Big PR Splashes: When Do They Make Sense?
by Charle Alfy A big PR splash never hurts, right? It serves as good advertising, strong brand reinforcement, a good way to attract new customers and a strong enticement for good employees to join the company. It’s even better when there’s no hefty price tag attached if it is done through competitions like TechCrunch or prestigious press coverage. Plus, let’s face it; it’s a good feeling to see your own baby celebrated publicly! Well, that’s not always true. The joys of an early celebration could lead to a long-term misery in two cases; if it was used at the time of the product launch instead of the marketing launch, or if the company is better off using a Judo Strategy in the face of strong incumbent competition. Eric Ries draws that distinction between product launch and marketing launch in his interview with mixergy.com in May 2009. An early product launch is important to get the feedback of an early group of customers to inform the entrepreneur about how the product is perceived. ...