Your first goal when starting anything, whether it be a company or a campaign, should be connecting with supporters who feel strongly about what you’re doing – your evangelists. Your evangelists can help spread the word about what you’re doing, provide valuable, detailed feedback and become your early adopters. But these dedicated supports won’t just show up on their own. They need to feel special and unique. Above all else, they need to feel you’re approached them deliberately and authentically. Which is why notifying the world about your new startup using LaunchRock is the worst thing you could possibly do.
That’s not to knock LaunchRock, per se. The company, after all, provides clever viral marketing tools in a fairly polished package. Other’s have noticed, and in huge numbers startups have begun to use LaunchRock to create their initial “coming soon” pages. But the popularity of these pages has become the single biggest reason to avoid LaunchRock.
There are two major ways in which LaunchRock’s ubiquity really hurts your ability to cultivate strong relationships with your early adopters.
People Don’t Take LaunchRock Seriously
By now it is well understood in the tech community and beyond that literally anyone can setup a LaunchRock page in a few minutes. Many have signed up on LaunchRock pages and the experience is consistently negative. Few startups ever follow up (prompting one developer to launch a parody where your email slips into a black hole), and fewer still ever end up launching a real product. Many are left wondering if the few minutes it takes to put up a LaunchRock pages is more or less the total amount of time you’ve put into your startup.
As a result, users are reluctant to signup and when they do, they’re likely to rate low the odds of the startup being a serious product. This is certainly not the best first impression to make if you’re hoping to recruit passionate supporters.
People Don’t Feel Special Using LaunchRock
One of the most powerful elements of a “coming soon” page is the sense that you’re standing on the egde of something new and special. Creating this intrigue requires the user believe the founders have put a lot of care and thought into the product, and that it is the result of a very particular vision.
But the generic nature of LaunchRock pages sends the opposite signal. Instead of believing someone is working hard to craft a specific solution to a problem, or a innovative new experience, users walk away struck by the fact that the founders couldn’t even find the time or motivation to create their own coming soon. This is hardly an inspirational experience, and thus the user isn’t likely to be excited about the relationship.
Establishing a credible and unique online presence is extremely important when introducing your idea to the world (and, indeed, when doing any social media marketing or brand development). Unfortunately, the popularity and uniformity of LaunchRock pages communicates the opposite. Will this kill your startup? In all likelihood, something else will first. But if you can’t get people excited about what you’re doing, you have a serious problem. The good news is there are easy ways to create an experience that seems more tailored and deliberate (including using the LaunchRock API), something I’ll cover in a future post.
Can Using LaunchRock Kill Your Startup?
Your first goal when starting anything, whether it be a company or a campaign, should be connecting with supporters who feel strongly about what you’re doing – your evangelists. Your evangelists can help spread the word about what you’re doing, provide valuable, detailed feedback and become your early adopters. But these dedicated supports won’t just show up on their own. They need to feel special and unique. Above all else, they need to feel you’re approached them deliberately and authentically. Which is why notifying the world about your new startup using LaunchRock is the worst thing you could possibly do.
That’s not to knock LaunchRock, per se. The company, after all, provides clever viral marketing tools in a fairly polished package. Other’s have noticed, and in huge numbers startups have begun to use LaunchRock to create their initial “coming soon” pages. But the popularity of these pages has become the single biggest reason to avoid LaunchRock.
There are two major ways in which LaunchRock’s ubiquity really hurts your ability to cultivate strong relationships with your early adopters.
People Don’t Take LaunchRock Seriously
By now it is well understood in the tech community and beyond that literally anyone can setup a LaunchRock page in a few minutes. Many have signed up on LaunchRock pages and the experience is consistently negative. Few startups ever follow up (prompting one developer to launch a parody where your email slips into a black hole), and fewer still ever end up launching a real product. Many are left wondering if the few minutes it takes to put up a LaunchRock pages is more or less the total amount of time you’ve put into your startup.
As a result, users are reluctant to signup and when they do, they’re likely to rate low the odds of the startup being a serious product. This is certainly not the best first impression to make if you’re hoping to recruit passionate supporters.
People Don’t Feel Special Using LaunchRock
One of the most powerful elements of a “coming soon” page is the sense that you’re standing on the egde of something new and special. Creating this intrigue requires the user believe the founders have put a lot of care and thought into the product, and that it is the result of a very particular vision.
But the generic nature of LaunchRock pages sends the opposite signal. Instead of believing someone is working hard to craft a specific solution to a problem, or a innovative new experience, users walk away struck by the fact that the founders couldn’t even find the time or motivation to create their own coming soon. This is hardly an inspirational experience, and thus the user isn’t likely to be excited about the relationship.
Establishing a credible and unique online presence is extremely important when introducing your idea to the world (and, indeed, when doing any social media marketing or brand development). Unfortunately, the popularity and uniformity of LaunchRock pages communicates the opposite. Will this kill your startup? In all likelihood, something else will first. But if you can’t get people excited about what you’re doing, you have a serious problem. The good news is there are easy ways to create an experience that seems more tailored and deliberate (including using the LaunchRock API), something I’ll cover in a future post.