In recent weeks, I’ve offered advice on preparing for a product launch, and perhaps today’s installment should have come first. Then again, you’d be surprised how many young companies plan a launch event without fully setting objectives for the outcome.
That’s right: ready, fire, aim. If you build it. Hey, World look at me! The metaphor doesn’t really matter; the outcome is all the same. Too often, young companies invest the time, energy, and money to announce a product to the market without a clear, measurable objective. Without an objective, there’s no strategy. Without a strategy, there are no tactics in place to achieve expected results, even when those results are no more articulated than “we want a successful launch.”
While a great demonstration, pithy press release, and crisp elevator pitch are essential for any product launch event, the No. 1 most important thing for any product launch: focus on what you want. At the risk of sounding like self-help pabulum, only then can you achieve it.
Do you want coverage in select publications? Beta test candidates? Lighthouse customers? Meetings with venture capitalists? A partnership with a leading IT vendor?
Pick one objective, maybe two. Make sure the objective is measurable. Then focus your launch activities on achieving that objective. If the goal is to set meetings with investors, which firms will you target? What’s the pitch? Is “success” defined by one meeting or 10? Pick a target so that you know what you’re aiming for.
It’s not enough, though, to know what you’re going after and having a strategy to get it. What happens when you achieve the goal? Are you prepared for follow up? Setting up five VC meetings is well and good, but not if you don’t have a solid investment pitch ready.
Steve Larsen, CEO of Krugle, tells the story of his company’s objective for DEMO 06: to attract 3,000 beta customers though press and blogger outreach. After the first day of the event, the company had received more than 7,000 requests via its Web site. By the end of the week, that number had grown to more than 30,000. There was just one hitch: Krugle hadn’t set up a way to communicate with 30,000 would-be beta testers. The moral of the story: be prepared for what happens next when you achieve or exceed your goal.
No matter what you set as an objective, make sure the whole team is focused on it. It’s easy at an event like DEMO to be distracted by a wealth of opportunity, and it is certainly important to take advantage of appropriate opportunities as they arise. But no company, no matter how big or small, has infinite resources. Know what you are there to accomplish and keep your eyes on the prize.
