Marketing technical products is too important to leave to marketers…
HACKING
MARKETING
DEVS H
OLD
TH
E KE Y
Presentation by Scott Canny
RE-DEFINING THE “PRODUCT”
• The Internet has created a radical re-definition of the word “product”
• It is no longer a physical good
• It is the code that you put together to create software “products”
• “Products” can now market themselves as they are used
THE HOLY GRAIL – THE VIRAL LOOP• A product that generates it’s own traffic is
the Holy Grail
• Has a compounding effect and improves ROI everywhere
• Everyone who uses your product should share it
• If every customer brings at least 1 other you have a viral loop
• A viral coefficient > 1 achieves exponential growth
THE HOLY GRAIL IS NOT EASILY ATTAINED
• A viral coefficient > 1 is extremely hard to achieve
• Any viral coefficient > 0 will have a positive impact
• Increases the amount of customers a given campaign could have brought in and improves ROI
• Improves effectiveness of all marketing, saves money
• Work towards the holy grail and you will be better for it
CASE STUDY: AIRBNB HACK CRAIGSLIST• AirBnb achieved incredible growth in a short space of time
• Realised that most of their target market was using Craigslist
• Created a piece of code so that any AirBnb listing could be automatically posted to Craiglist
• Craigslist did not have a public API so AirBnb reverse engineered the process
• Created tons of inbound links and traffic
• Seems obvious now – doesn’t it?
THE PERFECT EXAMPLE…
• Did something traditional marketers would have a hard time envisioning
• Used their product as the primary means of distributing their product
• Saw where there customers were congregating and hijacked them
• Creative and ingenious
• Heavily technology based
• Pushed the bounds of what is acceptable
SO HOW CAN WE DO IT?
• Network Invitations• Take it to the next level (e.g. Dropbox)• Cater to your audience• Low cost to you – high value to customer
• Social Sharing
• API Integrations
• Backlinking• e.g. AirBnB & Hotmail
• Organic – make great products
• Plenty of different ways• User profile & business goals *NB
DEVS HOLD THE KEY!
• Break down the barriers between Devs & Marketing
• Be eager to learn and go outside your job description
• You know the product better than anyone else!
• Think about the customer experience and create a product that is easy to use and share
• Share your knowledge
• Not only Devs & Marketing but EVERYONE!