Launch At An Event?

Is there a good reason to launch at a trendy event like DEMO or Techcrunch20?
Of course events like these offer some obvious concentration of useful(?) people, but everyone there is also pretty easy to get a hold of online through email and blogs, etc. Probably the most useful goal is generating ripple-effect press coverage after the event. If an event generates more press coverage for you than you could generate without the event then it might be useful, but if this is true, it’s pretty likely that you are only getting coattail PR because of an eminent speaker or another, more exciting company. The biggest problem is that of noise. When an influential blog does the ‘DEMO round-up’ and you get a couple of vapid lines in the middle of the page along with 19 other logos, is that really better than getting a stand-alone, in depth review from a journalist who has had the time to dig into your service at their leisure? It’s pretty easy to have your launch overshadowed at an event, when you launch on your own, you can be the center of attention. The argument against an event launch is related to the ‘ignore the competition’ line of thinking.

I think the real answer is that if you are able to successfully generate a lot of quality press on your own, then there’s no harm in coming to a launch event, too – but if you can’t, an event is not going to vault you above your station.

Plocka Upp!!!

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Newspaper Classiness - Ad Reputation

Quality is a HUGE differentiator on the Internet - just think how much crap is out there in any niche.

So I just clicked over to read John Cook's P-I blog and I tried to start reading a good entry, but found it hard to focus because of this widespread gem of an ad.

Now I've certainly seen some ads on nytimes.com - but I don't think they would run this one - mainly because of the associations - you probably have seen this ad before - probably on a crappy, scammy site of some sort, so that is what I think of - even though the P-I is a solid, real newspaper.

Web publishers need to make sure that they don't suffer reputational damage by allowing 3rd party ad networks to place crappy ads on their sites - and in prominent real estate, no less.

As an aside, I noticed this VC-finder drop-down on John Cook's blog:



Note to self - when I start a firm, I will name it "AAA Venture Partners" - to make sure my listing beats out Chris & Ted (9:12 3200m!) for this screen real estate. (That one's for you, Dave!)

Track & Field: A Great Sport

Everything I know about working hard, working smart, setting goals, and excelling I learned from track & field.

I still love the sport as a fan. The only major drawback is that I am not in Monaco today for the IAAF Herculis Grand Prix meet. What a shame ;)!!!

Amiga Has Fallen So Far

Oh, I remember when the Amiga was THE graphics powerhouse for serious gamers - Now they are welching on a naming rights deal - for a hockey arena in Kent.

Sad, so sad.

The Answer is 3

I just searched for ‘fx trading’ on Google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fx+trading)

I was interested in how many of the top ten advertisers on this search term pulled a sign up form directly up into the landing page above the fold rather than providing a more informational landing page with links (numerous?) to the sign up form.
The answer is 3.

Signup form:
Forex.com
Odlsecurities.com
Saxobank.com

No signup form:
Cmsfx.com
Fxcm.com
Gcitrading.com
Ac-markets.com
Easy-forex.com
Fxsolutions.com
Choiceodds.com

Too bad I don’t have all the comparative conversion numbers for these, I would be interested, and you might be, too.

SecondSpace Just Did It Right

I just read Brier Dudley on SecondSpace coming out of stealth mode – with a year’s worth of revenue. That’s definitely the way to do it. What a better PR item than “XYZco comes out of stealth mode with zero users or revenue but is hoping to get some now”.

Nice to have the ‘Guess we are right, because we are making money’ angle. If you do things like frequently check the portfolio section of VC websites, you will know that SecondSpace took a round over a year ago from Ignition, etc. but have just launched now.

Most striking to me about SecondSpace is the ‘separate vertical sites from day 1’ strategy because even within their overall segment, they have avoided the unified-field-theory of Internet business planning.

A launch story like this should be on anyone’s list of goals, I know it’s on mine. Fortunately, Brad Feld has a nice post on AskTheVC on the basics of launch marketing. Very helpful. . .