How we promoted a non-existent Internet project
Article Two
Our first material “ Choosing a name for a startup ”, published by my colleague, in our opinion, showed a certain interest of Habrahabr users in the experience of other startups, therefore we continue our story no matter what.
Let me remind you that in the mentioned material it was about how we, with the help of Internet users, chose a name for a startup - a social network for moms.
')
So, the task and the problem in mid-October 2009: we have a detailed concept of a startup; we have his name - "Country Mom"; technical developments are in full swing, but, obviously, the working model will be ready no earlier than in a month or two; we have a number of Internet projects where quite a lot of users go, and where, in principle, we could start advertising our startup - all the more so since we have already successfully promoted the choice of its name among our users, i.e. “Country of Moms” is already a well-known phrase for many thousands of potential participants of the project.
It is clear that the preparation for opening a startup, even in cold-blooded people, causes a certain excitement, and, of course, impatience. We, at least, felt this impatience to the fullest extent - how can it be that the opening of a startup is hampered by programmers, and we have to lose a month or even two!
And at that moment, an idea inspired by the well-known Leproy came to mind - after all, from the point of view of a regular Internet user visiting leprosorium.ru, it is unknown whether there is something behind the form on the main page, what kind of site there is and what the user can get there; however, the same user who got on vkontakte.ru also does not know what awaits him after registration (unless, of course, he has never heard of this social network :)). We decided to exploit this idea, slightly refining it: we did not register users on a non-existent project (although it could have been done; we abandoned this idea because we didn’t want to “register” the registration of who knows - it was important for us , so that people registered on the project consciously), and conducted an advertising campaign under the slogan “Did you get a passport in Mom's Country?”, the purpose of which was to collect email addresses of users who are potentially interested in registering with our startup.
Namely:
Note that this text was published at the moment when technically a startup, in principle, did not exist at all.
Honestly, we were very worried about the outcome of our event. Well, firstly, although more than 150 thousand women go to our women's sites every day, and this is, in general, a really large number of people - but, according to our audience research, the number of mothers among them is relatively small, the figure is 10 thousand mummies who want to leave an email seemed to us very optimistic and overpriced, and we didn’t believe to the last that in a month we would be able to attract and motivate such a number of users to “get a passport”.
Secondly, it was not clear whether women would agree to leave their emails in principle, whether they would accept us as spammers or even crooks. As further showed, the fears were in vain - on the one hand, the ladies who are part of the permanent audience of our projects were obviously loyal to our new site. The ladies, who in one way or another fell on the stub of the “Country of Moms” and heard about it for the first time, also willingly left their emails. Maybe they liked the idea that they would be among the finite number of invitees, perhaps they were moved by curiosity - but there was no problem. Moreover, the analysis carried out at the end of the campaign showed that emails left 40% of unique users who visited the startup stub page.
We were pleasantly surprised that the news "Get a passport in the Country of moms" was reprinted by other sites, and was discussed in blogs. The users asked each other - and what is this Country Mom, how to get there?
Thus, while our programmers were developing the software at an accelerated pace, we slowly collected emails of potential participants, and as a result, by the beginning of December, software development and the collection of 10,000 email addresses of future “residents” of Mom's country were almost completed at the same time.
In order to fulfill the promise made to our users, namely, that in 2009 only 10,000 mummies could “register” in the Country of Moms, it was decided to launch the project in closed session — that is, registration was possible only if there was an invitation-invite.
As is clear from this article, we are in a hurry. On the one hand, the above mentioned impatience of the owners of the startup; On the other hand, it is clear that the saying “time is money” is directly related to the discovery of a startup - after all, competitors develop their websites, and the sooner you open up, the easier it will be to continue to compete with competitors. On the third hand, the New Year was on the nose, and I wanted to do basic organizational work before the New Year holidays - so that in New Year it was possible to raise a glass of champagne with a clear conscience for the success of a startup in the New Year, and our users could happily communicate and learn during the New Year holidays new site.
In this regard, we have, in the shortest possible time (literally in a matter of days), tested the software part, and also prepared the site for opening, that is, carried out its initial content - both by very loyal users and regular authors.
The opening was to take place on December 2, and we were very worried: we collected 10 thousand emails, but how many users would like to register a few weeks later? We were afraid of two things: first, that a small number of people would want to register; secondly, that these people will not be interested in these people, they will not want to use them - and after one or two visits to the site they will stop visiting them. It’s not for me to tell respected habrovans how often this happens - that in the first days after opening a startup, some attendance takes place, which gradually begins to slide to zero.
Nevertheless, the results exceeded all our expectations. On December 2, we carried out the opening of the project, which, in fact, was reduced to the distribution of letters to 10 thousand users who left us their email. Each letter contained an overview of the project’s capabilities (at the start there were both the standard features of a thematic social network — posting articles and blogging, posting photo albums, and functions specific to the mother’s project — for example, the pregnancy calendar), an invite link, and appeal to take an active part in testing a new project.
Users received these letters with enthusiasm. Within a week, 80% of the 10,000 notified users registered - about 8,000. On the very first day, the site’s attendance exceeded 5,000 people (we achieved the same attendance, but on a stable basis only in February 2010), which allowed us to get to the first page of the top.mail.ru rating under the “mother” sites (tons .e. enter the "thirty"). On the very first day, users viewed more than 50 thousand pages - we had never achieved such a success with any of our startups. And, most importantly - out of these 8,000 registered users, at least 500 immediately entered the “core” of the audience - and they still go to the Country of Moms every day.
Immediately after the New Year holidays, we had to make a decision - when should the project be opened for the free registration of everyone, and whether it should be done - but this is a matter for separate consideration. We will definitely talk about the difficulties of our choice, the pros and cons of the development of projects in “closed” and “open” modes in one of the following materials.
And now - to summarize: in our opinion, you need to start advertising your startup as soon as possible, at the earliest opportunity. In our case, the “first opportunity” was the moment when we decided on the name of the startup.
We managed to “save” at least a month of precious time by a two-stage promotion - public discussion of the name of a startup and its further advertising (with the software part not yet developed). We achieved that we opened the project for an already prepared and loyal audience, and, in fact, from the first day we were able to form the core of a regular audience - which immediately allowed us to believe that the project was doomed to success, and, of course, we greatly facilitated its task to further advance it.
Currently, almost 4 months after opening, in the “ Country of Mom ” more than 17 thousand mothers are registered, the daily audience is 6-8 thousand users, the daily number of page views of the project is about 100 thousand.
Read also the first article: “ Choosing a name for a startup ”
Our first material “ Choosing a name for a startup ”, published by my colleague, in our opinion, showed a certain interest of Habrahabr users in the experience of other startups, therefore we continue our story no matter what.Let me remind you that in the mentioned material it was about how we, with the help of Internet users, chose a name for a startup - a social network for moms.
')
So, the task and the problem in mid-October 2009: we have a detailed concept of a startup; we have his name - "Country Mom"; technical developments are in full swing, but, obviously, the working model will be ready no earlier than in a month or two; we have a number of Internet projects where quite a lot of users go, and where, in principle, we could start advertising our startup - all the more so since we have already successfully promoted the choice of its name among our users, i.e. “Country of Moms” is already a well-known phrase for many thousands of potential participants of the project.
It is clear that the preparation for opening a startup, even in cold-blooded people, causes a certain excitement, and, of course, impatience. We, at least, felt this impatience to the fullest extent - how can it be that the opening of a startup is hampered by programmers, and we have to lose a month or even two!
And at that moment, an idea inspired by the well-known Leproy came to mind - after all, from the point of view of a regular Internet user visiting leprosorium.ru, it is unknown whether there is something behind the form on the main page, what kind of site there is and what the user can get there; however, the same user who got on vkontakte.ru also does not know what awaits him after registration (unless, of course, he has never heard of this social network :)). We decided to exploit this idea, slightly refining it: we did not register users on a non-existent project (although it could have been done; we abandoned this idea because we didn’t want to “register” the registration of who knows - it was important for us , so that people registered on the project consciously), and conducted an advertising campaign under the slogan “Did you get a passport in Mom's Country?”, the purpose of which was to collect email addresses of users who are potentially interested in registering with our startup.
Namely:
- Announced that in 2009 in the Country of Moms will be able to "get a passport" only 10 thousand beautiful ladies.
- Placed on the stranamam.ru domain just such a form for those who want to “get a passport”:
- On our projects we placed the following banners:
- On our sites published in the form of news here is the following text:
"Country Mom": hurry to issue a "passport"!
Who among us has not dreamed of returning to the wonderful Country of Childhood for a few minutes? But since this country exists, that is, the Country of Moms - as long as the baby meets the world around him, his mother also lives a completely different life than before the birth of the child. She has new worries and joys, topics for conversations and questions that only the best specialists want to ask. At this time, mothers make new friends - other mummies, with whom it is interesting to discuss each new step in the life of a newborn. For you, mothers, we open the "Country of Moms."
“Country of Moms” is a social network for pregnant women and mothers, where you can find interesting and useful information about children and for children. Moms will be able to share experiences, talk about the success of their kids, take part in interesting contests.
Become a good mother will help you a huge amount of useful original materials that you will not find on other resources, as well as a wealth of background information. We will arrange for you to consult any female and children's specialists, and you yourself will be able to set the mood for the project and offer topics for coverage that interest you.
However, in 2009, far from all will receive “citizenship” in the “Country of Moms”. This year, only 10 thousand people will be able to participate in the social network. Due to too many people willing to become participants in the project, the administration decided to limit the number of participants at the beginning of the project.
In just two days of advertising "Country of Moms" on the projects "Mediafort" was distributed over a thousand passports. At the moment, there are less than 9000 places for women who will be the first to try out the merits of a new project.
The launch of the “Country of Moms” is scheduled for November-December of this year. You still have a chance to sign up, and, of course, take your girlfriends with you. You and they just have to go to www.stranamam.ru and leave your e-mail, to which an invitation ticket will be sent to the magical “Country of Moms”.
The project is organized on a geographical basis, so moms can easily find their neighbors and get to know them in reality. Hurry up to get citizenship in the "Country of Moms"!
Note that this text was published at the moment when technically a startup, in principle, did not exist at all.
Honestly, we were very worried about the outcome of our event. Well, firstly, although more than 150 thousand women go to our women's sites every day, and this is, in general, a really large number of people - but, according to our audience research, the number of mothers among them is relatively small, the figure is 10 thousand mummies who want to leave an email seemed to us very optimistic and overpriced, and we didn’t believe to the last that in a month we would be able to attract and motivate such a number of users to “get a passport”.
Secondly, it was not clear whether women would agree to leave their emails in principle, whether they would accept us as spammers or even crooks. As further showed, the fears were in vain - on the one hand, the ladies who are part of the permanent audience of our projects were obviously loyal to our new site. The ladies, who in one way or another fell on the stub of the “Country of Moms” and heard about it for the first time, also willingly left their emails. Maybe they liked the idea that they would be among the finite number of invitees, perhaps they were moved by curiosity - but there was no problem. Moreover, the analysis carried out at the end of the campaign showed that emails left 40% of unique users who visited the startup stub page.
We were pleasantly surprised that the news "Get a passport in the Country of moms" was reprinted by other sites, and was discussed in blogs. The users asked each other - and what is this Country Mom, how to get there?
Thus, while our programmers were developing the software at an accelerated pace, we slowly collected emails of potential participants, and as a result, by the beginning of December, software development and the collection of 10,000 email addresses of future “residents” of Mom's country were almost completed at the same time.
In order to fulfill the promise made to our users, namely, that in 2009 only 10,000 mummies could “register” in the Country of Moms, it was decided to launch the project in closed session — that is, registration was possible only if there was an invitation-invite.
As is clear from this article, we are in a hurry. On the one hand, the above mentioned impatience of the owners of the startup; On the other hand, it is clear that the saying “time is money” is directly related to the discovery of a startup - after all, competitors develop their websites, and the sooner you open up, the easier it will be to continue to compete with competitors. On the third hand, the New Year was on the nose, and I wanted to do basic organizational work before the New Year holidays - so that in New Year it was possible to raise a glass of champagne with a clear conscience for the success of a startup in the New Year, and our users could happily communicate and learn during the New Year holidays new site.
In this regard, we have, in the shortest possible time (literally in a matter of days), tested the software part, and also prepared the site for opening, that is, carried out its initial content - both by very loyal users and regular authors.
The opening was to take place on December 2, and we were very worried: we collected 10 thousand emails, but how many users would like to register a few weeks later? We were afraid of two things: first, that a small number of people would want to register; secondly, that these people will not be interested in these people, they will not want to use them - and after one or two visits to the site they will stop visiting them. It’s not for me to tell respected habrovans how often this happens - that in the first days after opening a startup, some attendance takes place, which gradually begins to slide to zero.
Nevertheless, the results exceeded all our expectations. On December 2, we carried out the opening of the project, which, in fact, was reduced to the distribution of letters to 10 thousand users who left us their email. Each letter contained an overview of the project’s capabilities (at the start there were both the standard features of a thematic social network — posting articles and blogging, posting photo albums, and functions specific to the mother’s project — for example, the pregnancy calendar), an invite link, and appeal to take an active part in testing a new project.
Users received these letters with enthusiasm. Within a week, 80% of the 10,000 notified users registered - about 8,000. On the very first day, the site’s attendance exceeded 5,000 people (we achieved the same attendance, but on a stable basis only in February 2010), which allowed us to get to the first page of the top.mail.ru rating under the “mother” sites (tons .e. enter the "thirty"). On the very first day, users viewed more than 50 thousand pages - we had never achieved such a success with any of our startups. And, most importantly - out of these 8,000 registered users, at least 500 immediately entered the “core” of the audience - and they still go to the Country of Moms every day.
Immediately after the New Year holidays, we had to make a decision - when should the project be opened for the free registration of everyone, and whether it should be done - but this is a matter for separate consideration. We will definitely talk about the difficulties of our choice, the pros and cons of the development of projects in “closed” and “open” modes in one of the following materials.
And now - to summarize: in our opinion, you need to start advertising your startup as soon as possible, at the earliest opportunity. In our case, the “first opportunity” was the moment when we decided on the name of the startup.
We managed to “save” at least a month of precious time by a two-stage promotion - public discussion of the name of a startup and its further advertising (with the software part not yet developed). We achieved that we opened the project for an already prepared and loyal audience, and, in fact, from the first day we were able to form the core of a regular audience - which immediately allowed us to believe that the project was doomed to success, and, of course, we greatly facilitated its task to further advance it.
Currently, almost 4 months after opening, in the “ Country of Mom ” more than 17 thousand mothers are registered, the daily audience is 6-8 thousand users, the daily number of page views of the project is about 100 thousand.
Read also the first article: “ Choosing a name for a startup ”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/89155/
All Articles