How do you generate excitement about a new product or pattern? What can you do to build buzz in advance of a product launch so that the day your product goes live customers are clamoring to your shop to get what you've got to offer?
A lot goes in to orchestrating a successful product launch and there's always lessons to learn for next time. Today I'm excited to bring you a panel discussion on this topic. We have five indie designers on the panel and each one has a good deal of product launch experiences to share.
Let's meet the panelists:
- Stacey Trock of FreshStitches – Stacey designs crochet patterns for stuffed animals.
- Mollie Johansen of Wild Olive – Mollie designs embroidery patterns.
- Betz White – Betz designs sewing patterns of all sorts with an emphasis on repurposed and organic materials.
- Wendi Gratz of Shiny Happy World – Wendi designs sewing patterns for quilts and softies especially suited for beginners.
- and me, Abby Glassenberg – I design sewing patterns for stuffed animals and dolls.
We've collected questions from Twitter and Facebook friends all week and we are excited to delve into the topic of how to successfully build buzz about new products! If you have a question or comment during the live chat, tweet us with the hashtag #buildingbuzz. And if you're watching the discussion as a recording and have a question or comment, go ahead and leave it here in the comments and one of us will respond!
Okay, let's chat!
Great conversation! So helpful to hear the different ways folks promo, and when, etc. Especially helpful to know there’s not just one “right way”. But also shows me I need to try lots of different things to find one that works. Thanks so much to everyone on the panel!
Thank you so much for watching, Rachel!
Thanks guys, this was really interesting to listen too. Very interesting to hear the different approaches & different results you all get as well as some great tips. I guess what I mostly got from it is that there are a few things to watch out for, like sharing too much too soon can have drawbacks, but apart from that just give different things ago because it may work for you, but if it doesn’t then just move on & try something else.
Thanks for sharing đŸ™‚
Its interesting to hear what people take away from the chat. I think the reality is there are many ways to be successful in business and, given that selling things online is still a fairly new, its all about experimentation and trying to keep things fresh. Pushing yourself to try a new format or release things in a new, dynamic way, is what its all about. Thanks for your comment, Mignon.
Hello Abby, I am so happy with the work that you put on your blog and how you build community and share information with the rest of us. As per your suggestion I started listening to the Yarn Thing podcast and I get the feeling that in the yarn industry things are more “established”, for the lack of a better term… maybe it’s because knitting had a resurgence a bit earlier than sewing.
I am an enthusiastic sewer/creative homemaker and a wannabe sewing pattern maker and seller. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this conversation, you all gave great tips and it was so interesting to find out what has worked and what hasn’t and to have a little peek backstage.
Thank you so much!
Hi Constanca,
Thank you so much for watching the video. Im really glad you found it to be interesting. Several people have suggested to me that because knitting had an earlier resurgence it is more established now than sewing. I dont really know if thats true or not, not being a knitter and not having such a broad time perspective. I am putting together another top 10 podcast posts because Ive recently found several more Id like to share!
Hi Abby, just watched the video and although it is 3 years old now it is still very interesting. I really liked your part in it about you building up suspention before a launch with a series of blog posts. And afterwards add ons. Brilliant! It gave me so much ideas. Thanks again for teaching a newbie the tricks if the trade.
Thanks for watching!