Hey all, I have a product (specifically a startup website) that is totally new and there has been nothing similar to it before. [The site is chilledlime.com] My simple question: How should I promote it? How should I get people to sign up to the mailing list? (I only get 1-2 users per day to sign up) Maybe PPC (I just got 100$ for it ), Facebook, Twitter (Already got 110 followers) and guest posts (already pitched a few bigger [alexa <10,000] blogs -> got 50-60 signups a day). A new thing that struck to my mind is infographics: 1.) Making an cool and interesting infographic 2.) Getting it featured at a big blog/social bookmarking site with a link to my actual startup 3.) Getting tons of not so targeted traffic What do you think? Is it worth it? What should I do? Thanks in advance. Regards, Akos
Maybe you should start a whisper about it on a forums? Facebook is a good social media for talk more people about it. Do you wonder about a banner on a most-vieved web portal?
Have you seen the Idea Diffusion Curve (search Google images if you haven't)? Basically, before you market this to the masses, you should get your service/product into the hands of people who are actively looking for new stuff (the innovators and early adopters). They're the ones who will try your stuff and spread the word about it if it's remarkable enough. That said, a couple of quick ideas: 1. Attend a live debate/conference in this niche. Network with people there and share your idea with them. They're already into debates so you all you need to do is show them the benefits of doing it online. 2. Make it clearer what your website actually does. I watched the vid on your site, and all it does is make a bunch of unsubstantiated claims. "See results visually". Okay, what does that even mean? I don't have a clear idea why I should spend my time on your website. If I liked debates, I'm already doing live debates or debating with people in online forums? Why should I go use your service? Create a video of the actually debate process. Show them proof, don't just make claims. Confusion is not your friend. 3. Target a narrow demographic or geographic area. This is the sort of site (like Facebook) that works better the more people are using it. Facebook was able to grow because it was first ONLY allowed to Harvard students. They didn't even allow anyone else to sign up. Once people saw that all their friends were using Facebook (and not just a bunch of strangers) they wanted to use it as well. Then Facebook expanded to other colleges in that area and so forth. This is the sort of thing you need to do. You can: (a) Pick one city/community and get as many people from there to join as you can. It'll be easier for word of mouth to spread between them since they're already friends (also easier to get those initial debates going). (b) Pick one debate topic (religion, for example) and get as many people who are interested in that topic to join and start debate. The idea is get a group of people who are familiar with eachother (or a familiar subject) to start talking. Create a close-knit initial community (like what Harvard was to Facebook) and then expand from there.
When you are talking about having a new product on line, the first question I have is have you done your market research? Are you leading with a product and then hoping to build an audience second? Where does your target market hand out? That's where I would start.
"How should I get people..." - Hmmm... I believe that there would be more correct to say "How can Iinterest them?"
Which goes right back to the original question of how did you come up with your product. Was it something that people were wanting, is there a need for it, or were you just creating a product and HOPING that people would be interested in it.?
This worth emphasizing. CompensationLawyers is right. If you see my post again, I say that your product has to be remarkable. Everything I suggested (and any other strategies you come up with) is pointless if there isn't already people who are frustrated with the lack of formal online debates. Trying to convince people who don't want your solution to use it is a tough, tough game. Most people don't have enough time or money to do that. Step number 1 is always to create a remarkable product that eases a fear or frustration people have.
Thanks again for the solid tips! UPDATE: Just tweaked the landing page a bit! New headline and description text! What do you think of it?
"No, because customers don't know what they want until we've shown them." ~ Steve Jobs [Anyway, thanks for the useful replies. They help alot. ]
PPC is great to try out if a new product can be profitable, and from there amend it to suit based on the reaction of the users