Daniel Burrus had a lot of options to market his new mobile
phone application at Visionary Apps LLC. He could have used the tried and true
print ads or created a 30-second spot for TV or radio. He could have bought
into the new wave of social media and turned to Twitter or Facebook.
But the technology of his product and the glitz of his ad
campaign would mean nothing if it didn’t hit home with his target audience and
convince them to try his product.
“We tend to focus on the technology rather than on the solution
it’s created,” says Burrus, founder, technology forecaster and business
strategist of Visionary Apps. “We talk about features and functions and things
like that and we forget that we’re really in the business of solving people’s
problems. We have to put the various hats on of the target audience and look
at, ‘Are we really solving their problems in our pitch? Or are we just talking
about how cool our technology is?’”
Burrus decided to take his company’s new mobile phone app,
geared to help make foreclosed homes easier to find and buy, and attempt to
meld it into the continuing media coverage of the tough economy and resulting
glut of foreclosed homes on the market.
He wanted to use the media to show people he had a solution to
a societal problem.
“In our case, we think the smart phone revolution is going to
transform how people buy and sell homes and we’re stepping up as a leader to do
that by launching these products,” says Burrus, a serial entrepreneur who has
launched seven companies.
“Rather than having to buy advertising, we’ve created a news
story. … We were the 11th most downloaded app in a very short amount
of time.”
Your first step to reaching your target audience is to find a
PR firm that can help you develop a story to sell your product.
“That’s what PR firms do, they develop stories,” Burrus says.
“If you can put a dollar down and get $10 back up, it’s worth putting the
dollar down. So you have to put some money down and invest in PR, not just to
help you get the story out, but to help you create the story. Secondly, you
need to take an active role in creating that story.”
Scour the media world and see what’s on everyone’s mind and
figure out how you can tie your product into that buzz.
“Whatever your product or service is, you have to be aware of
what’s going on in the news and then develop a story that fits into the news so
that indeed you have a newsworthy story,” Burrus says.
The key is you have to dig deep in the same way you did to
develop your new product.
“When you put innovation and energy into developing that
technology, product or service, you need to put equal innovative energy into
how you’re going to price it, how you’re going to market it and how you’re
going to position it,” Burrus says. “Think in terms of what it is that you are
trying to do.”
Focus on what you want to do and how the array of technology,
whether it be social media or a print ad campaign, can help you accomplish that
goal.
“Boil it down to the few things that you must do,” Burrus says.
“You have to lay out, ‘Here’s what I could do with Twitter, here’s what I could
do with Facebook, here’s what I could do with a newspaper or a magazine. Here
are the various options I have. Let’s boil it down to the best way that will
allow me to get my message to the people I’m trying to communicate to and then
how do I integrate it?”
How to reach: Visionary Apps LLC, (414) 367-9374, www.visionaryapps.com or www.completerealtysuite.com
