25/2/2015

HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

How We Collected 1,498 Emails Before

Launching a Side Project
February 5, 2015 (http://chrisgimmer.com/pre-launch/) Christopher Gimmer
(http://chrisgimmer.com/author/gimmer/)

Marketing (http://chrisgimmer.com/category/marketing/)

Before we launched our latest side project, we managed to collect nearly 1,500 emails
before going live. And had it not been for one piece of advice, we might not have done
it.
Heres what happened
Several months ago, I attended a Startup Grind event where Justin Mares
(http://justinmares.com/) (co-author of Traction (http://tractionbook.com/)) was the
guest speaker. I was a big fan of the book so I definitely wanted to pick his brain a little
bit. During our chat, I asked him what was the most successful marketing tactic he
used for promoting Traction. Thinking I was going to hear about some new growth
hack, he actually said something along the lines of this:

http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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The best thing we did was build up an audiencebefore launching the book
Thats when it hit me every time Ive launched something in the past, Ivealways done
little to no marketing before launching it. Meanwhile, Traction has gone on to sell
thousands ofcopies and a large part of that was the email list the authors built up
before launching it.
Then I thought to myself holy shit, I have an easy way to build upthat list.
In this post, Ill outline exactly how we collected those 1,498 emails for our side project.
But first, I need to fill you in on the idea for the project and how I already had an
audience to market to.

The Post That Went Viral

Several months ago, I wrote a blog post on where to find beautiful free stock photos
(http://bootstrapbay.com/blog/free-stock-photos/). With a bit of marketing push (and a
lot of luck), the post went viral and now ranks on the first page of Google for several
keywords related to free stock photos & images.
I was originally going to write my own blog post about it but Brian Dean from Backlinko
did such a great job turning it into acase study (http://backlinko.com/viralmarketing)that Id rather just point people there. (Thanks Brian!)

The IdeaFor TheProduct

When months had gone by and we werestillgetting huge floods of traffic, I realized
there was clearly a huge need for free stock photos that were unlike the typical stuffon
the big name sites.This was further backed up by the fact that almost every day
someone else was releasing their ownpost on where to get free stock photos.
I looked again at the list of sites in our post and I realizeda few things:

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

1. The most valuable websites were the ones with no copyright restrictions (Creative
Commons CC0 license)
2. All of the CC0 websites were only releasing 7 photos or less per week.
3. None of the CC0 websites had any search functionality
4. None of the CC0 websites had any sorting features such as downloads, views,
etc
So, the idea for StockSnap.io (http://stocksnap.io) was born.
Wewanted to create the most badass resourcefor CC0 pictures that would knock the
socks off anything else out there. Wed do so by addressing all of the pain
pointsmentioned above.
Specifically,wed upload way more than 7 pictures per week (wed upload hundreds),
wed introduce search functionality, and wed track views and downloads so people
could quickly view the most popular pictures. This would become our MVP (Minimum
Viable Product) and wed test whetheror not it was worth it to build added
functionality and complimentary products or services.

The Landing Page That Converted

If this were several years ago, we probably would have built the product and then
started marketing it. However, I thought back to what Justin had said and I knew that
we should startnow.
We decided to create a very simple landing page in order to collect email addresses. It
looked liked this:

http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

Weveread our fair share of landing pages that convert posts so Marc (my cofounder) designed it in the following way:
1. We kept it very simple
2. We had oneclear call-to-action
3. We described the benefits of opting-in and made that the call-to-actiontext
We then added a link to StockSnapat the end of the blog post with Coming Soon
beside the title.
Believe it or not, 27.3% of people who landed on that page gave us their email which
really exceeded our expectations. When all was said and done, we collected 1,498
emails in exactly one month.

The Launch

http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

We launched StockSnap.io on January 19th. At 11AM, we sent out the following email:

Over the course of the day, email traffic resulted in 474 sessions, 6.3 pages per
sessionand and an average session duration of 4:29. The email campaign itself
resulted in a 53.2% open rate and a 35.7% click through rate.
As you would expect with any launch, we had one small hiccup.We got a Tweet
notifying us that downloading photos lead to a server error. I then opened up my email
and realized others were having the same issues and had emailed us 20 minutes ago
whoops. The good news is that Marc fixed the issue in no time and it was smooth
sailing from there.

Building in Virality

http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

Depending on your product or service, this may not be possible, but we didnt want to
let that first burst of traffic go to waste. As a result, we tried to build some virality into
the product.
When users downloaded their first photo, wed show them the following pop-up:

Although not as successful as we had hoped, some people did help spread the word
on social media. If at all possible, you should definitely think about how you could build
virality into your product inorder to build on the momentum of your initial audience.
Here are some of the Tweets that went out that day thanks to our social sharing
buttons.

http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

What to Do When You Have No Initial Traffic

We were very fortunate to already have a steady stream of traffic who would be
interested in our new product. However, you might not.
When I spoke with Justin, I asked him how exactly he built up his audience prelaunch.In his case, like the Traction book advocates, he experimented with several
potential channels until he discovered that podcast interviews were their best
marketing channel. Funny enough, I heard an interview with his co-founder Gabriel
Weinberg on the Tropical MBA (http://tropicalmba.com) podcast and thats how I
initially found out about the Traction book.
Matthew Paulson is another entrepreneur who recently wrote a book about 40 rules
for internet business success. He executed an almost identical strategy when he did
apodcast tour (http://www.mattpaulson.com/2014/10/how-to-add-rocketfuel-to-yourproduct-launch-with-a-podcast-tour/)to promote the launch of his book.

http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

Although Justin and Matthew used podcasting as theirmarketingchannel, there are

other avenuesas well such as guest posting.

Conclusion
Building up an audience pre-launch is not always possible.But if you can, it can be
highly beneficial.
Part of the reason I started this blog was to build up my own personal audience
because I now realizejust how valuable an engaged audience can be. It will surely take
me several years to build it, if not more, but Im willing to put in the effort up front
because of the long-term benefits it can bring.
If youve had success building an audience before launching one of your products or
services, Id love to hear about it in the comments below.

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

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Jointhediscussion
adsy.me 7daysago

Greatstuff.Couldyoualsosharehowyougrewtheserviceafterlaunch?Whatwasthemain
sourceoftraffic?Forusathttp://adsy.meitwasanarticlewehadinCultofMac,whichbroughtus
thousandsofsignups(witha45+%conversionrate,prettycool).

Reply Share

ChristopherGimmer

Mod >adsy.me

7daysago

Alotofblogshavebeenwritingaboutuswhichisreallythemainsourceofgrowthatthe
Want More
Marketing Tips?

moment.Almosteverydaywe'reinsomeone'stopXlistforfreestockphotos.Retention

Joinmymailinglistandgetthelatestcontentdeliveredstraighttoyour
hasbeenreallygoodsopeoplekeepcomingbacktothesite.
inbox.

Reply Share

JonathanKennedy 16daysago

Enteryouremailaddress

Ilovethestory,thehustleandhowyouorganizeyourthoughts.Thebestpartofthearticleishow
youvalidated(withsomebias)youridea.Youlookedatthefreestockphotospaceandwhatthe
leadingsitesweredoingandyoubrokeitdownnicelyinyour4pointsThat,tomeistheessence
ADDME!
ofbuildingoutbusinessideas.GoodthingsareaheadforStocksnap

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PoweredbySumoMe(http://sumome.com/?src=smsb
2be049f7df766a75eca5be7826d2f0caf313b53889e203989383e7d13580ba00)
ChristopherGimmer

Mod >JonathanKennedy

15daysago

ThanksforthekindwordsJon,muchappreciated!We'vebeengettingincrediblefeedback
sincewelauncheditsoit'llbeinterestingtoseehowfarwecantakeit.

Reply Share

timframed 19daysago

GreatposthereChris.JustreadthroughBacklinko'scasestudyonyoursuccesswiththestock
photosblogpostandit'sareallyinspirationalpiecethatshowshowstepbystepeffortcanreap
aggregatesuccess.Echo'ingmycommentsonBacklinko'spagebut...
SteppingawayfrommarketingforasecIfindwhenworkingonthingsitcanbereallyeasytocut
acornerhereandtherewhichcanreallyunderminetheeventualsuccessofaproject/effort.
Almostfeelslikerelianceonluck/chance,insteadofmanufacturingsuccesseverystepoftheway.
Cheersandthanks!
http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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25/2/2015

HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

Cheersandthanks!

Reply Share

ChristopherGimmer

Mod >timframed

18daysago

ThanksforthecommentTim.ItookalookatFramedanditlookslikeaprettycoolproduct.
Allthebestwithgrowingthecompany.

Reply Share

SebastianGheorghiu 20daysago

Justgotalittlelost.Howexactlydidyoumarketthewebsitewithonlyjustalaunchpage?What
marketingchannelsdidyouusetomaketheannouncementofthelaunchbesidesjusthavinga
landingpagewithaperfectfunneltocaptureemails.Hopetogetaresponsefromyousoon.
Thanks.

Reply Share

ChristopherGimmer

Mod >SebastianGheorghiu

20daysago

HeySebastian,
SorryifIwasunclearinthispost.Wewerefortunateinthatwehadwrittenablogposton
wheretogetfreestockphotosthatwasgettingalotoftraffic.Therefore,wejusthadtoadd
StockSnaptothatlistandfunnelledpeopletothelandingpage.
Ifyoureadtheendofthispost,Ioutlinedsomestrategiesyoucanuseifyoudon'talready
havetrafficthatyoucancapitalizeon.Writingguestpostsordoingpodcastinterviewsisa
greatwayofgettingbuzzbeforealaunch.
Ofcourse,thisisnotalwayspossibleifyou'rejuststartingout.However,thepointofthe
postistooutlinetheeffectivenessofbuildinganaudienceprelaunchwhenit'spossibleto
doso.

Reply Share

SebastianGheorghiu>ChristopherGimmer 20daysago

Thankyou.Iunderstandnow.Couldyoukindlypointmeonhowtofindguest
postingopportunitiesusinggoogle?Ithoughtthereweresomegooglequeriesthat
work.Whatisyouridealapproachtolandingaguestpostingopportunity.Iheard
thatgooglepenalizesforguestposting?Notsure.ButIdontthinkthisistrue
becausethewebisbuiltonguestpostingsmostly.

Reply Share

ChristopherGimmer

Mod >SebastianGheorghiu

20daysago

Googlewillonlypenalizeyouforguestpostingifyoudoitonlowqualitysites
thatarenotrelevanttoyourindustry.Ifyousticktohighqualitysites,you
http://chrisgimmer.com/prelaunch/

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HowWeCollected1,498EmailsBeforeLaunchingaSideProjectChristopherGimmer

thatarenotrelevanttoyourindustry.Ifyousticktohighqualitysites,you
shouldn'thaveanyproblems.
Italkaboutwaystoidentifyguestpostingopportunitiesinmylastpost.
Here'sthelink:http://chrisgimmer.com/linkbu...

Reply Share

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