Alex Hunter is a brand consultant, angel investor, and branding & marketing speaker. He was formerly with Virgin. Today, he spoke at the Future of Web App Conference on creating a brand people truly love. The following are my notes from the workshop:
Workshop Description: Ok so you’ve built your web app, now what? How do you get users, and more importantly how do you create LOYAL users who come back often and feel compelled to spread the word about your app. In this session Alex will look at bulletproof ways to build your userbase quickly and cheaply, market your web app, and create a brand people truly love.
Workshop Notes:
- STAND OUT
- Opening Question: How do you stand out? How do you build something amazing?
- Two Types of People: People Who Build & People Who Talk (Be the former.)
- You’re going to have to do an obscene amount of work to differentiate yourself.
- Fundamentally shift the way you think and live.
- Be Positive. It’s easy to be negative. Cynicism is easier than accepting reality.
- Ignore naysayers in the creation phase of idea.
- “I think that a sense of inquisitiveness and the willingness to try is so important for design, for developing those tentative, fragile ideas into a real product.” Jonathan Ive
- Be Assertive & Confident – Kick Ass. Take Names. (But do it with respect.)
- “Look into their eyes, shake their hand, pat their back, and wish them luck, but I’m thinking I’m going to bury you.” Seve Ballesteros
- Failure is Not an Option. <- This idea has gone too far! Ignore this.
- You know who says you should fail often? Failures.
- Failure is not a coping mechanism.
- There is a world of difference between: Learning from Your Mistakes vs. You Have to Fail Before you Succeed.
- Do Not Be Afraid To Fail. – Failure is NOT absolutely required (or a prerequisite).
- You will be judged by what you create and not what you say.
- So many startups just talk about it (on social media, etc.). Shut up and freaking build something!
- If you’re talking more than 10% of the time, you’re talking too much!
- Esse quam videri (Latin: Be Without Appearing to Be)
- Embrace Your Community (i.e., Customers, Fans, etc.).
- Listen to people who are using your product(s). You will benefit greatly.
- Don’t Suck <- This is no longer true. NOT SUCKING is not good enough anymore.
- Your mediocrity is insulting. – Daniel
- Don’t aim for mediocrity.
- “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clark
- Create a sense of WOW.
- Today, someone is using your product for the very FIRST time. They still need to sense the same feeling you felt when you first released it.
- Everything Communicates
- Story of Virgin America Brand Creation – They iddentified every single point of possible brand contact (e.g., fonts, call center, janitors, training manuals, media vehicles, toilets, etc.).
- Rethink Virality
- Viral Marketing vs. Viral Products
- Create viral products that spread virally.
- Active & Passive Viral Features
- Simply adding a “Share” button can increase peer-to-peer influence over produce purchase by 400%.
- Viral Marketing vs. Viral Products
- Create Emotion
- You have to create emotion and feel your passion.
- “You feeling something. That’s what sells.” Matthew Weiner
- You have to create emotion and feel your passion.
- Create Rock Stars
- Don’t take credit for something you didn’t create on your own.
- Elevate the people in your organization.
- Let them speak, blog, tweet, etc.
- Work Hard. Stay Positive. Build Something.
Updated Tuesday June 28th at 2:12pm: Video of Alex from 2009
