Create and execute launch plans for key Sherlock features, leveraging Product Hunt as a growth channel
For both launches, leads doubled a week after the launch
Both launch plans consisted of a landing page, email, social, community outreach, ads, Product Hunt and content
Positioning, Copy, End-to-End Design, Hacky Frontend Coding, Social, Collaborations
Sherlock Slack Alerts was my first ever feature release. I researched competitors (or those with similar products like troops.ai), internalized their branding and messaging, and then figured out how we were different and the same.
I developed the messaging, wrote and designed a landing page (right) and social copy, and then put it all out into the world.
The initial Product Hunt launch was underwhelming. Sherlock was young and the value prop of the product wasn't well-defined. The email and social following wasn't there for a full-scale launch. And, quite honestly, I had no idea what I was doing.
I later learned timing is everything with Product Hunt. And low expectations (but that's irrelevant).
We took the feature and revamped it several months later. We combined Alerts with connections to HubSpot/Intercom that we had built in the meantime and added in a Webhooks connection. Repacked the entire thing, called it Actions, and relaunched it (both on Product Hunt and elsewhere). This time I was ready.
I started early, creating listing graphics that highlighted the value props and a launch schedule that made sure we would be able to get our entire following to upvote us. I woke up at 5AM on the morning of the launch and posted in our community Slack group. I scheduled the email for early enough. I tweeted and shouted on social throughout the day. Yes, it was shameless, but it worked (at least better than the previous time). Before, we had only managed to 1.2x our web traffic and not affect our lead number at all. This time, we were able to double both those numbers.
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to play favorites, but Sherlock Stories was my favorite Sherlock feature. The CTO and I came up with the idea during a virtual coffee session and I was instantly in love. Who wouldn't be? Forget the chance to use buzzwords like machine learning — Sherlock Stories was everything this nerdy marketing girl could want. It had the promise of the future, the humanizing of data, and (best of all) the brand. Come on in, let us tell you a story. What better way to honor our namesake, Sherlock!
There weren't any competitors to research, although I did read quite a bit about machine learning and how others talked about it (especially when it wasn't "true" machine learning).
Again, I developed the messaging, wrote and designed a landing page (right) and social copy, and then put it all out into the world.
And again, I started early, creating listing graphics (below) that highlighted the value props and a launch schedule that made sure we would be able to get our entire following to upvote us. I woke up at 5AM on the morning of the launch and posted in our community Slack group. I scheduled the email for early enough. I tweeted and shouted on social throughout the day.
I was fortunate (or smart) enough to plan the Product Hunt launch on the same day as the OpenView conference. Tweeting throughout the day with their hashtag gave us a lot more views on our content overall, which in turn gave us a lot more views on the few Stories-related tweets I snuck in.
Either way, it worked much better than Actions, Alerts, or anything we'd done previously. We 2.2x our web traffic and doubled our leads. Plus we made it to the first page of Product Hunt for the day!
Key lesson