The Importance of Early Marketing: Lessons from a Failed Launch and a Successful Comeback
If you are just starting out, it can be difficult to get the word out there about your product.
Often times it so happens that you are so focussed on building that you keep marketing for later. But you should know that if your product doesn’t reach the market effeciently, no matter how good your product is, it is bound to fail!
In 2022, my co-founder and I experienced this firsthand. We built a helpdesk platform for D2C brands, a market that was booming with investment and innovation. Despite the potential, our platform failed to generate any revenue. The reason? We neglected marketing.
Our helpdesk software was designed to create support tickets from all social media channels and support emails. Although it was a great idea, we were so engrossed in perfecting the product that we postponed marketing until we believed the product was "good enough." The reality is, a product is never perfect, and that's why the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) exists. An MVP is a product with minimal features that you launch to validate your idea in the market. Unfortunately, we didn't grasp the importance of an MVP.
Learning from this failure, we approached our next venture, ProductLogz, a feedback tracking software, with a different strategy. We understood that marketing should start even before the product launch. Here's how we did it:
Defining Customer Personas: We began by creating customer personas—semi-fictional characters representing our target customers. These personas helped us understand the habits, pain points, and goals of our potential users. Ideally, your product should address the pain points identified in your customer personas.
Identifying Hangouts: We identified where these personas typically spent their time, whether offline (cafes, events) or online (social media, forums, communities). This helped us locate and engage with our target audience effectively.
Customer Validation: We reached out to potential customers, engaging them in conversations to validate our problem and solution hypotheses. By asking open-ended questions, we ensured that the pain points we identified matched the real-world experiences of our potential users.
Starting Marketing Early: With validated problems and solutions, we knew we had a viable product. From this point, our marketing activities began in earnest, ensuring that we built awareness and interest well before the official launch.
Detailed Marketing Activities:
Launching Early on AppSumo: AppSumo is a popular platform for launching new software products to an enthusiastic early adopter audience. By launching on AppSumo, we gained valuable feedback, initial users, significant exposure and our early revenue as well.
Listing on Directories: We listed ProductLogz on various software directories and review sites like Capterra, G2, Uneed List and Beta List. These platforms provided credibility and helped potential customers discover our product. It also helped us good backlinks. Here is a list of directories with good DR that you can list on.
Writing Knowledge Base Articles: We created comprehensive knowledge base articles that explained how to use ProductLogz effectively. This not only helped our users but also improved our SEO, making it easier for potential customers to find us through search engines.
Doing SEO: We implemented a robust SEO strategy, focusing on relevant keywords related to feedback tracking and user engagement. By optimizing our website and content, we improved our search engine rankings, driving organic traffic to our site. This is still a work in progress but i am glad I started as soon as we launched. Had I known early about the benefits of SEO, I would have started SEO even before launching
Posting on Social Media Platforms: We actively posted on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. I kept sharing product updates, challenges & our journey on building Productlogz. It helped us build a community around Productlogz .
Engaging with Reddit Communities: We participated in relevant Reddit communities, sharing our journey, offering insights, and getting feedback. I had no idea how Reddit can be a powerful platform for reaching niche audiences and getting honest opinions about your product.
In conclusion, our initial failure taught us the vital lesson that marketing should not be an afterthought. By integrating marketing from the ideation phase and leveraging platforms like AppSumo, software directories, and social media, we were able to successfully launch ProductLogz.
Remember, the key steps include defining customer personas, identifying their hangouts, validating your ideas with real customers, and starting your marketing efforts early. This comprehensive approach ensures that your product reaches the right audience and gains the traction it deserves.