Rocket Fuel

You’ve probably heard us talk about how it’s essential to own a space in your audience’s mind. But it’s not just about the words you send there. It’s the sum total of every interaction they’ve had with you. And, more importantly, every emotion you’ve made them feel.

Because we have three brains: the sensory, the emotional, and the rational.

In terms of evolution, the sensory brain is the oldest, followed by the emotional, with the rational brain being the most recent. Understanding how the brains are all interconnected is key to mastering an appeal to your audience.

The emotional brain sends ten times the information to the rational brain than vice versa, creating an imbalance that means feelings and emotions have 10 times the impact on decision-making than facts and figures.

In fact, 95% of all decisions are made by emotion and backfilled with logic.

And when it comes to gaining attention, there’s no contest: The eyes have it. Because sight is by far our fastest sense, followed by touch, hearing, smell, and taste.

So we’re taking in all these visual cues, the vast majority of which are subconscious, and sending it all to our emotional brain, which then translates those emotions into rational thought.

That means to truly motivate people, to drive behavior toward your desired action, you need to play to the emotions.

Looking to improve the emotional connection with your audience? We’d love to help.

Minimum Viable Launch

In Launch is More than an Introduction, we talked about how launching isn’t just for new products, but whatever it is you launch, we believe there are a few must-haves in that launch plan.

Six Essentials for Launching

We believe there are six essential components in a launching framework. Consider these as minimum viable launch (MVL) essentials:

  1. Establish a Launch Leadership Team
  2. Define Point B
  3. Follow a Defined Gated Launch Process
  4. Begin Early
  5. Get Customer Insight
  6. Launch Internally First

 

Establish a Launch Leadership Team (LLT)

The first step is to form a cross-functional Launch Leadership Team with 5–7 members from several departments. The team is led and managed by a Launch Navigator. The core LLT team members will be centrally involved throughout the process to have open and honest discussion, make key decisions and serve as evangelists for the launch within the company. Choose team members with diverse perspectives and with market-facing positions like sales, marketing, engineering, customer service and management.

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We’re extremely fortunate to get to work with brilliant people—recognized thought leaders in their fields, people who take on extraordinarily complex challenges with mindboggling intelligence and insight.

But all that brainpower can sometimes be a burden. Bright people with deep expertise often struggle to communicate with the level of simplicity that sticks in the mind and wins in the marketplace.

That’s when it’s smart to be the dumbest person in the room.

As the old C.W. Ceram quote goes, “Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.”

Because you need to break down what you’re offering into the simplest terms and appeal to an essential human benefit. Make that so blindingly clear we can’t help but understand it.

How do you do that? Try the OK, So Game, otherwise known as the Toddler Game. Start by listing a feature of your product. Then ask, “OK, so why is that there?”. Repeat the process until you get to a benefit so clean and clear, no one could possibly ask “OK, So?” anymore.

Except a toddler. They never stop. Here’s a real example of the game for a new flexible bandage made with a proprietary polyvinyl material with multi-dimensional elasticity.

Feature: It’s flexible.
OK, So? It moves with you
OK, So? It won’t come off as you move your body
OK, So? You can move around your hospital room
OK, So? When people come to visit you, you can give them a hug

That’s so simple, clear, and impactful that anyone can understand the appeal.

Want help simplifying your message into something clear and concise? We’d love to help.

Here’s a test. Name a safe car brand.

If you’re like the majority of people, you thought of Volvo. And Volvo does indeed make safe cars. But are they really any safer than other comparably ranked brands, like Honda?

Here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter. People believe Volvos are safe, and that’s all that matters. Because perception = reality.

What people believe about your brand is far more important than what your brand actually is. You could be the best, fastest, most effective in your industry. But if your audience doesn’t believe it? Well, then you’re…whatever it is that they do think. Their perception is what matters. Full stop.

So what can you do to manage the impression you’re giving? Plenty.

Start by learning what the market’s perception of you really is. Not just anecdotally, and not just by asking your most loyal customers. You need unbiased, unvarnished assessments that are unapologetically honest.

Once you know how your audience perceives your business, you can start addressing that impression by shaping your communications to be laser-focused on giving the impression you want to make.

Ready to start taking control of the impression you’re giving? That’s where our TruVu business assessment tool comes in. It’s the simple way to systematically collect the right information, convert it into business insights, and learn what actions to take based on what’s most important to your customers. Learn more.

Launch is Not Just for New

There are more types of initiatives that beg to be launched.

Launching is almost always considered as an introduction, but let’s expand the types of initiatives that are perfect for launching. Can an internal program be launched to the organization? Yes. What about an offering that’s stalled? Of course. How about expanding your product to a new region? Absolutely.

There are more types of important and complex initiatives that can and should be launched than you might be considering. To make it super simple, we’ve broken these launch-ables into three categories: Introducing, Revitalizing and Expanding.

 

INTRODUCING

Obvious and critical, this is introducing important new products, services and businesses to the world. Don’t overlook programs to internal or external stakeholders that fortify brand position or build reputation and corporate culture, such as a sustainability program.

 

REVITALIZING

As market conditions evolve and shift, there is sound business reason to take a launch approach when a product or service brand stalls in adoption or importantly, when businesses face a new set of competitive market realities. Whether motived by external forces or by internal evolution (like an expanding portfolio), it’s good to re-set, re-align, re-vitalize, refresh, re-invigorate and re-launch. Whatever your re-ality is, the effort demands more than a facelift or a campaign alone.

 

EXPANDING

When a company is entering new territory, in any way, it’s worthy of a launch discussion. Perhaps that’s a medical technology that gains approval for a new indication. It could be selling to a new audience or going through a new channel. Consider geographical expansion, maybe from OUS to US. And certainly, a merger or acquisition is a launchable engagement.

 

 

Read more on our launch philosophy in the Orange Paper Rethink Launching (pdf).

Interested in talking through how our team can support your goals? Let’s talk.

Launch It or Release It?

The Difference Between Launching and Releasing

It’s very common for companies to adopt a “launch-it-all mentality,” and to define and label all new beginnings. When everything is treated as a priority, there are no priorities. If everything is a launch, then nothing is a launch.

So, here’s a simple thought: You are either Launching or you are Releasing.

It’s black or white, yes or no. If you are not launching, you are releasing. This clarity can have powerful business impacts.

So, let’s define launch and release.

 

Launch

Launch is a verb. It’s a process that can (and we’d argue should) become its own discipline within an organization of any size.

Launching is a cross-functional business discipline designed to align stakeholders and enable the momentum necessary to break through internal and external market barriers to successfully guide a product to market and into adoption.

In fact, it’s beneficial to think about launching as an opportunity for organizational alignment. Launching demands more rigor, energy and collaboration than a release. By this definition, anything is launch-able if a company places a high level of focus and higher commitment into a process.

 

Release

If your company does not choose to launch, it is a release. A release is principally about customer/ stakeholder engagement. There is nothing wrong with a release; it is not to be diminished. In fact, for the majority of marketing activities, a release is exactly what’s needed: campaigns, media relations, demand gen, brand building, sales enablement…what marketers do day in and day out.

So, pause to think about how many initiatives you’ve “launched” in your business lifetime and consider instead if they could have been labeled a release.

 

How to distinguish a launch from a release

Products, services, businesses, initiatives and programs — there’re plenty that can be launched. But how do we determine if it’s a launch or release?

It comes down to prioritization; putting the right business emphasis on the most important initiatives. To help here, we developed a quadrant graph, where the x axis is COMPLEXITY and y is IMPORTANCE. The more complex the project is to communicate to a given audience, the further to the right it will go on the x axis. Where as the more important it is to business success the higher up along the y axis it will be plotted. It’s possible to align on quantifiable criteria and plot it on a graph.

The initiatives that require a launch will become apparent — allowing you to allocate resources mindfully.

 

Consistently achieving launch excellence starts with reframing how you think about it, explore more ideas like this in the Orange Paper Rethink Launching (pdf).

 

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What Problem Are You Solving?

As marketers, it’s natural to want to find answers to problems. We’re in the solutions business, after all. But searching for a solution before clearly defining the problem isn’t just putting the cart before the horse. That’s a cart without a horse.

Addressing the correct problem is the first step in any successful campaign or launch.

Ask yourself what problem, issue or need does your company’s solution/product/service solve? Or, put another way, what does the world gain with your product or company’s existence? It seems like such a straightforward question, but clearly and succinctly articulating the right answer — the one that will set you up for success — can be surprisingly difficult.

Barriers to Defining Your Business Problem

There are two common barriers in figuring out the problem you’re solving.

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You love your brand. You live your brand. And you wish others would, too.

But while you’re the center of your own world, you’re not in the world of your customers. Not yet, at least. Because you have to earn your spot.

So how do you do it?

It starts with creating a connection. Your aim is to own a unique and meaningful place in the mind.

And how do you do that? It starts with a singular, consistent positioning. It takes dedication and discipline to do that. Pick the one thing you want to be known for and create everything around that central idea.

Next, you need to get emotional. Just screaming I’m reliable! or I’m efficient! isn’t going to cut it—even if you are those things. Move past the facts and figures and get to an emotional appeal. Because emotion drives motivation. And motivation drives behavior. Plus the higher on the emotional ladder, the more universal your positioning can be.

Doing these two things will be your competitive advantage. It’s your best chance to occupy an essential place in your target’s mind. And being there, well, that changes everything.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.

You’ve got a new product to launch. You spend months, maybe more, preparing and planning. Scrutinizing every detail and nuance. You’ve invested a whole lot of your team’s collective effort getting ready for the market introduction.

You count down the days. Your ducks? They’re in a row.

Then The Big Launch Event™ comes.

And then? Well, let’s just say the rocket launch you hoped for is more of a fizzle.

What happened?

Chances are good that you put all your effort into preparing for an event. A finite thing.

But that’s not how a launch works. Because launch is a verb, not a noun.

Viewing launch as a noun is short-term thinking. It implies a date or an event. But successful launches require a more long-term, comprehensive approach. It’s not a thing that happens. It’s something you do with discipline and collaboration.

Because launching is a process that demands cross-functional teamwork to aim, align, and, ultimately, build momentum. Launching isn’t the sole responsibility of marketing. Many disciplines need to work together in lockstep to coordinate efforts before the product goes live—and continue to collaborate after the product is in the market.

So next time someone at your company talks about launch day, caution them on the dangers of that short-term thinking and planning, and set their sights on a long-term approach.

Follow along with our Rocket Fuel series to get some more tips on how you can make the most out of your product launches.