Rand Fishkin — Why Launches Fail (Turing Fest 2018)

More than ever before, marketers are launching things — content, tools, resources, products — and being held responsible for how/whether they resonate with customers and earn the amplification required to perform. But this is hard. Really, really hard. Most of the projects that launch, fail. What separates the wheat from the chaff isn't just the quality of what's built, but the process behind it. In this presentation, Rand will present examples of dismal failures and skyrocketing successes, and dive into what separates the two. You'll learn how anyone can make a launch perform better, and benefit from the power of being "new."

Transcript

1. Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO Why Launches Fail How creators and marketers can launch projects that hit their goals and produce long-term, positive impact
2. Marketing Launches Can Include: New Content (blog posts, guides, whitepapers, etc) New Product Offerings (physical, digital, services) New Announcements (people/biz/news-related) New Campaigns (targeting new audiences, telling a new story, shifting a brand’s message, etc)
3. Yup.
4. Yeah.
5. Uh huh.
6. Sure.
7. Definitely.
8. Obviously.
9. Why Launches Matter
10. What’s New > What’s Best Via Why New Things Make Us Feel So Good
11. Launch Headlines Linger Long After Nuance is Forgotten
12. Great Launches Earn Future Investment It may be ridiculous, but many teams will stick with a marketer who gets them this, even if post-launch metrics suck
13. So Why Do Most Launches Fail?
14. Misaligned Expectations #1
15. What a Launch… Get in front of a new audience Tell the story of the launch (aka position & brand) Earn amplification from those who share new things Drive those who have interest to take action Can Do: Cannot Do: Create an audience from nothing Control the story Earn amplification from anyone/everyone Create or force demand
16. Don’t Tie Your Expectations to Outliers No. No. No.
17. 1. What are the Business Goals of the Launch? 2. What Numbers Will Be Used to Measure? 3. What are the Numerical Targets? 4. What’s the Launch Plan? 5. What Do we Do if We Miss Our Targets?
18. Execs, Creators, & Marketers Should All Agree On These Before the Build Process: Via SparkToro
19. Via Trending
20. Via Trending 5,000+ visitors in the first week 2,000 Oauths in first week
21. Via Trending Sparktoro.com/sparkscore
22. Via Trending Sparktoro.com/sparkscore
23. Launches Should, Ideally, Boost Your Site’s “New Normal” Launch of Trending Blog Posts Open Sourced Funding Docs (went hot on HN) New normals (~2X old normals) SparkScore
24. An Unhealthy Team Dynamic #2
25. The Best Teams: Are made up of the smartest people Work hard and consistently meet deadlines Have vast knowledge & deep experience Are relentless in their pursuit of perfection
26. Wrong.
27. The Best Teams: Feel comfortable crying in front of each other Know they won’t be judged harshly or unfairly by their fellow teammates Bolster each other’s weaknesses + compound strengths Are made up of diverse people who share core values
28. Care Personally; Challenge Directly Via Radical Candor
29. “I’m scared to make a mistake.” “If something goes wrong, I need someone to blame.” “I’d better stay quiet or they’ll think I’m not a team player.” “No one except the HIPPO believes this’ll work.”
30. “People here get rewarded for openly admitting weaknesses.” “If I mess up, my team will help me learn how to improve.” “I should speak up so my concerns can be addressed.” “We all believe in this product, and in each other.”
31. Psychological Safety Via What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team
32. Support Growth. Don’t Reward Wangrods. Via Lost and Founder (img credit: Dawn Shepard)
33. Diversity Is Undeniably Correlated w/ Performance Via McKinsey
34. It’s Uncomfortable: That’s Why It Works Via HBR
35. Great Teams Share What ideals, in people & practices, do we aspire to, hire for, and reward? What would we refuse to do, even if it brought us far greater financial success? Core Values & Beliefs Who should we hire/promote? What qualities or actions would cause us to not hire (or fire) someone? What kind of workplace do we want to create?
36. The Wrong Process #3
37. The Traditional Launch Execs have an idea Creators build the idea Marketers launch the idea 1) 2) 3) Success is based on whether the idea hits the execs’ goals 4)
38. This Process Doesn’t Always Fail… Via ProductHabits
39. Many BigCo Launches Work This Way Via ProductHabits
40. But… It’s Definitely Not Right For Everyone
41. The MVP Process Launch Creators identify a market problem Creators design+build a solution that requires the least amount of time and expense Creators launch the solution and iterate until it’s good enough to scale (product/market fit) 1) 2) 3) Marketers and product folks are hired to continue iterating and promoting 4)
42. This Process Can Be Awesome If… Via RivalIQ in 2014 You’re launching a new company to an early- adopter audience
43. But MVPs Can Harm Brand Reputation
44. An Alternative: The Exceptional, Viable Product Via Lost and Founder (img credit: Dawn Shepard)
45. The EVP Process Launch Execs identify a market problem Marketers, creators, customers, & execs agree on the problem ! product story that resonates Creators design+build an MVP solution 1) 2) 3) Creators + marketers show customers a private beta, iterating until they’re thrilled w/ the product 4) Once customers are ecstatic, marketers proceed with the public launch 5)
46. This Process Can Be Adapted for Tiny Teams, Startups, & Small Projects Too: Identify the problem your launch solves Craft the problem ! product story that resonates Build a private MVP; show to a limited audience 1) 2) 3) Iterate until your audience loves it 4) Once folks are ecstatic, launch publicly & recruit your beta testers to help amplify 5)
47. This is Probably Overkill if You Have a Big, Well-Oiled Machine Via ProductHabits
48. But for Many Scaling & Mid-Size Organizations, It’s Just Right Via Astrobiology’s “Goldilocks Zone”
49. Choose the Right One For Your Launch: Traditional MVP EVP Big brand Large marketing team w/ historic success Relatively unknown brand A poor initial reception won’t harm long-term prospects Mid-size brand, or well-followed newco Customer base that will judge quickly/harshly
50. Failure to Reach the Target Audience #4
51. For Most Organizations, Reaching Your Audience Directly is Very Difficult Hmm… I don’t have a single, direct connection in this field.
52. Even With a Huge Publishing Platform, Most of Your Audience Will Ignore Your Launches 3.4mm visits, but we struggled to get 10K people (0.29%) to check out a new product launch
53. Indirect is the Way to Go, & Launches Are a Perfect Match for That Target Audience Publications + People Your Audience Pays Attention To Your Organization Customers Mainstream News You Your Team Your Network Podcasts Blogs Twitter Accounts Instagrammers YouTube Channels Print Media Events Potential Customers Influencers of Your Audience Get the launch in front of these In order to reach these Potential Partners, Investors, Acquirers, etc.
54. But, PR, Outreach, & Influencer Marketing Are Hard… for Three Big Reasons: Discovering the right publications, people, & sources Selecting the right targets for your pitch Crafting a message that earns amplification 1) 2) 3)
55. Discovering the Right Sources Manual, time- consuming, & (unfortunately) necessary
56. Selecting Good Targets Using Google’s Tools>Past Year + Site: command can help you ID the right people
57. Earning Amplification Don’t overly focus on how you craft your outreach emails + messaging. Via Moz
58. Earning Amplification Instead, improve the launch story to match the target’s goals. Via Twitter
59. Have a great answer to the question: Who Will Help Amplify This and Why? BEFORE you build. BEFORE you launch. BEFORE you reach out.
60. Your Launch Lacks a Compelling Story #5
61. Stories Build Memories Far Better Than Features or Benefits Via Quartz
62. Great Stories Make Great Launches Settings & Characters Tension & Conflict Climax Resolution New Normal
63. Before, Things Were Like This It W as a Problem Our Launch is the Solution Things Are Better N ow Here’s How Most Launches Easily Fit This Model
64. Features. Meh. Via UTires
65. Benefits > Features. Meh. Via AdsOfTheWorld
66. Emotions > Benefits > Features Via Ohio.com
67. Before, Things Were Like This It W as a Problem Our Launch is the Solution Things Are Better N ow Here’s How The problem triggers a negative emotion The resolution triggers a positive emotion
68. Via Twitter
69. Via Snap40
70. Via GNews
71. Before, Things Were Like This It W as a Problem Our Launch is the Solution Things Are Better N ow Here’s How We needed money to scale our solution We now have the money to proceed
72. Before, Things Were Like This It W as a Problem Our Launch is the Solution Things Are Better N ow Here’s How People are suffering and dying needlessly Snap40’s device can save lives
73. Before, Things Were Like This It W as a Problem Our Launch is the Solution Things Are Better N ow Here’s How My friend died because doctors couldn’t effectively monitor her condition. Snap40’s device would have saved her life
74. Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO Thank You!