

Ask HN: What are the pros and cons of "building buzz" before launch? - eoghan

We're about to launch a new product.<p>The approach we're most confortable with is that of a fairly soft launch: announce the product via Twitter when it's live and ready to rock and take it from there.<p>But after spending time with a lot of people I respect here in San Francisco, I'm starting to question that. Most people I speak with advice me to build buzz, hype, drop hints about the product, launch a teaser / holding page, etc.<p>Would love to know your thoughts on this please.
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wmboy
There are no cons, only pros (that is, if you want to maximise the number of
users that sign up)!

Building buzz is nothing more than a part of marketing, something which every
business should be doing. You can think of building buzz as the marketing you
should be doing before your product is available to the public.

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latch
Not my field of knowledge...but isn't setting expectations and then failing to
meet them a potential danger?

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wmboy
Sure, setting false expectations will obviously do yourself a disservice. Not
quite sure what your comment means with regards to building buzz and doing
pre-launch marketing?

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rawsyntax
The only con is that if you build buzz you have to launch reasonably soon. If
you blow the deadline, then it's difficult to build buzz a second time.

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wmboy
You should be able to carry the buzz through for a while, if you have to delay
shipping. i.e. keep people updated via your blog/email list with promises that
the wait "will be worth it" etc...

