April 27, 2004 | View Comments (27) | Category: Web Business
Summary: When starting something new, should you try to generate hype or just wait for the release?
Let's pretend Scrivs and some others were going to start a company. They were very optimistic about this company, as is the case with anyone starting a company. They wanted to develop a marketing plan that didn't necessarily focus on the greatest exposure, but more on the hype surrounding the services offered. Do they send out press releases? Or do they just hope that the 2,000+ daily readers here buy the services so that they can runoff stinking rich (not likely, but cool thought)?
People are starting to use the Web more and watch TV less. This has paved the way for new forms of marketing that many individuals and companies are utilizing. Time to look at hype as a form of advertising.
Nick Denton seems to be the master of hype. He has the ability to generate so much hype for his sites that when a new one is launched it becomes instantly popular. Denton also seems to have the uncanny ability to get major offline publications to talk about his sites. How can the little people do this?
Blogs have this ability to spread information at the speed of light. Zeldman talks about a redesign, the community is abuzz. Kottke mentions Kinja every once in a while people begin to wonder what will the site be.
These thoughts turn into wild ideas, which in turn get people to speak about them even more. MT 3.0 (aka MTProNot), by team Bena (ph34r), has had so much hype over the last year that when Mena announced that few new features were added many people were left disappointed, including myself.
Hype can be good or hype can be bad. Google releases new products with little to no fanfare, but once someone discovers them, the word spreads and everything is grand. So do you avoid the hype and just focus on the product? Or do you hype the product, while also making it the best?
Admittedly, marketing has been a weak spot of mine that I would like to improve. This entry pertains to all types of businesses. Not just design companies since they can go on word-of-mouth alone (sometimes).
If you don't believe in hype all you have to do is look at the world of sports. LeBron James was the hype and lived up to it. The guy drafted second (yeah I now his name) had hype and is now lost.
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I think using hype is primarily about timing. Your example about MT 3.0 seems to be an example of hype without good timing. Waiting a year with hype would mean to most people that big changes were due.
Waiting through a month of hype, one might expect something valuable and worthwhile, but the hype tide doesn't get a chance to diminish (hopefully).
Matthew Oliphant (http://usabilityworks.typepad.com)
Let's imagine I have just invented a machine. It's an incredible machine. My machine has two openings - one labelled "Trash" and one labelled "Cash". It also has an incredible user-interface: a simple, red button labelled "Go!"
My machine does just one thing... In the opening labelled "Trash" I put, well, trash. I then press the "Go!" button and, with a click and pleasant hum, the trash disappears and little, gold ingots drop out of the opening labelled "Cash".
As you can see, this is the best machine in the world. Bigger than the wheel, bigger than fire...
I don't tell anybody about it and that's fine, I don't want to sell my machine - I don't need to (for obvious reasons).
So, if you've invented a machine like this, you don't need to tell anyone. For anything else, you must.
Nobody will buy your product or service if they don't know about it, regardless of how "insanely great" it is.
You need to generate hype. You need to nurture a level of expectation within your potential market. Ideally, you'll generate advance orders.
There is just one caveat: Don't sell what you don't have - they'll slaughter you if you do.
DarkBlue (http://urbanmainframe.com/)
The one thing about hype is that it has to have a carefully placed air of mystery about it, to creat a level of expectation on the part of your audience. Quite honestly, I'm not unsure if hype would work for you, because you've established yourself as honest (perhaps too honest at times - as has been discussed here across several posts) and blunt. Hype is about selling and making things bigger than they are. I don't get the impression you're the sales type.
That's not to say it can't work. I would just consider letting your partners take care of the hyping part.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Geez, taking a look at my posts, I would have to conclude I'm not the writing type today.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Perhaps a marketing strategy of "progressive disclosure?" ;) Always have to sneak that in.
Matthew Oliphant (http://usabilityworks.typepad.com)
Hype only works if you can deliver. Like the Lord of the Rings. Unlike another popular trilogy with inflated budgets and preachy subtext. I'm sure you'll figure out what film that was.
So I suppose... Hype only what you are confident you can WOW people with.
Lea (http://xox.lealea.net/01/)
Hey I just said let's “pretend Scrivs and some others were going to start a company”. In any case "viral marketing" or whatever you wish to call it is a tricky beast to corral (hah, never use that word again).
Marketing doesn't require honesty, but if it is there it is good. Admittedly before I tried too hard to market myself (as Joel and Mark mentioned) and I learned a lot from that experience.
In a sense I have marketed Whitespace and any subsequent sites to come out of it, so maybe I do know a thing or two about this stuff. Only time will tell I guess.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
>"pretend Scrivs and some others were going to start a company"
Heh, it occurs to me that one could generate a reasonable amount of buzz by writing a post on a fairly popular weblog that was full of questions about best ways to generate hype. Make sure you throw in an ambiguous "hypothetical" product or company that you would "theoretically" want to promote.
Could be worth a shot, eh Scrivs?
Disclaimer: I'm not accusing you of anything, it's just a bit of friendly razzing. I found it a bit humorous that this very post could easily be taken for an attempt to generate buzz for an upcoming venture. Maybe you're better at marketing than you realize. :P
Paul G (http://www.relativelyabsolute.com)
Moi? Marketing?
*tumbleweeds blow across the screen*
*Scrivs walks away whistling*
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
I like Matthew's idea of progressive disclosure (wait, did I just say that! haha) so I think maybe have a little series describing what the company might do would be a good way to go about it. I remember on Signal vs. Noise when JF et. al. were trying to hype up Basecamp — they incrementally released screenshots and information (and the code-name, Misto) over a period of time to build the suspense. When it finally arrived, it was the talk of the blogosphere.
Mike (http://phark.typepad.com)
The company I work for is (in)famous for hyping a product, releasing cut sheets, etc with absolutely nothing built to back it up. More often than not this has resulted in our potential-clients classifying us a manufacturer of vapor-ware.
So in agreement with Lea and DarkBlue, if you hype it and can't back it they'll eat you for lunch.
James (http://www.construct42.com)
Hype isn't the same as advertising. Plain advertising is usually just about eyeballs or ears. Hype is more interactive. It requires active participation. This is what imbues the product with greater value: someone thought enough of it to tell someone else about it.
But it is even better than word-of-mouth because people actively participate without actually ever having used your product. Hype is about anticipation. If the product does not match the hype there will be disappointment and, perhaps, a backlash.
Hype is high risk and high return. If you are serious about your product then you need to get serious about marketing it. Hire a professional.
Unless your product is an automatic hype generator.
Jon
only logical solution is being big campaign popunder ads and targeted email campaign with few million selected users who interested in product. Maybe then to be sending IM ads and create 1800 number for network messages. For funding, please to be speaking to Marasa Musawi, private aide-de-camp for assasinated general, honored hero Mambaba Nigabe.
;-)
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
It seems that many of the comments are geared towards hyping products. Is it possible to hype a service? Obviously, hyping web design would be silly, but I can see hyping the people involved in the company.
For example, say Hicks, Bowman, Inman (interesting 3) were to start a design company, I think they could hype the talent, but couldn't hype the fact that they are just another design company.
Scrivs (http://forevergeek.com)
"Is it possible to hype a service? "
does "every consulting group ever created" ring a bell? :-)
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
Very true, but would it be possible to hype a consulting service before it begins? I am not so sure.
Scrivs (http://forevergeek.com)
Of course you can hype a service. There are a whole group of people who would say the service is the product - and I would agree.
Others have dropped the whole service / product ideal and renamed it "offering", which I think is appropriate as well, even it does seem kinda '90ish.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Expectations + talk = hype
It works for services, products and people. In terms of building with web standards, establishing a consulting company or creating an expansion football team, it's all hype until somebody makes it work, closes a sale or plays a down.
Then, based on how it went, you've either got a new standard to live up to, or one to attempt to live down and forget.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Develop the product - get it perfect - THEN hype it like crazy.
Nothing worse than hyping something that doesnt deliver (eg MT3.0, MTPro, TypePad, Textpattern, that cms hiveware was going to release and many many others).
There is nothing wrong with the coy "Im working on a new secret project, I cant tell you anything about it - stay tuned) once a month or so - but no giving details because like you said, people speculate and things get out of hand then the product becomes a big fat dissapointment.
pixelkitty (http://pixelkitty.net)
Hype and advertising both exaggerate, both deceive (usually), both promise more than the reality. Only reality can really satisfy. Illusion, hype etc may inspire hope and dreams but never deliver them. Only reality can do that.
Down with hype, down with advertising, down with all commercialism. Aim for reality and be happy. I have never made it in this world and never will, but I am very content.
Producers of hype may think they are making the most of reality as they manipulate others, but they will never find lasting happiness like that.
So don't hype, but don't just wait for the release. Enjoy producing whatever you are creating and you have already got what you are wanting, even though you may think you still need something more.
Peter (http://www.mouldingname.info/home.html)
Peter -
Herein I quote a marketeer of my acquaintence. "Fuck happiness. I want money, and new products don't sell themselves."
To put it a bit more mildly than said marketeer... I think you're being a little bit naive there, even though I personally can't stand marketing BS of any kind, I know it's necessary to succeed. Unless you're planning to be a monk or something, I suppose. And even that could arguably be said to be a decision influenced by two millennia of marketing.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
Hype is perfectly acceptable. As long as you deliver. But then that is the tricky part isn't it.
Keith Hall (http://www.phatbuddha.com)
Don't waste your time looking for attention, concentrate on earning it. Popularity comes and goes but respect is a currency that doesn't depreciate.
So do what you do better than anyone else, and you will accomplish remarkable things: find new ways to help people, break down barriers for others and find better ways to do things.
Most of all, trust yourself enough to be great.
Will Pate (http://www.willpate.org)
most web companies hype their products well before they're released to get people to wait & watch for the new product instead of signing up with competitors.
while there is some ill-will when the product dosn't release on time or new features fall short of expectations, most people who've waited for a couple of months will be reluctant to change to another service..
vaporware's the name of the game ;)
jinesh (http://www.jinesh.org/)
How you have marketed yourself IMO is by your fresh well descriptive writing. Like I have said before, I read one of your posts at www.sitepoint.com and I was extremely impressed with your writing style and thought
"hey, I want to see where this guys sig takes me" and sure enough, I was at Whitespace reading a bunch of your comments.
Yea you haven't "hyped" yourself up, but if you read one of your posts compared to others, you will see there is something different and people notice that and want to see why its different.
just my 2 pennies
Bryan (http://www.gamecubecheats.info)
JC - Your marketeer wants money BECAUSE he wants happiness. He/she thinks she wants money but all those things we think we want all boil down to wanting happiness or satisfaction (or whatever you want to call it) in the end.
OK people need to pay the bills and I know am a bit naive, but I really think that prioritising the enjoyment of what you are doing will give you what you need and it does not mean you cannot earn plenty at the same time. In fact, as Will suggests, you may earn more because you are doing it better.
Peter (http://www.mouldingname.info/home.html)
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#1
Hype is a tricky beast. I would suggest that before you go telling everyone about this venture, you have a couple of things -
1. A clean vision, defined as Andy Stanley describes as "a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be."
2. Make sure have people on your team (or willing to join your team) who will spread the news / hype for you.
If you haven't already, read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, and "Unleashing the Ideavirus" by Seth Godin.
I would suggest that the names you mention in your post were somewhat successful in their hype because they are already successful "products" in their own rite, so anything they do, including the eventual release of "project amnion" will be automatically overhyped, and the release of my little project (which has exactly the same features and capabilities) will arrive with little fanfare outside of family and friends.
You admit in your post that marketing is not your strong suit at the moment. May I suggest before diving in, you do some marketing research, if you will, before diving in. Hype is a two-edged sword, it can make you or it can break you - approach with caution.
Mark (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)