Heinz… Green Ketchup
Harley Davidson… Perfume
Bic… Underwear
Huh?
I’m thinking those probably aren’t the first words you would associate with these popular brands.
Well, believe it or not, Heinz launched “Green Ketchup”, Harley Davidson rolled out a line of perfume and aftershave, and pen maker, Bic unveiled a line of “disposable underwear”.
Maybe you purchased one of these or NOT?
So, what was the fatal flaw (or deadly product launch sin) that these big brands committed?
Simply put… they created products that the market didn’t want.
So, the big question…
If brands with huge R&D budgets can fall victim to this fatal flaw, then how do we as Entrepreneurs and Information Marketers avoid creating products that our market won’t buy?
It is a natural tendency as entrepreneurs to dream up creative product ideas that we THINK our market will like, but completely miss out on simply asking our audience what it wants and needs.
As some of you may know, our fearless leader, Jeff Walker created The Product Launch Formula in 2005 and literally changed the game on how businesses successfully launch products online.
In this ground-breaking program, Jeff introduces a concept called “The Seed Launch”.
The Seed Launch offers the perfect avenue for business owners to converse with their audience, uncover their biggest questions and needs and ultimately identify “what the market wants”.
This type of launch is ideal if you have a small list (30-100 names), no list, or a new product idea you would like to test first before actually creating it.
“People have been asking me to teach “Dog Training” forever and I’ve never really even considered doing it, but I’m thinking of putting together a course. If you’re interested, let me know.
Then, you might include a link to your squeeze page to start building your “Launch List” for this future product.
2. Create some prelaunch content in the form of a series of emails.
During this prelaunch sequence, give your list an offer (Ie. How to train your dog better).
3. Invite your list to a series of teleseminars or webinars.
Use a free service like FreeConferenceCall.com to set up a bridge line
to run your calls or use a free webinar service like AnyMeeting.
At this point, you’ll need to decide if you’re going to charge for the calls or do it for free. Interestingly enough, when you charge money, people tend to be more compliant and actually show up for the calls or webinars.
The goal here is to get at least 30-40 people on the calls so you have a critical mass.
4. Run a survey to your participants prior to the teleseminar or webinar asking them a question like this…
“If you could sit down and have coffee with me to discuss “Dog Training”, what would be the top two questions you would ask me on this topic?”
At this point, compile the responses (using a tool like SurveyMonkey) and build a list of the top 10 topics they would be most interested in learning about. In fact, these questions will become the basis for your content on the calls.
5. Deliver your first call or webinar and plan on teaching (and answering submitted questions) for anywhere from 45-90 minutes.
6. Send out a follow-up survey after this first call with a couple questions like this…
“What didn’t I cover about this topic that you would like to know more about?”
“Our next call is going to be on XYZ topic… what are your top questions about that?”
Again, take those questions and organize them for your second call or webinar. The massive benefit of these surveys is that you are always get super valuable feedback from your market.
7. Follow the same process for your second and third call.
8. Offer a bonus webinar or call.
It is critical to ALWAYS over deliver for your clients so if you are planning on doing three calls, then add an unannounced bonus call.
9. Get your call recordings transcribed by a professional.
You’ll now have like 50-70+ pages of transcripts and 3-4 hours of audio/video recordings… talk about a great starting point for your first product launch in this market.
Again, the two powerful benefits of a Seed Launch is that you are creating content based on what your audience is interested in and you’re gaining valuable experience in learning how to teach this material.
Whenever you enter a new market with no product or no list, the “Seed Launch” can be your greatest ally and a repeatable process that positions you to build a fantastic product that your market wants.
Harley Davidson… Perfume
Bic… Underwear
Huh?
I’m thinking those probably aren’t the first words you would associate with these popular brands.
Well, believe it or not, Heinz launched “Green Ketchup”, Harley Davidson rolled out a line of perfume and aftershave, and pen maker, Bic unveiled a line of “disposable underwear”.
Maybe you purchased one of these or NOT?
So, what was the fatal flaw (or deadly product launch sin) that these big brands committed?
Simply put… they created products that the market didn’t want.
So, the big question…
If brands with huge R&D budgets can fall victim to this fatal flaw, then how do we as Entrepreneurs and Information Marketers avoid creating products that our market won’t buy?
It is a natural tendency as entrepreneurs to dream up creative product ideas that we THINK our market will like, but completely miss out on simply asking our audience what it wants and needs.
So, how do we create and launch products that sell?
It’s actually a lot simpler than you would think…As some of you may know, our fearless leader, Jeff Walker created The Product Launch Formula in 2005 and literally changed the game on how businesses successfully launch products online.
In this ground-breaking program, Jeff introduces a concept called “The Seed Launch”.
The Seed Launch offers the perfect avenue for business owners to converse with their audience, uncover their biggest questions and needs and ultimately identify “what the market wants”.
This type of launch is ideal if you have a small list (30-100 names), no list, or a new product idea you would like to test first before actually creating it.
Here are 9 quick steps to rolling out an effective “Seed Launch”…
1. Send out an email to your small list or make a post in the Social Networks that sounds something like this…“People have been asking me to teach “Dog Training” forever and I’ve never really even considered doing it, but I’m thinking of putting together a course. If you’re interested, let me know.
Then, you might include a link to your squeeze page to start building your “Launch List” for this future product.
2. Create some prelaunch content in the form of a series of emails.
During this prelaunch sequence, give your list an offer (Ie. How to train your dog better).
3. Invite your list to a series of teleseminars or webinars.
Use a free service like FreeConferenceCall.com to set up a bridge line
to run your calls or use a free webinar service like AnyMeeting.
At this point, you’ll need to decide if you’re going to charge for the calls or do it for free. Interestingly enough, when you charge money, people tend to be more compliant and actually show up for the calls or webinars.
The goal here is to get at least 30-40 people on the calls so you have a critical mass.
4. Run a survey to your participants prior to the teleseminar or webinar asking them a question like this…
“If you could sit down and have coffee with me to discuss “Dog Training”, what would be the top two questions you would ask me on this topic?”
At this point, compile the responses (using a tool like SurveyMonkey) and build a list of the top 10 topics they would be most interested in learning about. In fact, these questions will become the basis for your content on the calls.
5. Deliver your first call or webinar and plan on teaching (and answering submitted questions) for anywhere from 45-90 minutes.
6. Send out a follow-up survey after this first call with a couple questions like this…
“What didn’t I cover about this topic that you would like to know more about?”
“Our next call is going to be on XYZ topic… what are your top questions about that?”
Again, take those questions and organize them for your second call or webinar. The massive benefit of these surveys is that you are always get super valuable feedback from your market.
7. Follow the same process for your second and third call.
8. Offer a bonus webinar or call.
It is critical to ALWAYS over deliver for your clients so if you are planning on doing three calls, then add an unannounced bonus call.
9. Get your call recordings transcribed by a professional.
You’ll now have like 50-70+ pages of transcripts and 3-4 hours of audio/video recordings… talk about a great starting point for your first product launch in this market.
Again, the two powerful benefits of a Seed Launch is that you are creating content based on what your audience is interested in and you’re gaining valuable experience in learning how to teach this material.
Whenever you enter a new market with no product or no list, the “Seed Launch” can be your greatest ally and a repeatable process that positions you to build a fantastic product that your market wants.
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