Marketing - Latest Comments

Re: Does Page Rank matter?

EricFriedman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:57:07 -0000

Thanks - I like David's stuff and I will check it out.

Re: Another way to connect

gogirl123 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:06:11 -0000

Interesting post. I have stumbled this for my friends. Hope others find it as interesting as I did.

Re: Does Page Rank matter?

UberAkash — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:19:07 -0000

Hi Eric thanks for the prompt reply you are right on this point that the new mediums of measuring specifically are too new but it takes time to understand anything thats evolving and for that I recommend you to read this post from David Berkowitz he has around 100 ways to measure performance of the social sphere http://www.marketersstudio.com/2009/11/100-ways...
and I am sure its going to take time to figure out each one of them but they would be of great help in the coming future as many can get you straight figures.

Re: Does Page Rank matter?

EricFriedman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:56:02 -0000

I think people like to circle around a number and benchmark their work. The problem is that its hard to quantify these other new mediums because some are too new, some have rel=no follow, and some are bad neighborhoods.

Re: Does Page Rank matter?

UberAkash — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:38:33 -0000

Hi Eric thanks for sharing this post, looks like the search engine sphere has been going through a changing face since the last 6-8 months as most search engines are now embracing social stuff from big websites like twitter and Facebook.
I think this change has paved the way for 2 schools of thinking first one is of the SEO guys who still believe in the technical way of doing it and the only proof of a successful campaign for them is high page rank.But on the other side the people who are into social media measure success with the buzz they have created among there targeted peers.
So Google page rank is important but we also can't deny the social impact on search.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

EricFriedman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:10:48 -0000

thanks I will check it out

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

vipulshaily — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:09:31 -0000

It make more sense in web based product, we also adopted this strategy, it looked natural/obvious to us. I wrote a blog post after reading this
http://weddew.com/blog/2009/11/launching-strate...

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

AdamSinger — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:45:02 -0000

This is a great post - classic Marketing.fm stuff. Concise and impactful!

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

glen_NIXTY — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:15:24 -0000

We at NIXTY couldn't agree with you more. The soft launch idea and ongoing iteration is much better than a Hollywood launch with steep declines in users. This is even more true if your launch doesn't go so well and you end up alienating a lot of potential users.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

Glen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:13:57 -0000

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

EricFriedman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:44:43 -0000

I actually think what they are doing is the perfect example. If they
"launched" their product it would be totally different in 3-6 months. I
think they have opened the doors (soft launched) and are getting
usage\feedback\users and then will do the press cycle later. You don't want
to waste your big press moments with a product that will change.

Its obviously different for every company, and the semantics can get you
dizzy, but the overall point I think we agree on is that getting people on a
service is always better than building it without many users for 18 months.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

jwegener — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:40:12 -0000

I wasn't able to attend the event, but in general I don't know if I agree 100% with this.

Arguably one of the hardest parts of product development is getting attention for your product. It's all nice and well to suggest that if you simply make a great product, it'll sell itself. But is that necessarily mutually exclusive from doing formal product launches?

Certainly things like iPhone apps live or die by their ability to generate press and buzz. Successful product launches are key. I don't think that having a product launch excludes you from *properly developing* a product and I think Yipit is an example of that.

I really like Vinny and Jim's strategy -- a large but closed beta. They're iteratively improving the product and they'll know when it's time to launch the product when the usage and feedback levels meet their criteria. Until then, they're tinkering with it to get the formula right. Once it's right, they'll launch and hopefully get some press and WoM marketing. They'll have a heck of a better chance of capitalizing on that launch buzz because they're made sure the product is right. And similarly, they'll have a better chance of getting buzz if they do an actual product launch.

Just my 2cents!

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

spencerfry — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:59 -0000

Also like the idea of decoupling product and marketing launches.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

spencerfry — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:37 -0000

I love the idea of never launching and just iterating. This will still leave you room to have marketing announcements, etc., as Google does and others.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

EricFriedman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:51:01 -0000

It is definitely very important

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

joesiewert — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:48:59 -0000

That last line about never preventing someone from getting on the system right now reminds me of Fred's post on instant gratification the other day (http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/11/the-power-of-in...). Definitely important to always be on and always improving.

Re: Google Apps Connector For BES

EricFriedman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:26:22 -0000

Do you have customers using this yet?

Re: Google Apps Connector For BES

facebook-1434391823 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:24:30 -0000

We're doing this also.

http://blog.myitdepartment.net/?p=82

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

EricFriedman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:53:43 -0000

If you are not iterating on feedback - its feature bloat.

The event went really well and it was great to hear from Steve in person.
Hoping to share the video post in the next few days as it came out really
well.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

chikkman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:51:32 -0000

Nice post, Eric. Sounded like a great event. Wish I was able to attend.

Agree the focus should be almost entirely on getting people to use your product and getting their feedback. Everything else is a distraction.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

EricFriedman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:32:37 -0000

I think its a good approach

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

ADstruc — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:30:05 -0000

Great point, Eric. We are thinking the same setup for our "launch" or "iteration" of our online marketplace for outdoor advertising.

John
ADstruc
www.adstruc.com

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

EricFriedman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:12:20 -0000

Yes.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

jonsteinberg — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:10:14 -0000

Or you could phrase it as "launch continually" or launch every day

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

EricFriedman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:57:33 -0000

This might be 50% psychology, because you do need "ship dates", but I still
like it.