Infectious

Demos that Stick!

You're looking to change the world. But, you need to get people to take notice and inspire them into telling others. Whether you're talking at TechCrunch, DEMO, to investors or customers you need a demo that sticks.

If you're looking for basic tactics behind great demos you'll want to read GuyKawasaki's blog, 'How to be A Demo God' or Michael Arrington's TechCrunch post, 'How to Demo your Startup'.

But a great demo is more than just tactics, it's an artform that when done well leaves your audience in awe. Don't get me wrong, tactics are incredibly important. In fact, one of the most important tactics is often screwed up. Namely, people do the demo last when it should be done upfront. Jeff Bonforte outlines some great thoughts on the necessities of doing a demo upfront on his blog post, 'Boom, Demo First'.

But to really reach your audience, your idea needs to stick. With this in mind, I'd suggest taking a read of Made to Stick because the same principles Chip and Dan Heath discuss apply to demoing your product. Here are their 6 principles:

PRINCIPLE 1: SIMPLICITY - How do you find the essential core of your ideas?

“It’s hard to make ideas stick in a noisy, unpredictable, chaotic environment. If we’re to succeed, the first step is this: Be simple. Not simple in terms of ‘dumbing down’ or ’sound bites.’ What we mean by ’simple’ is finding the core of the idea. ‘Finding the core’ means stripping an idea down to its most critical essence.” (pgs. 27, 28)

PRINCIPLE 2: UNEXPECTEDNESS - How do you get our audience to pay attention to our ideas, and how do you maintain their interest when you need time to get the ideas across?

“The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern. Humans adapt incredibly quickly to consistent patterns. Figure out what is counterintuitive about the message-i.e., What are the unexpected implications of your core message? Communicate your message in a way that breaks your audiences’ guessing machines.” (pgs. 64, 72)

PRINCIPLE 3: CONCRETENESS - How do you make your ideas clear?  

“Abstraction makes it harder to understand an idea and to remember it. It also makes it harder to coordinate our activities with others, who may interpret the abstraction in very different ways. Concreteness helps us avoid these problems.” (pg. 100)

PRINCIPLE 4: CREDIBILITY - How do you make people believe your ideas?

“How do we get people to believe our ideas? We’ve got to find a source of credibility to draw on. A person’s knowledge of details is often a good proxy for her expertise. Think of how a history buff can quickly establish her credibility by telling an interesting Civil War anecdote. But concrete details don’t just lend credibility to the authorities who provide them; they lend credibility to the idea itself.” (pgs. 138, 163)

PRINCIPLE 5: EMOTIONS - How do you get people to care about your ideas?

“How can we make people care about our ideas? We get them to take off their Analytical Hats. We create empathy for specific individuals. We show how our ideas are associated with things that people already care about. We appeal to their self-interest, but we also appeal to their identities-not only to the people they are right now but also to the people they would like to be.” (pg. 203)

PRINCIPLE 6: STORIES - How do you get people to act on your ideas?

“A story is powerful because it provides the context missing from abstract prose. This is the role that stories play-putting knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day existence. Stories are almost always CONCRETE. Most of them have EMOTIONAL and UNEXPECTED elements. The hardest part of using stories effectively is make sure they’re SIMPLE-that they reflect your core message. It’s not enough to tell a great story; the story has to reflect your agenda.” (pgs. 214, 237)

So, now all you have to do is pull all of these principles together;) If you're looking for someone who has mastered the skill look at some of the demo's by Steve Jobs...a master in my mind. Here is his demo of the IPhone (IPod capabilities) at MacWorld. Notice how he captures his audience by sticking to most of these principles.

What's your distribution, distribution, distribution?

You've heard the age old marketing adage from brick and mortar entrepreneurs that getting traffic is about location, location and location. Well, getting web traffic is about distribution, distribution and distribution. So what product strategies make a difference? Make sure you have one of these product distribution accelerators:

1. A viral product that turns 1 user into 1+ additional users
2. A product whose SEO content benefits from usage thus driving users from organic search
3. A product where you can buy traffic (SEM) with a quick return...again driving users from search
4. A product widget that is valuable to publishers and drives awareness or users back to your site

There are some products on the web that have developed significant amounts of traffic without one of theses element...growing through word of mouth...but these cases have become extremely difficult in an environment with so much noise. What's been most effective for your product?

Did you notice? Some Web Lead Gen isn't Slimy Anymore...

If you are like me and millions of other internet users you've receive a ton of spam from services like Myluvcrush.com. It starts with an e-mail that tells you "There are (4) people who have a crush on you. Click here to find out who". The service then takes you through a series of tactics that strips you of your name and cell phone #...all while charging your cell phone bill $9.99/month for a service you really never understood you were buying. Going through the process feels and is slimy.

Slimy Lead Gen Tactics were the Norm

Many online services have survived on these debatable tactics for a long time because it was enough to just bring consumers to the buyer. The problem with pure traffic arbitrage models, though, is that the focus of the solution isn't on what's best for the user. Instead, the affiliate focuses on what's best for themselves...even to the detriment of the service provider.

New Breed of Lead Gen delivers to the Whole Value Chain

Over the past few years I've seen the emergence of several Web 2.0 lead gen players that deliver value to the whole value chain (user, affiliate and service provider). The sites aren't the usual hit and run sites. They are well thought out services that strive for repeat users by building trust. In essence, these sites have added efficiency to the matching of consumer and companies by focusing on building real services for consumer. Here are a few examples:

Mint.com
Mint has built an online Quicken competitor that provides suggestions on financial services based on your actual household spending, saving and investment habits. Their design is slick and intuitive. Most interestingly, the lead gen is a component but not the primary objective of the service.

Billshrink.com
Billshrink is an online personalized financial advice engine for mobile phone and credit card service. By linking it to your services you get feedback telling you if there are less expensive alternatives. Again, simplified information for the consumer that can drive decisions. Billshrink gets paid to enable the decision.

In the end, I believe services like Mint and Billshrink are changing the face of lead gen and will be the ones that survive. I'd be interested in any thoughts you have in this area.

Dave McClure's Top Lesson on Startup Marketing Spends

Last week I had Dave McClure speak to an entrepreneur round table that's attended by several of the entrepreneurs I've worked with over the past year. I asked Dave to touch on his talk Startup Metrics for Pirates because it underscores my fundamental belief that product teams need to be data driven in their decision making. In other words, ‘Be an Astronomer and not an Astrologer’ when it comes to product and marketing decisions.

This talk led to a discussion on how Startups should spend their precious capital in acquiring traffic during the earliest stages. What was obvious was that entrepreneurs should exhaust all free forms of publicity (i.e. blogs, social media, PR, SEO). What should not be overlooked, though, are marketing spends for things like search engine marketing...if executed in the right way. Here were his basic thoughts on how startups should execute on their initial marketing spends:

Small Spends until the Product Doesn’t Suck

Don’t try to make a big marketing splash on day 1. Take a small amount of capital and acquire users to make sure your product doesn’t suck (>=6 out of 10). Continue the same process until users are happy with the experience (>=8 out of 10).  

Set Goals and Observe your Metrics

Every marketing spend should be benchmarked against a common set of metrics. Make sure your product is set up to measure your goals! Set goals before each spend and try to understand why the metrics were or were not achieved after each campaign.

Correct your Mistakes Before Additional Marketing Spends

If you don’t achieve your goals figure out why! Look at your data and see where users drop off. Hypothesize and change your product to test your hypothesis.

Don't Increase Spends until the Product is Good

Don't spend more on each iteration until the product is Good (>=8 out of 10). Once you get to that point you know users will will enjoy the experience and may recommend it to others.

*For as little as $1k per month you may be able to achieve meaningful results using this method.

Startup Metrics for Pirates: AARRR! (Startonomics SF 2008)

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Startup Marketing -- Getting off the Ground Floor

*These slides were featured on Slideshare's homepage!

Marketing a startup is HARD, even when the product is brilliant. You need all the planets to align. I recently pulled together my thoughts...a stream of conscious of key strategies and methods based on my own experiences. Real marketing gurus might have a lot to add. In fact, my intent behind sharing is to start a dialogue with interested marketing gurus (which I don't pretend to be). If the following slides elicit thoughts I'd love to hear from you. 

Startup Marketing

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