A Reader’s Question
This week’s promotional tip has to do with the question from one of our readers which is “When is the best time to start marketing your project?”
Common Wisdom May be Wrong
When faced with the question of when you should market your project many ArtisticPreneurs would say that you should market your project when you have it just how you want it, so that you do not put out an inferior product. This makes sense on the one hand because you certainly want to be known as one who creates quality projects so to be premature is not a good idea. Or is it?
Marketing Groundwork
The truth of the matter is that if you wait to market your project until its completion you are actually putting yourself in a bad position. Think of it this way. If you wait until your project is perfect and then debut it, since there was no marketing done up until that point you will not make any sales. Whereas on the other hand if you begin to promote your project from the very beginning of its development, then you will benefit from having marketing groundwork in place.
Building Anticipation
Additionally, if you are savvy, you will be able to engage your future customers with updates on your project’s status, getting them more and more excited for it finally come out.
The Risk You Take
There is of course a risk with this approach. Let’s say you start promoting a project and then discover that you do not want to release it to the public after all. Are you in a pickle? No. It actually presents an opportunity to have a leapfrogging effect. This means that you can use all the marketing you have done until this point to in turn transition to your new project.
A Roadmap
Another important aspect of using the early marketing approach, is to get input from your future customers. What do they want in a projects such as yours? How can your project better suit their needs? Etc. Market research, even done somewhat informally so as to not come across too aggressive, can be an incredible roadmap for your project.
Do you have a project you’re working on? Tell us all about it. We’re really curious!
JYS