Ask HN: How would you market a new product launch?
7 comments
What I'd suggest is to find a way to make your story into a story. In other words, come up with a hook, a narrative that helps the story write itself.
Put another way: what's so special about CardMunch, as opposed to the iPhone app I already use (where I take a photo of a business card, and it scans it into my Contacts)?
If there's not a compelling "unique value proposition" for the product, what's so special about you guys? What makes this not just another launch amongst a million?
Put another way: what's so special about CardMunch, as opposed to the iPhone app I already use (where I take a photo of a business card, and it scans it into my Contacts)?
If there's not a compelling "unique value proposition" for the product, what's so special about you guys? What makes this not just another launch amongst a million?
Thanks Michael. There are many ways I can tackle this because there are lots of features worth mentioning. But I remember that when you say a lot and lose focus, people tend to lose focus too.
I narrowed it down to 2 areas that I can say CardMunch has a very "unique value proposition".
For one, we are unbelievably accurate. Anyone used a card scanning devie/app would know that the accuracy is atrocious. That's a problem because a wrong contact is worse than no contact. We don't send anything back unless it's 100% accurate, even if we have to employ multiple people to double, triple check the answer.
Another angle is the simplicity. We made it so that everything is as simple as possible. You don't need to take a picture, just point your phone at a card, CardMunch automatically recognizes your card and uploads / transcribes / imports the contact right into the phone, all that with 0-click. We also do real-time syncing so that every update gets backed up on the server, so you never have to worry about losing a contact. All that that is done with 0 clicks, just let CardMunch handle it all.
If you were to propose a story to market this product, which in your opinion is a more compelling hook for a story, and why?
Thanks again for your feedback!
I narrowed it down to 2 areas that I can say CardMunch has a very "unique value proposition".
For one, we are unbelievably accurate. Anyone used a card scanning devie/app would know that the accuracy is atrocious. That's a problem because a wrong contact is worse than no contact. We don't send anything back unless it's 100% accurate, even if we have to employ multiple people to double, triple check the answer.
Another angle is the simplicity. We made it so that everything is as simple as possible. You don't need to take a picture, just point your phone at a card, CardMunch automatically recognizes your card and uploads / transcribes / imports the contact right into the phone, all that with 0-click. We also do real-time syncing so that every update gets backed up on the server, so you never have to worry about losing a contact. All that that is done with 0 clicks, just let CardMunch handle it all.
If you were to propose a story to market this product, which in your opinion is a more compelling hook for a story, and why?
Thanks again for your feedback!
I think you hit on a good story in a response to someone else, about your alpha user who needed to scan a bunch of cards he collected at a conference.
Think about your (small set of) users so far. What's the coolest, most noteworthy thing someone has used your product for?
Find (or make happen) a human interest story. A bride who used the product to scan all of the business cards of all of the wedding-related vendors (florists, caterers, etc.) Someone who is using CardMunch to cure cancer.
"Accuracy" and "Ease of Use" are great-- the point is to find a narrative that gets the point across.
Tell me a "real world" story about a time when "a wrong contact was worse than no contact."
Think about your (small set of) users so far. What's the coolest, most noteworthy thing someone has used your product for?
Find (or make happen) a human interest story. A bride who used the product to scan all of the business cards of all of the wedding-related vendors (florists, caterers, etc.) Someone who is using CardMunch to cure cancer.
"Accuracy" and "Ease of Use" are great-- the point is to find a narrative that gets the point across.
Tell me a "real world" story about a time when "a wrong contact was worse than no contact."
Hah, CardMunch didn't cure cancer, but here's true story that people could relate to.
I remember one day this beta user decided to send in a bunch of cards for process. It was nothing out of the ordinary except the stream of cards just kept coming. By the end of the hour, he had sent in 470 contacts. We completed them fairly quickly, but out of curiosity we calculated exactly how much manhours we spent processing his cards.
19.93 HRs.
Arguably that's how much time he saved, because he didn't have to do everything on his own. It was pretty sweet.
So maybe the title of the story would be: "how we saved one user 19.93 hours in one Friday afternoon"?
Is that something you can relate to? :)
I remember one day this beta user decided to send in a bunch of cards for process. It was nothing out of the ordinary except the stream of cards just kept coming. By the end of the hour, he had sent in 470 contacts. We completed them fairly quickly, but out of curiosity we calculated exactly how much manhours we spent processing his cards.
19.93 HRs.
Arguably that's how much time he saved, because he didn't have to do everything on his own. It was pretty sweet.
So maybe the title of the story would be: "how we saved one user 19.93 hours in one Friday afternoon"?
Is that something you can relate to? :)
That's actually not bad. Keep searching for stories like this, compile a few, then go to press. Features are boring. Stories are good.
Just looked at your site. What a cool idea. I've always had trouble figuring out how to get my business cards digitized. This is definitely a big move! How do I sign up?
cool, email me at [email protected]. Let me give you a sneak peek.
Why not put this contact info right on your front page? Even if you have to demo over a simple Skype session or provide a video, do it. If people want to see (even if it's no currently available) let them see. You could probably use Skype for one on one demos or WebEx or something if there were a group of people interested in a viewing.
Ha, that landing page is from our stealth era, when we didn't want to give any information.
But good point, we should probably give a bit more information now that we're about to release. I'll get on that.
But good point, we should probably give a bit more information now that we're about to release. I'll get on that.
For our launch, we also tried reaching out to tech / travel blogs to write about us. I found the time spent following-up and convincing them that your product is awesome wasn't worth it when you can be coding or improving the product (it was probably 10% conversion rate for us). A month later, I found a lady with good PR network to help us draft a press release and reach out to her network. Within weeks, we were on Techcrunch, ReadWriteWeb, and other tech blogs. If you don't mind spending some money, I'd suggest you save time & frustration and hire a contractor to help with the news splash.
Point taken. Forwarding your PR lady's contact to [email protected]? :) Much appreciated!
Write to bloggers with audiences that are your potential customers. Tell them about your product and politely ask if they would like to feature you in a post. Offer some pre-written copy (not too much) for them to use or cut/paste from to make it easier for them. Offer free downloads of your software for e.g. 5 of their readers (but don't do that for everyone you email).
Keep it brief, be polite, and some might bite. Michael Dorfman's advice about your USP and your story (either/both are good for bloggers) is good advice to keep in mind when thinking of what to write.
Keep it brief, be polite, and some might bite. Michael Dorfman's advice about your USP and your story (either/both are good for bloggers) is good advice to keep in mind when thinking of what to write.
nugde, that sounds very reasonable, but I am skeptical if that would make you stand out. Have you had reasonable success doing this?
I always wonder if bloggers reads our emails. It seems like they would get so many of these story everyday, do they have time to read everything?
Bloggers, please feel free to chime in? Do you only read the emails with interesting titles? :)
I always wonder if bloggers reads our emails. It seems like they would get so many of these story everyday, do they have time to read everything?
Bloggers, please feel free to chime in? Do you only read the emails with interesting titles? :)
I confess this is advice I have gathered from others, rather than something that has worked for me (I haven't tried it for a paid product site like yours). It will always be a lottery emailing busy bloggers, but you could get lucky!
Something I have had success with is emailing smaller blogs that I know often feed stories to the larger ones, and also blogs that have insatiable appetites for new stories. Regarding smaller blogs, something that worked very well for me is to contact first the international spinoffs of highly popular blogs, rather than the standard US one - often they get far fewer emails daily, and stories they write get picked up by the main site.
edit: One way to get bloggers' attention would be to just give them a copy of your app. Don't write as if you're just asking for a write-up. Write to tell them you think they could probably benefit from your product, and you'd like to give them a free copy. And that if they like it, here's your phone number / email for more information.
Something I have had success with is emailing smaller blogs that I know often feed stories to the larger ones, and also blogs that have insatiable appetites for new stories. Regarding smaller blogs, something that worked very well for me is to contact first the international spinoffs of highly popular blogs, rather than the standard US one - often they get far fewer emails daily, and stories they write get picked up by the main site.
edit: One way to get bloggers' attention would be to just give them a copy of your app. Don't write as if you're just asking for a write-up. Write to tell them you think they could probably benefit from your product, and you'd like to give them a free copy. And that if they like it, here's your phone number / email for more information.
That's great to hear nudge. Can you recommend me a few small blogs that you had great experiences with?
Nudge, I found it.
FYI for those interested, this is a very good read.
http://balsamiq.com/blog/2008/08/05/startup-marketing-advice...
FYI for those interested, this is a very good read.
http://balsamiq.com/blog/2008/08/05/startup-marketing-advice...
In my case I submitted my simple online timer to Lifehacker Australia, on a hunch that it would feed through to the US site. It worked, but I wouldn't know if it would work again, and I don't know if they write about iphone apps.
I didn't submit it to unaffiliated smaller blogs simply because it wasn't really a business and after the lifehacker article I was happy enough.
You should read the blog of the Balsamiq mockup software creator. He has a great post - I forget where, I'm afraid - about exactly how and what he wrote to bloggers when he was launching.
I didn't submit it to unaffiliated smaller blogs simply because it wasn't really a business and after the lifehacker article I was happy enough.
You should read the blog of the Balsamiq mockup software creator. He has a great post - I forget where, I'm afraid - about exactly how and what he wrote to bloggers when he was launching.
I would not bother with the busy, big bloggers - they will not give you the time of day unless you have a big announcement. My suggestion to get them to notice you:
Large blogs feed off of small blogs, its the nature of the blogsphere. What you need to do is determine what blogs you feel like would make the most impact for your business, and dive into where they source their stories. Then, reach out to THOSE sources for stories, exclusives, pre-release testing material, etc. Those are the sources larger blogs trust and feed off of - not only are you bound to get coverage on the smaller more niche blog, but the larger ones will pick up the review and will most likely post - bang - 2 for one.
Once you are on the big boys' radar, then reach out with extra/exclusive content to really nail it home...wash, rinse, and repeat across the blog-o-sphere
There are many ways to really dig deep to find the influencers in any given space - happy to continue the dialogue via email [email protected]
Large blogs feed off of small blogs, its the nature of the blogsphere. What you need to do is determine what blogs you feel like would make the most impact for your business, and dive into where they source their stories. Then, reach out to THOSE sources for stories, exclusives, pre-release testing material, etc. Those are the sources larger blogs trust and feed off of - not only are you bound to get coverage on the smaller more niche blog, but the larger ones will pick up the review and will most likely post - bang - 2 for one.
Once you are on the big boys' radar, then reach out with extra/exclusive content to really nail it home...wash, rinse, and repeat across the blog-o-sphere
There are many ways to really dig deep to find the influencers in any given space - happy to continue the dialogue via email [email protected]
Wow, cool. I had one of those card scanners, but they always end up being more work and I end up never using it. Can't wait to try this out.
same, shoot me an email at [email protected]
One thing that's always frustrated me about these sort of apps is that I don't actually want every business card I pick up at a conference to become a contact. I want to collect the information electronically, but I don't want to stuff my contacts with people I'm not regularly contacting.
Akalsey, that's a perfect use case for CardMunch.
A little back story: One of our alpha user complained about this so much that we decided to delay our schedule to re-write CardMunch. We spent bulk of that time re-writing, and replicating the entire Apple address book framework.
What that enabled us to do is to create a completely separate address book from your personal address book. All of your business cards can go to either address books, and to switch between the two, it's just flip of a button. You won't have to worry about random business contact popping up in your personal address book.
I know it sounds a bit salesy, but the feature is really awesome. I'm glad we decided to implement it. I have about 800 contacts in my CardMunch address book for testing purposes, I would hate to put these in my personal address book.
A little back story: One of our alpha user complained about this so much that we decided to delay our schedule to re-write CardMunch. We spent bulk of that time re-writing, and replicating the entire Apple address book framework.
What that enabled us to do is to create a completely separate address book from your personal address book. All of your business cards can go to either address books, and to switch between the two, it's just flip of a button. You won't have to worry about random business contact popping up in your personal address book.
I know it sounds a bit salesy, but the feature is really awesome. I'm glad we decided to implement it. I have about 800 contacts in my CardMunch address book for testing purposes, I would hate to put these in my personal address book.
When you say "All of your business cards can go to either..." is that what you mean or do you mean "Each of your business cards can go to either..."?
I imagine there's a subset of each that should be moved from one to the other.
Also - with you mapping my social/business network as I create it I'd be concerned about your intended uses of the data you collect. Certainly you could have your own LinkedIn/Facebook style connection graph built pretty quickly. Then what?
I imagine there's a subset of each that should be moved from one to the other.
Also - with you mapping my social/business network as I create it I'd be concerned about your intended uses of the data you collect. Certainly you could have your own LinkedIn/Facebook style connection graph built pretty quickly. Then what?
pdebruic, apologize for my rushed comment. Yes, you can easily move individual cards from one to another, it's very flexible.
I think we're all spooked by the facebook fiascos lately. But if we all take a step back, businesses similar to CardMunch have existed for years, just check out CloudContact, CardScan, Shoeboxed...
I think we're all spooked by the facebook fiascos lately. But if we all take a step back, businesses similar to CardMunch have existed for years, just check out CloudContact, CardScan, Shoeboxed...
ok, put this story in your PR as well. Stories good, features boring.
Here's a test you can do: tell your stories to 5 people who agree to listen for 20 minutes, and have a friend make notes on which stories/angles these people seem to find interesting. Then focus your story on these interesting stories.
Also: rewrite them a few times. You can usertest your stories.
Also: if you can place yourself within a bigger story, that's perfect for the press. Keep an eye out for bigger stories you might fit in.
Here's a test you can do: tell your stories to 5 people who agree to listen for 20 minutes, and have a friend make notes on which stories/angles these people seem to find interesting. Then focus your story on these interesting stories.
Also: rewrite them a few times. You can usertest your stories.
Also: if you can place yourself within a bigger story, that's perfect for the press. Keep an eye out for bigger stories you might fit in.
Very good ideas petervandijck. I like the idea of user testing the stories. I want to give this a shot.
Interesting angle on the business card problem. Looking forward to seeing this after release.
In terms of advice, how about buying adspace or sites like Free-App-A-Day?
In terms of advice, how about buying adspace or sites like Free-App-A-Day?
A little background. We are days away from launching www.cardmunch.com, a dead-simple way to transcribe business cards on mobile device with unbelievable accuracy(launch pending AppStore approval). Until recently most of our efforts has gone into building the product over launch marketing. Now I find that being small and new really work against you when trying to get the attention of the big blogs.
Would you mind sharing some of your product launch strategies / experiences? There seem to be so much that you can do to market a new product. In your opinion, which approach is worth the time and effort and how would you prioritize it over other approaches? What are some of the time sink that I should definitely avoid? And any out-of-the-box ideas that ended up working out really well for you?
Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
P.s. If any HN readers has a pile of business cards that they would like to get the contacts right on their phone, shoot me an email at [email protected]. I'd be happy to give you a sneak peek of what are we doing.