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Failure To Launch: Why Tech Products Aren't Always For Tech Audiences

Forbes Technology Council
POST WRITTEN BY
Daniel Wesley

It’s been said Google Glass failed because of bad marketing. Google sold Glass to a group mainly made up of tech enthusiasts, and some just weren’t into it.

Google Glass was supposed to be exciting. It would let users take photographs with their eyes and would display information like a computer screen based on voice commands. The hands-free experience was supposed to be a glimpse of the future.

Instead, initial users, many of whom paid $1,500 per pair to be called “Glass Explorers,” cited everything from privacy concerns to style issues when discussing what Google Glass got wrong.

But what if Google had tried a different approach? What if Google had given its new product away to ordinary people with problems Google Glass could actually solve, like the hockey mom trying to take pictures without missing the action or the businessman using a virtual map to navigate a crowded downtown sidewalk?

Perhaps Google assumed only tech-savvy individuals would understand how to use the device. Or maybe the company didn’t want Glass falling into the hands of someone who’d misuse it and open the door for legal action.

In any case, rather than moms sharing the futuristic technology with one another, Google had techies and journalists tearing the device to shreds before the public even knew what it was.

Know Your Product -- And Your Audience

The failure of Google Glass and other products that have ever been labeled as the “next big thing” demonstrates that a product's audience can make or break the technology. That’s why it’s important for executives, engineers and project managers to align their products with the right audiences, while in the development phase. As the founder and president of CreditLoan.com, I know firsthand how marketing products to the right -- or wrong -- audience can affect a company's bottom line.

Not everyone is tech savvy, but most people aren’t incompetent when it comes to technology. If you target only an audience you think contains the best possible candidates for your technology, you discount the possibility of others using it in ways you never imagined.

For an example of how to launch a cutting-edge product the right way, look to Snapchat. When it launched Snapchat Spectacles, the company targeted an audience already using Snapchat with a product designed to do no more than the camera on your smartphone, eliminating many complexities that hindered Glass. The fashionable design catered to the predominantly female Snapchat user base, most of whom are under 25.

Who didn’t get their hands on the first Spectacles devices? Bloggers, tech celebrities and other influencers who would have analyzed the device on only its technological merits.

By dropping goofy Snapbot vending machines containing Spectacles onto a boardwalk in L.A. and at a roadside attraction in Tulsa, Oklahoma, among other places, Snapchat made it clear its new device was all about fun for everyone.

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Preparing To Launch

If you’re developing your next big product, take a page out of Snapchat’s book. Here are three tips you can use to ensure you align your product marketing with the right target audience:

1. Use the data. Knowing your audience helps you determine your message, tailor your services and differentiate your business from the competition. To really know your audience, you need to constantly gather data.

If your customers are signing up for email updates, for instance, the information they’ll be providing you is invaluable. You can glean surprisingly detailed demographic information just by knowing a customer's email service provider.

At CreditLoan.com, we explored the relationship between an individual's email service provider and specific insights. We discovered you can accurately deduce the amount of technical expertise a person has, his or her profession and employment status, and other characteristics by looking at an email address alone.

2. Don’t underestimate social media tools. For one of our latest projects, we've used all the data we could get from Facebook through Facebook Business Manager to gauge who our followers are so we can cater our messages specifically to those individuals.

For example, if we know the majority of our audience members are homemakers between 30 and 45 years old, our posts might start with topics relevant to homemakers. If our goal is to generate “likes,” we'd tweak posts to appeal to specific groups. However, if we're trying to grow our audience, we’d make them more universally relatable.

By analyzing who follows our pages and their key interests, we can construct messages that will resonate with them. Hopefully, they’ll share our messages with their audiences.

3. Make it free. Neil Patel, one of the most respected marketers I know, has a simple theory: “If you give away your best content, your business will grow by 290%.”

This mindset has helped us build trust with our audience and has actually saved us money. Give stuff away to your audience -- people love to get free stuff and are more likely to give honest feedback about products or services that are of no cost to them. Companies can then use that feedback to improve offerings before they're available to the public. Plus, when my company offers freebies, we build consumer confidence while establishing our brand identity.

Building an audience isn't easy: It takes time and consistent work. But if you want to enjoy a successful product launch, working to find and cultivate the right audience for your product is critical.