Pitch Perfect: The Art of Promoting Your App on the Web

The Must-Have Promotion Guide for Every App and Hardware Developer! Developing your product took lots of hard work over months, nights, and weekends filled with blood, sweat, and tears. Don’t abandon it now. Shower your app with the quality promotion it deserves! Erica Sadun and Steve Sande help you earn strong app reviews that can transform sales from lackluster to blockbuster. As leading tech bloggers, they know exactly what reviewers are looking for. Now, they deliver simple step-by-step advice to position your product, build key relationships, and sell your story. Packed with real case studies from their overflowing inboxes, they reveal where developers can go wrong and when they’ve gotten it right. Great tech promotion doesn’t need to cost a lot. You can do it yourself, even if you’ve never marketed anything before. It just takes a little time, thought, and the skills you learn in this book. • Peek behind the curtain to learn how web review sites really work • Get your product into shape and ready for your marketing push • Craft great pitches that sell your excitement and explain your product’s key features and appeal • Lead reviewers “by the hand” with simple, succinct language • Avoid common mistakes that kill your chances for a review • Create the essential PR support material your product needs • Respond productively to both good and negative coverage • Keep bloggers in the loop about what you’ll be doing next Includes exclusive worksheets and checklists for: • Profiling potential customers • Evaluating competitors • Estimating market size • Writing and checking your pitch • Tracking and targeting bloggers

Table of Contents:
Preface     xviii Who This Book Is For     xviii Why Pitch Perfect     xviii    How This Book Is Organized     xx 1 How Blogs Work     1 A Typical Day at a Major Blog     2    Review Requests     2 Smaller Blogs     4    Making Sausage: How Reviews Happen     4    What Do Bloggers Look For?     5    Why Do Bloggers Review?     6    Attracting Readers     7    Providing Criticism     7    How Do Bloggers Perform Evaluations?     8 Performing the Review     9    What About Accessories and Other Hardware?     10 Elements of Review     10    Graphics and Design     12    User Interface     12    Value     13    Utility     14    Settings     14    Options     15    Features     16    Finish     16 How Much Time Is Spent Reviewing Each Product?     17    What Kind of Timeline Crunch Are Reviewers Under?     18    How Long Does It Take to Tell You’re Trying Out a Lemon?     19 What Kinds Of Reviews Do Bloggers Write?     19    First Look     20    Overview     20    Hands On     20    In Depth     20 Choosing a Review Type     21 Why Blog Reviews Matter     21 Marketing Realities     23 Wrapping Up     24 2 The Attractive Product     27 Product Definition     28    Who Is Your Customer?     28    What Problem Does It Solve?     29    How Does It Pop?     29 What Makes a Good Product?     30    They Have Awesome and Easily Understood User Interfaces     30    They Empower Users to Do Something     31    They Change to Meet a User’s Needs     32    Successful Developers Know Their Markets     32    They Are Polished     33    They Keep Current     33    They Are Relevant     33 Why Good Interface Design Matters     34 Refining the Product     35    Beta Testing Your App     36 Falling in Love with Your Product     37 Nondisclosures, Embargos, and Exclusives     38 Competing Against the Big Guys     39 Building in Self-Promotion     40 Wrapping Up     42 3 Crafting Your Pitch     43 Designing the Pitch     44 Essential Pitch Components     45    A Motivating Subject Line     45    Product Name     45    Product Price     46    Links     46    Screenshots     47    Video     48    Description     49    Feature List     50    Contact Information     50 A Sample Pitch     51 Remind Us Who You Are     52 Capturing Attention Through the Subject Line     53    The Subject Line’s Role     53    Good Subject Lines     54    Why Subject Lines Fail     55    Subjects for Non-Review Pitches     56 Promo Codes     57    How to Send Promo Codes     59    Creating a Product Link     60    Creating a Company Link     61    Tokens for Mac     62    Going Free     63 Differences Between Hardware and Software Pitches     64    Design     64    Value     66    Functionality     66 Hardware Pricing     67 Video Gold     67 Hardware Review Logistics     68 Benchmarks     69 A Word About Kickstarter     70    Case Study: The Une Bobine Video     71    Common Hardware Product Categories     72    Cases     72    Headphones/Earphones     73    Docks     73    Speakers     74    Drives     75    Power Supplies (Batteries, Chargers, Car Chargers)     75    Camera Accessories     76    Books/Ebooks     77    Cables and Gizmos     78 Hardware Pitches     79 Wrapping Up     79 4 Pitching Do’s and Don’ts     81 Know the Site     82    DO Address Requests to Specific Bloggers     82    DO Aim for Series Posts     83    DO Consider Being a Podcast Guest     84    DO Consider Non-Review Posts     84 Scheduling Out     86    DO Provide Specific Dates and Timelines     86    DO Bring Up the Topic of Exclusive First Looks     87    DO NOT Jump the Gun     87 Leverage Personality     87    DO Offer Access     88    DO NOT Hijack Conversations to Pitch Your App     88    DO Listen When the Blogger Offers Feedback     89    DO Be Friendly     89    DO NOT Subscribe Us to Your Personal Email List     90 Communicate Well     91    DO Leverage Success     91    DO NOT Name Drop Celebrities Unless You’re Getting VC Funding     91    DO NOT Snitch on Competitors     92    DO Know Who You’re Writing To     92    DO Avoid the “Ugly Sister” Scenario     93    DO Use Native Review     93 Checking In     94    DO NOT Harass the Blogger     95    DO NOT Spam Bloggers     95    DO NOT Presume That a Promo Code Request Leads to a Review      97    DO Presume That a Tangible Product Request Leads to Coverage     97    DO NOT Expect a Reply     98    DO Jump on Replies     98    DO NOT Resubmit Your App Pitches     98 Watching Your Timing     99    DO Accommodate Current Events     99    DO Build Opportunities     99 Gaming the System     100    DO NOT Astroturf     100    DO NOT Offer to Pay for a Review or Prioritize Your Product     100    DO NOT Try to Make Us Pity You     101    DO NOT Pretend to “Just Be a Customer” and Talk About a Product You Just “Discovered”     102    DO NOT Quote Reviews Out of Context     102    DO NOT Specify “Terms” for Your Review     102    DO NOT Lie and Mislead     103 Avoiding Offense     103    DO NOT Be Racist, Sexist, Etc.     103    DO NOT Burn Bridges     104 Submitting Through Channels     104    End Run Exceptions     105 When to Pitch     106    Dealing with Apple Review Headaches     107 Wrapping Up     109 5 Case Studies     111 Case Study: Short But Sweet     112 Case Study: The Solid Query     112 Case Study: The Professional Pitch     113 Case Study: The Lost Holiday Opportunity     115 Case Study: The Meh Pitch     115 Case Study: The Completely Inappropriate Pitch That Made Us Smile     116 Case Study: Winning by Charm     117 Case Study: Completely Missing the Mark     119 Case Study: The Perils of Autocorrect     119 Case Study: Buzzwords     120 Case Study: Not Enough Detail     122 Case Study: The WTF We Don’t Even Pitch     123 Case Study: The Pitch That Got Away     123 Case Study: Don’t Submit Multiple Products All at Once     124 Case Study: Machine Translation     124 Case Study: Avoid Unspecific Bullets     125 Case Study: The Excellent Response     126 Case Study: The Pitch Rewrite     127    The Original Pitch     128    The Rewrite     130 Case Study: Remembering That the App Is the Hero     130 Case Study: The Twitter Pitch     131 Final Tips: Avoiding Grandiosity     132 Wrapping Up     134 6 Preparing for PR     135 Get Your Product into Shape     135 Prepare Your Marketing Text     137 Choose Strong Branding     137 Website Essentials     138    Add a “Contact Us” Link     139    Take Care with Company Branding     140 Creating a Reviewer’s Guide     142    The Tao of Reviewer’s Guides     143 About Press Releases     144 Preparing That All-Important Product Video     145    Recording Videos     146    Good Demo Videos Qualities     147    Editing Videos     147    Tightening Your Pitch Video     148    Video Music     149    Posting Videos     150    The Live Demo     150 Preparing Review Materials     152    Do You Want the Product Back?     152    Should You Include Other Items in the Package?     152    Should You Submit Full Copies or Time-Limited Demos?     152 Social Media     153    Be Interactive     154    Be Diplomatic     154    Don’t Be Hostile     154    Be Human     154    Be Focused     154    Be Informative     154    Be Active     155    Use Automatic Posting Tools     155    Cover All Possible Outlets     155    Be Giving     155 Wrapping Up     156 7 The Care and Feeding of Your Blogger     157 Establishing Relationships with Bloggers     157    Be Patient and Persistent     158    Be Understanding     158    Accept Criticism Graciously     158    Advocate for Yourself     159    Be Human      159    Be Available     159    Be Aware of the Blogger’s Focus     160 The “Be a Decent Human Being” Rule     160 Responding to Reviews–Both Good and Bad     161    Handling Good Reviews     162    Responding to Negative Reviews     162    Inconsistent Reviews     163    Incorrect Facts     163    Using Comments     163 Why Wasn’t My Product Reviewed?     165 Wrapping Up     166 8 Worksheets and Checklists     167 Know Your Customer: Developing a Customer Profile     167    Worksheet 1: Likely Customer Overview     168 Competitive Analysis     169    Worksheet 2: Evaluating Competition     169 Potential Market Size Calculation     170    Worksheet 3: Market Size Calculation Worksheet     173 Pitch Checklists     173    Worksheet 4: Checking Your Subject Line     174    Worksheet 5: Checking Your Pitch     174 Reviewer’s Guide Checklist     175    Worksheet 6: Essential Reviewer’s Guide Elements     175 Blogger Relationship Database     175    Worksheet 7: Blogger Contact Details     175 Wrapping Up     176 Index     177

About the Author :
Erica Sadun (@ericasadun) writes lots of books and blogs at TUAW. When not writing, she’s a full-time parent of geeks who are brushing up on their world domination skills. According to her academic dosimeter, she’s acquired more education than any self-respecting person might consider wise. She enjoys deep-diving into technology and has written, co-written, and contributed to dozens of books about computing and digital media. Sadun has also blogged at Ars Technica, O’Reilly, and Lifehacker. Steve Sande (@stevensande) is considering an intervention to heal his addiction to writing. He’s the Hardware Editor at TUAW and has written millions of words for the blog. Steve has authored numerous books for Que, Take Control Books, and Apress, is married to a rocket scientist, and spends his days being bossed around by a cat. His gray beard and baseball cap can be seen every Wednesday afternoon at 5 PM ET on TUAW TV Live (http://www.tuaw.com/tag/tuawtvlive). Sadun and Sande are the founders of Sand Dune Books and co-authors of the best-selling Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple’s Intelligent Assistant