It’s perfect timing for “Halloween” and “Google” to be Googled so heavily today: It’s Halloween, after all, and Google just announced OpenSocial, its network platform challenge to Facebook. Anyone who watched the PBS documentary last night watched and heard earnest Dutch producers trying earnestly to make somekind of case about Google’s crypto-Orwellian nature, but succeeded mainly in making the company look like a group of extraordinarily intelligent people seeking to "do good and do well". If this doesn’t sound like your typical media company it’s because it’s not.
Those of a certain age will recall when IBM was supposed to swallow the earth whole (not to be confused with Whole Earth). Then it was Microsoft . OK, now it’s Google . The downside of one corporate entity with so much power, of course, is that so many startups want to invent something for the sole purpose of peddling it to Google. But think back ten years: same thing was happening with Microsoft. Now consider Microsoft today. It’s not particularly adored, but neither does it strike fear into as many hearts as it once did.
As far as how to do a product intro? Hey, if you’re Google, or Microsoft, you can pretty much do this any way you want. You’re going to attract a large crowd into a very large tent no matter what. If your market capitalization is south of a trillion dollars, however, you might start this process by identifying the epicenter of the specific target you’re trying to impress, and then impress it with the compelling, one-of-a-kind nature of what you’re introducing. What, exactly, would most favorably impress these people? First, get them to tell you how they want to be talked to in the first place. There are web-based applications that enable and encourage them to converse with you right on your own site. You'd be amazed what you can learn and how this alone can influence your priorities.
Caution: this is a non-trivial exercise and it lies at the very heart of your selling initiatives. Proceed with care and thoughtful analysis. It forces you to pinpoint your first buyers and give them compelling reasons to pay attention to you.
Tip on media relations: don’t fall for anyone telling you their best buds are A-list bloggers and that Walt Mossberg (http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/) of the Wall Street Journal is on speed dial. Journalists want two things and they don’t care who delivers it: a irresistible story they can sell to their editor(s), and immediate access to people who can give them everything they want in terms of the details. Period. Oh – and the 80/20 rule applies here: A fifth of the media and analysts on your list will expose you to four-fifths of your most influential audience.
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