People love to throw around words like “buzz” and “hype.”
Rarely, however, do these terms actually translate to anything meaningful. They’re typical “strategies” marketing teams that aren’t really doing their jobs (*cough* getting sales *cough*) like to toss around during meetings.
“We really want to create a wave of buzz all over social media and then just ride it straight to Make-It-Rain-Ville.”
(For anyone who has ever uttered a phrase remotely similar to that…I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.)
It’s funny…I’ve yet to find a bank that accepts buzz. And that’s exactly what these so-called marketers are missing.
That’s why it’s rare to find a company doing buzz the right way. So, when you do find one, it’s worth paying attention.
Enter LeadPages.
If you’re unfamiliar, LeadPages is a tool for easily creating super-awesome landing pages. I am a proud customer. For an example, check out the page I created for my free ebook, The Copywriter’s Library.
And no, they are not paying me to write this. (YET! HAHA! RIGHT, GUYS?!)
During my time as a customer, I’ve noticed that they have an amazing ability to make me reach “Dude, calm down” levels of excitement when they’re about to launch a new feature.
The latest example occurred when they released a blog post announcing a new feature that proceeded to amass over 200 comments in 24 hours…without even revealing the feature!
There were even people pledging to buy the upgrade before they even knew what it would be:
This launch was no outlier. LeadPages did the same thing when they launched two other features, LeadBoxes and LeadLinks (you can see the “buzz” posts by clicking on those links).
So, how exactly do they create buzz that actually leads to sales (instead of meaningless hype)? They use four specific techniques. Let’s take a look.
Technique #1: Make Your Customers Part of the Story
LeadPages’ latest launch wasn’t just about launching a new feature. It was also about giving their customers the opportunity to become early adopters and lock in a ridiculous discount for life. Check it out:
Back in December 2012… before we even launched LeadPages, we allowed early adopters to join LeadPages (at a special “early adopter rate” that’s never gone up).
These early adopters locked it their massively discounted rate for as long as they remained subscribers.
Ever since, LeadPages fans have been asking us if we will ever offer another early adopter program.
So far, the answer has been “no.” That is, until now…
Instantly, this has become about much more than just another new feature. It’s now a never-to-come-again opportunity to save a ton of money.
Most importantly, though, it’s an opportunity to be an “early adopter”—to be part of the LeadPages story. This is the chance to write yourself into the LeadPages narrative as somebody who stepped up and became more than just a customer.
You became an early adopter. And for that you were richly rewarded.
This allows customers to become that friend who was into that indie band “WAY before everyone else had heard of them, man.”
Technique #2: Get Your Customers Guessing
This is the one I find most ingenious, and it’s the main reason why their announcement post received over 200 comments in a 24-hour window.
LeadPages turned the announcement into a guessing game with two simple sentences tacked on the end:
In the meantime, do you have any guesses about what this release may be? If so, I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
The first benefit of asking this question is obvious—it gets the people talking. But there’s a hidden benefit that’s potentially even more valuable:
It lets LeadPages know exactly what features their most engaged customers REALLY want.
Think about it—they tell customers, “We’re releasing something new and exciting that we know you are going to love. What do you think it is?”
The customers immediately respond with the feature(s) they would most like to have. Just look at some of the ideas that got thrown their way:
There are some honestly interesting ideas in those three posts. And there were plenty more to choose from. This is yet another example of the simple-to-implement strategy I call Ongoing Conversational Surveying.
Technique #3: They Make a BIG Promise
Here’s the line that really got my attention:
We’re creating another major innovation, another first in our industry that’s launching very, very soon.
When you’re a credible company, using a term like “major innovation” accomplishes several things:
- It gets attention
- It creates excitement
- It makes people want to find out what you’ve created…just to determine whether you’re full of crap or not for calling it a “major innovation”
- It puts you (the company) on the hook for delivering something truly great
That last point means you can’t throw phrases like this around all the time. You have to save them for truly special occasions. And that brings us to Technique #4…
Technique #4: They Actually Create Something Worth Talking About
If you try to build buzz every time you take the smallest action, you’ll only create white noise.
You have to save these opportunities for your defining moments—the events into which you’ve put months, maybe even years, of sweat.
The great things.
This is what all those misguided marketers I mentioned earlier tend to miss:
You never aim to create buzz. You aim to create something great enough to create its own buzz (in this case, the LeadPages Marketplace). Then, and only then, do you start implementing these anticipation-building techniques.
Question: What other techniques have you seen companies use to create crazy amounts of anticipation? I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to find out. 😉
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