Product Marketing Built By Community
When GoPro started in 2009, our timing could not have been better. The social media tailwind was in full force, and we had the perfect product to capture video to share online. For example, the increase in GoPro sales directly mirrored the rate of views on YouTube. Likewise, our first product marketing success is “Fireman Kitty,” a viral video from a fireman who saved a cat from a burning house.
We learned three important lessons from our first viral video. First, we recognized the value of user-generated content in defining our brand and product. Second, we learned that our customers could do a better job at marketing than we could. Finally, we discovered that our product was built not just for the person filming. The audience who watches our content is just as important to the success of our business.
In order to engage with our audience, we shifted our product strategy to be built by our community. To an extent, it can be very scary to give up control of your brand. However, we recognized that our community was vital to the success of our business. As a result, we formed our product roadmaps and planning process around our user’s preferences.
For example, our customers take GoPro cameras to places that we’ve never considered. This fuels great content and also gives us inspiration for new product applications. Because our community drives itself in many ways, we are able to develop more content around influencers and athletes to involve more people. Simply put, people follow other people – and we focused our product marketing around these influencers to expand our reach.
In the end, our community creates a virtuous cycle of content and engagement from our users. This has taken GoPro to heights that we could never have imagined.
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