120 Days of Retail: Day 42 - New Marketing Plan for ListIt Launch

With v1 of the ListIt MVP coming next Sunday April 23, 2023, I had to give some thought this weekend as to the marketing strategy.

The whole thing about a 2-sided marketplace is that there's a network effect- where if you have stores but no shoppers the service is worthless- and if you have shoppers but no stores it's also worthless. But if you have both, the more either one grows the greater the value to the other side of the market.

So how to get past the "cold start problem" as it's called? Different founders take different approaches. Some cold email lots of businesses. Others, like the founders of Pinterest, take more outlandish approaches like going into every Apple store and putting their website on each iPad and iPhone. The Airbnb founders made cereal to make fun of the McCain-Obama election and raise funds for their fledgling product.

I think I'll start by talking to businesses after a rough first version of the product is made. After we get some folks to say yes and sign up, I'll need to do some marketing to get the word out to shoppers.

But how? Luckily, Bay Ridge is a dense neighborhood. We'll make it clear to customers that the benefit of using ListIt is in our new catchphrase-

"Why Wait for Amazon? Shop local stores online and pick up same day."

Beyond the catchphrase, there will be a new QR code for them to get started, and a ribbon of products at the top and bottom of a sticker or flyer advertising the service. It will say categories of items available on ListIt like "Clothes. Shoes. Watches. Jewelry." and "Hardware. Car Parts. Tools. Electronics."
There will also be subtitle texting which reads "Now available in 11209, 11220, and 11228"
What else could you ask to get the point across?

ListIt is the Buy Online Pickup In-Store solution for local retailers. It’s free and takes only seconds to upload your first product. We’re launching April 2023. Have questions? Reach out to me directly at james@listit.one and be sure to check out our website for updates and the beta product sign-up. Coming this April, 2023!