We recently launched our iPhone App, UpNext 3D NYC (iTunes Link), and received a lot of positive coverage from the press.
Why was PR important? Everything we read and everyone we spoke with said getting PR was the best driver of downloads in the App Store. With over 50,000 apps to date and only one distribution channel, getting noticed is key. And though it seems like we had a nice launch for our iPhone App, we actually completely botched the launch but hustled our way back to a nice recovery.
We learned a lot from the process and perhaps our story can help you navigate the waters a little better than we did. These are the steps we took and how we failed at almost every step.
1) Get Organized (about a month before launch)
We have an internal contact spreadsheet with all the names and contact information for reporters, bloggers, tastemakers, etc. The bulk of this list is composed of people who covered our website launch, www.upnext.com, over 2 years ago when we got a fair amount of media coverage.
The remainder of the list came through
a) Meeting people at tech events in NYC
b) Identifying writers from prominent publications who filled one of the following criteria: based in NYC, has written about iPhone Apps, interested in Location Based Services or interested in mapping.
Where did we go wrong?
Actually, I think we did this part pretty well. But we could have spent more time prior to this establishing better relationships with those who cover startup in NYC. As evidenced by what happened next.
2) Live Demos with Local Reporters (about a week before launch)
We identified reporters who were based in NYC and emailed them a short note asking if they would like a live demo prior to the product launch. This idea came from a post by Jason Calacanis, How to Launch a Product. He refers to it as The Media Tour.
We thought since we have a visually engaging product (see demo video above), showing people in person would be a good idea. So we sent out 20 emails but received only 3 replies, wanting to meet in person. The lack of responses was puzzling and I began to question whether the email I sent was useless.
And then I saw this, Drew Kerr’s PR Rock and Roll - Interview w/ AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka. In the interview, Peter Kafka talks about how he likes being pitched and actually references our email to him as an example of his ideal pitch.
So it wasn’t the email. Maybe they were all really busy covering the latest Twitter news (e.g. new desktop client, new app, downtime, TV show, race to 1M followers, etc)
Back to those 3 “Yes, I want to meet” responses. We set up meetings with all 3 and the result was 2 meetings, 1 no show, all resulting in 1 blog post. So to recap:
20 emails –> 3 scheduled meetings –> 2 actual meetings –> 1 blog post
And that man was Allen Stern who writes and runs Center Networks. Big ups to Allen. BTW, if you are a startup in NYC (or anywhere really) Allen is a great guy who really is a champion for startups doing something interesting on the web.
Where did we go wrong?
A. We took advice from a blog post written by a serial, well known entrepreneur whose startup is backed by Sequoia and thought we could do the same. After all, we are serial entrepreneurs (lemonade stands and some things on the side in college), we are well known (within only our circle of friends), and backed by sequoia (there is a tree in the backyard). The ideas in the blog post were good, but we should have modified them to our situation.
B. We overestimated the value of previous coverage by a publication. When our website launched we received a lot of positive coverage. Almost all of the 20 reporters we contact has previously written about the company. But 2 years in startup land is the equivalent of 20 years. Reporters have short memories as does the public. Simply because someone covered you once, doesn’t mean they will cover you again.
C. We did a poor job of maintaining relationships and building new contacts. There is a big difference between having a reporter’s email address and having their attention. The latter often takes more than a well crafted pitched.
3) News Release (Launch Day)
So we only got to do a couple live demos, big deal. We were still launching a cool, exciting new product. We finished our demo video and crafted emails to each of our media contacts. Included was a short personalized message, additional details/features, links to demo video, webpage, iTunes and a complimentary redemption code.
These were sent out the day before our launch to give the writers some time to view the material and digest it. Apparently that was not enough time as some of them are still digesting and musing over the material we sent them.
So what was the final tally after Launch Day?
Lots of emails sent –> 3 email replies asking questions –> 0 replies once those questions were answered
4 blogs posts –> 2 of which were auto generated by scrapers –> 1 was in a language we are still trying to figure out
20 tweets –> 8 from us –> 4 from friends –> 1 from someone who I think works for another company called upnext and was confused
Where did we go wrong?
A. Looking back, our short, basic pitch was a bit dry. What we really wanted was people to watch the video and therefore put that in a place of prominence in the message. The message that accompanied it was a straightforward, plainly worded description of the product. We, as a team, are not big on hyperbole or hype and perhaps that led to a lack of pizazz in the pitch.
B. We did not make Twitter integration the lead item. Seeing the tech news that did come out on the day we launched we realized we had miss worded the entire message. The body of the email should have been… “Location based twitter client for iPhone w/ 3D map capabilities”. While we say this in jest, the amount of coverage that anything Twitter related gets does make us wonder if that would have worked.
This post is running longer than I expected, so I am going to divide it into 2 parts. Stay tuned for part 2 describing the steps we took after our grand product launch fell flat on its face.
