industry into a digital industry with a really good product idea. The problem was he had no digital footprint; no website, no LinkedIn profile, no Twitter account and no idea how to present his new offering online using Go To Meeting. But he was sure he was all ready to launch his new product to an important client group.
He worked hard on his Powerpoint presentation and made countless phone calls to the prospect. Then when he was finally invited to a face-to-face meeting to pitch no one had business cards to give him. He had spent months fighting to get this meeting and had not developed a way to understand, condition and follow-up with his audience the way they expected. Yet this was where his prospect lived and did business. He was told to set these elements up and play the game the way his target audience expected, but he did not. He wanted to be a digital company, yet not act like one. The result was a not good. As Mark Twain once quipped, “It's not what you don’t know that will kill you, its what you know for sure that will.”
3. Wait Too Long: It takes the proper amount of time to create the right plan, research the market, develop the messaging, test and refine, define and condition the media and build the tools required to successfully launch your product or company.Waiting a week before you want to launch falls into the intellectually undercapitalized category.
Even with all the right plans and tools, there is no guarantee that you will successfully navigate the seas and launch your product in such a way to create the results you desire. But isn’t it better to set sail with a properly funded plan and experienced sailors?
Things happen in threes...
The old adage that everything happens in threes recently happened to me. I am a cyclist, I ride a road bike. It’s what keeps me sane and free. The joke is, Edge isn’t fit to be around if he hasn’t ridden his bike, at least every other day for 30 miles or so.
Recently I’ve had three friends experience unexpected accidents while riding, all within a three-month period. It can be a dangerous sport, errant drivers, miscalculations on curves while descending and unexpected cardiac events can make for bad days in the saddle.
It should deter us, but it doesn’t. It’s worth the risk. The endorphins, camaraderie, and sense of community riding provides are priceless. You could find less doing other things, still have an accident and die. So why not do what makes you happy? I have yet to find a better way to spend a day than a long ride, followed by lunch with friends and a nap. Try it. You might find happiness comes in threes too.
What is a brand worth?
Recently at a wine tasting at Cru in Madera, CA an attendee asked the winemaker, Ken Post, about how wine was priced. Why were some wines sold at $100.00 at bottle while others at $10.00? Is it really a matter of one wine being superior to another or were other factors involved, such as vintage, year, brand, distribution and marketing?
Ken paused then said, “Do you agree the wine your are tasting is a great wine?” The crowd nodded its approval and almost everyone sipped some more with great satisfaction. “Now, raise your hands if you would pay $60.00 a bottle for it.” No one raised their hands. “See, I’ve easily sold this at $60.00 a bottle, but I sell a boatload more at $20.00, “ he explained.
Ken’s answer made me think about the relationship between quality and value. Value is what it is worth to someone. What one person finds valuable another may not. Quality, on the other hand, is the character of the entity. Is it of superior, average or poor being, does is work well, stand up to external forces, achieve its purpose, is it elegant or sophisticated? These are some of the ways we judge quality. We tend to judge value by how much we spent and what the results were.
Often in business, we focus too much on the value of short-term results and not on the long-term effect of quality. Take Virgin, for example, we know that whatever enterprise Sir Richard turns to will have a certain quality about it. It’s his brand that he has carefully cultivated over the years. It’s the quality you expect from his work.
What qualities do you bring to your brand? What is it worth to your business? How do you want to be remembered?