Following up on the great reponse to “yesterday’s Question of the Day”:http://www.onedegree.ca/2006/08/13/newsletter-or-blog, here is today’s QotD:
Would you do a teaser campaign for a site that is not yet launched (or fully populated), and if so, why?
Add you opinions below…
This was a common practice by monied marketing departments of dot-coms in the late 90’s. Teaser campaigns led to a promo page where they would collect email addresses of visitors who wished to be advised of the launch, often offering free stuff and early-bird discounts.
These days, a promo page can be a lot more impressive and effective given the number of tools at our disposal. And your SEO results start bubbling up earlier.
I’ve worked with startups who have requested a pre-launch campaign for a number of good reasons: to demonstrate demand for financiers; because they have a psychological need for an indication they’re (finally) in business; to speed up site decision-making and ensure a timely launch; to prove there’s a good reason to keep paying me.
The latter is always the best motivation for me.
Teaser campaigns are a great idea but nowadays there is so much more you can do. Using our new start-up http://www.TheCommonFan.com as an example, we started a blog that will chronicle our progress from initial concept to launch for the upcoming hockey season. Blogging is a great way to get your potential audience involved early and gather feedback in the process. Along the way we’ve been able to communicate with & link to other hockey related websites as well as gather email addresses of those interested in being contacted when we launch. This strategy is going to give us the momentum we need to be successful considering our small window of opportunity from formal launch in September to the start of the NHL season weeks later. Along the way we’re able to communicate with & link to other hockey related websites as well as gather email addresses of interested parties for our launch announcement.