How does marketing work?

[gogeta110]

I am trying to stop outsourcing the marketing, because publishers make you release your product super late compared to how quickly you can develop. Can anyone explain how to market correctly? I try waiting 6-7 months between press releases, but the press has a bad attitude about every press release after the first one. Can you only do 1 press release a year or something?

[kiska87]

I usually do marketing in the last 6 months of development, but you can try to stretch it to 8 months.

As every press release reduces the effect of the previous one I do only 3 press releases.

The effect of the first one should last for 2-3 months (i prepare the next press release within this 2 months), as soon as i start to loose followers, i release the second one (this should last for 1-2 months), same for the last press release (preparing & release as soon as i start loosing followers).

Also you should assign a team for the hype task, that counteracts the loss of followers between your press releases.

If you have a good product, you could try to send a press version (about 1 month before release). This can also have a positiv marketing effect. But be careful, if the press doesn't like your product, you´ll loose a lot of followers. I recommend save & load before doing that.

On release date, publish your product in the morning, set a marketing budget and try to fullfill it during the day.

[gogeta110]

Originally posted by kiska87:

The effect of the first one should last for 2-3 months (i prepare the next press release within this 2 months), as soon as i start to loose followers, i release the second one (this should last for 1-2 months), same for the last press release (preparing & release as soon as i start loosing followers).

So you release press releases every 3 months once you start? This doesn't result in a negative reaction from the press?

[kiska87]

Originally posted by gogeta110:

So you release press releases every 3 months once you start? This doesn't result in a negative reaction from the press?

No, there is a maximum of 3 months between the first and the second press release, about 1-2 months between the second and the third and 1 month after the third.

So the effect is less and less lasting from press release to press release.

It´s a bit tricky to describe it :D

You see when the effect wears off as soon as you lose followers, then it´s time for the next press release.

I´m not sure, if "press release" is the best translation, maybe i should use "press announcement"?
-> write something about your upcoming software, optional use pictures or videos.

I didn´t mean the press version of your software, which you send to the press for testing purposes. I only send this once and at the end of development (after the bugs are mostly fixed).

[gogeta110]

yea I only submit 1 press build as well.
the problem is with the press releases (w/ pictures/videos whatever). Sometimes I wait 6 months to release a new one (even though followers are decreasing), because the newspaper makes an annoying remark like "we know its coming soon, stop writing about it". You must be getting those same messages if you release a new announcement when you start losing followers

[kiska87]

Originally posted by gogeta110:

yea I only submit 1 press build as well.
the problem is with the press releases (w/ pictures/videos whatever). Sometimes I wait 6 months to release a new one (even though followers are decreasing), because the newspaper makes an annoying remark like "we know its coming soon, stop writing about it". You must be getting those same messages if you release a new announcement when you start losing followers

I do, but i was assuming, that it have no negative effect, so i didn´t care about it.

I don´t care if they want to hear something about my product or not, the main thing is that they
don´t forget it

By the way, what else should we do, if we want to do advertising for our product?

If i don´t do that much press releases or only once and i publish my software, the press say something like "maybe they should have done more advertising"

But as soon as i release the next press release, i don't just stop losing followers, I get even more.
So it work and that´s what count.

Later, when you are well known in the market and you have fans, the press releases are more effective.

But in the beginning, it´s the only way, to get followers / prospective customers.

[jamie.santavy]

From my experiences press releases are only really effective if you already have fans and a reputation in the market. Generally I usually go through at least 3 and sometimes all 4 iterations in the design phase before moving to alpha. So what I do is do 1 press release the month before I move to alpha, 1 press release during alpha, and then drop the press build right before moving to beta.

For post release marketing I've found that often less is better. I\m not sure why but even with a product that is wildly successful out the gate pushing too much marketing seems to actually hurt overall sales. So far the most I've ever gotten in monthly sales is about $30 million for an operating system after I got my rep up.. I only had an advertising budget of about $50k monthly to maintain unavoidable marketing. I generally do 50k for operating systems and 20-35k monthly for other types of products