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My product must be the marketing. That means the HappyLetter needs to be conducive to some kind of viral marketing and/or easily shared using word of mouth marketing. This post is about word-of-mouth marketing.
Word-of-mouth means I have something worth talking about. A lot of people think that all you need to do is create a great product and people will recognize your greatness and tell the world about it. Sadly, it just doesn’t work that way.
Stories spread. Facts die.
I need to create a brand that encompasses many stories that people love to share.
Sure, HappyLetter has to work well. It needs to send newsletters and enable publishers to collect subscription fees… But every single product on the market has to work if people are going to fork over cash for it. That’s an unremarkable fact.
A service that sends email newsletters isn’t a great story.
A simple email service that does as little as possible so you can focus on your writing and connecting with your true fans is interesting to some. Maybe that’s the story people will tell…
And in fact some did. This blog went from 0 to 100 visitors per day and almost 30 followers in its first 6 days. Maybe that doesn’t seem impressive, but from my experience with blogging it is.
Another SaaS product that launches out of the blue isn’t a great story, either.
A service that went from idea to launch in 7 days where every major decision was documented over 26 posts is interesting to some. Maybe that’s the story people will tell…
And in fact, some did. Thousands of people visited to read that story.
I don’t know what the next HappyLetter story will be. I just know successful word-of-mouth marketing means I must always be thinking about the next great story to tell… And then I need to tell that story to anyone who will listen.
Stories spread. Cold, hard facts die.