How the term “trial balloon” originated: The Montgolfiere brothers came up with a design for the hot air balloon but wanted to make sure it would really work before getting in one themselves. So they first released several unmanned trial hot air balloons. Then they sent up several farm animals to make sure the air at higher levels was safe to breathe. After that, they tried a manned expedition.
It’s a smart approach. But in the business world, a lot of people think the opposite is the way to go. They want to launch big. They want a huge PR splash right away. They want the big bang.
Too bad. You don’t need a big bang – slow evolution is what you want. Unless you absolutely must “open wide,” abandon the mass introduction strategy. Instead, launch softly.
Restaurants start off by serving friends and family before they invite the media.
Movie studios use test screenings to fine tune movies. The people behind the scenes know that until you get into the test screenings and see what people really think, you just never know.
Likewise, Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock try out jokes in small clubs before hitting arenas.
Authors test out material by writing magazine articles, ebooks, and/or releasing chapters online. Michael Pollan started off an article in the New York Times with these words: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Those same words appeared as the main theme of his book “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” published a year later.
You don’t have to paint a finished picture before launching. Customers can connect the dots.
Soft launching lets you tweak and revise. You get the word out there and you gauge interest. You know what works and what doesn’t.
Plus, you get to make mistakes while you’re still in the shadows. Messing up in front of a smaller crowd means you’ll be better off when the bright lights eventually do shine upon you.
Matt Linderman wrote this on Jun 10 2009 There are 18 comments.
mikemike 10 Jun 09
Great article. Thanks Matt.
Chris Mear 10 Jun 09
How does this line up with the Hollywood Launch advised in Getting Real?
Paul Lambert 10 Jun 09
Chris: Perfectly, except for they’re going in opposite directions. Multiply this post by -1 and you get a Hollywood launch.
That said, there is wisdom in both these. It really depends on the app. If you’re doing a social networking thing, you need a critical mass, you need momentum and a big launch. If you’re doing a Basecamp thing then you don’t, Basecamp still provides value even if you’re among a small handful of people using it.
James Moxley 10 Jun 09
Great article I couldn’t agree more, often I get clients who want to have a large site with all the bells and whistles, but really what they need first is a basic site to get there presence online, to test the waters and prevent lost time, too often spending all that time building a large site results in lost advertising, no one wants to see a coming soon page for six months.
Dan 10 Jun 09
Boo to animal testing!
brad 10 Jun 09
I smell a revision of ‘Getting Real’ in the works…..
Chad Garrett 10 Jun 09
I think they answered the “Hollywood Launch” question quite literally.
David Andersen 10 Jun 09
I’m hard pressed to think of many cases where businesses launch something without first executing trials of some nature. Hell, if anything, businesses – especially as they grow bigger – become more and more risk averse and less likely to try anything without X thousand market studies and approvals by all. Do you have any examples?
Charlie Murray 10 Jun 09
This is great advise we have done several modifications to our web site and how we market our services. We continue to do so. We have not figured out the totally best way to market ourselves as it seems like an on going process. We also are trying to make our products more automated but we have to be patient until these aspects can be developed and funded. Going forward takes a lot of effort and work. It takes a while to get to the finish line to have the victory.
Timo Reitnauer 10 Jun 09
This approach worked for us. Our domain management service launched quietly but generated revenue from day one. We were always adding new features little by little and will continue to do so. The most important thing in the beginning was the actual domain registration of course. One month later we added domain transfers to the site. Then simple DNS services (just A, CNAME and MX records) and just recently a low-level DNS editor for advanced users. Launching softly doesn’t just show your clients that you’re constantly working on the service but also keeps you motivated and excited about your work.
Rahul 10 Jun 09
Bloggers use their blog to test out chapters of their book before they decide how to put it in the final version. :)
Andrew Conard 10 Jun 09
I appreciate the guidance in this post. I have found it to be effective in launching the live stream of our worship services in preparation for a more robust online worship experience. Putting something out there allows for iteration of the idea without a huge expenditure of promotion. It allows the idea to spread on its own and gather momentum prior to an “big” launch.
Renina 10 Jun 09
You had me at Slow evolution.
I run two blogs, Model Minority and Brooklyn Magic.
Brooklyn Magic “launched” but it was only this month that it finally has started looking like the urban, soulful, fashion website that I envisioned in 2006.
Yes it has been slow and steady, but I am so proud of it now, slow has been worth it.
George St John 11 Jun 09
Good guidance. We have just launched GHQ with a soft launch. It is very difficult to have the patience for a soft launch as one is wanting immediate gratification through immediate success.
Mike 11 Jun 09
This reminds me, when I lived in Chicago, I used to do product testing, where I’d get like $150 or so for 2 hours of my time. A group of us would sample upcoming products or look at packaging and then talk about it. People from the company would sit behind a fake mirror and tape what we talked about. I couldn’t tell you how many bottled waters and snack foods I tried per year.
Jamie Stephens 11 Jun 09
It’s funny how we often want it both ways: the time to work out the kinks while still “in the shadows”, but also the publicity of a big launch. I think I’d opt for the former and reap the benefits this article suggests.
I would be interested in hearing a bit more on Chris’ question about how this jives with the Hollywood Launch. Has your thinking changed on the subject (i.e., the two approaches are mutually exclusive) or have you viewed the private beta period on your products your “soft launch”? Just curious.
Also, Aaron Swartz had some similar thoughts on this and used GitHub as a great example of this type of launch: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/howtolaunch.
ML 11 Jun 09
I would be interested in hearing a bit more on Chris’ question about how this jives with the Hollywood Launch. Has your thinking changed on the subject (i.e., the two approaches are mutually exclusive) or have you viewed the private beta period on your products your “soft launch”? Just curious.
I think it’s ok to have some launch buzz. You do need at least some people to know about your product. Go ahead, stoke the flames a bit. This post is more about the question of how you approach that and not making sacrifices in order to “launch big.” Don’t think you need to put in all 100 features on your list. 10 is enough to launch. Don’t think you need to wait extra time while you formulate a marketing plan or do a formal PR push. Just get it out there. Don’t think you only get one shot. Chances are no one will pay much attention at first anyway. Don’t think you need to spend a ton of cash on upfront advertising. Put something out there and see how it flies. You get the drift.
Mr Penguin 12 Jun 09
A great idea, we’ll try that with our new client management app.
This discussion is closed.