The main criticism I’ve gotten on my last post is that I didn’t really say what I’d do better.  This post is to try to alleviate that.  I’m going to write, very roughly, what I would have tried to say.  But before I do let me just make my point right here: Announcing a product is about selling that product, if you don’t sell it to your intended customers then you’re just wasting the effort.

That said, below is my very quickly written rough draft of the points I’d try to hit if I were Scott Guthrie making that post.  In italics is me explaining why I’d hit those specific points.

Hi,

Here at Microsoft we have two goals.  First, to make great products that people want to use.  Second, to convince developers like yourself that our products are worth using. 

Yes, it seems a little cheesy.  I’ll admit that.  But that’s sort of the point.  What you’re trying to do here is to (a) humanize yourself while (b) lowering yourself to a level below the person you’re trying to sell to (the last sentence is basically a socially acceptable way of bowing and saying “we’re not worthy”).  No one ever closed a deal by trying to be cooler than the person they’re selling to.

Today we’re introducing a program called WebsiteSpark which we hope will accomplish the second goal.  It’s basically a way for you to get free development software, support and business resources from Microsoft.  In giving you this we hope to prove to you that our tools are not only worthy of your business but the best available tools for what you want to accomplish.

Honestly, I personally would prefer not to reveal what the program is this quickly and if it was a one-on-one sale I wouldn’t.  But people on the web tend to get annoyed if you don’t get to the point quickly which necessitates putting this info out there up front.  Again notice the subdued tone.  If you’re trying to win new customers you’re coming in at a disadvantage because they’re already using something else.  So you don’t want to get in their face because that will push them back into the arms of your competitor.

Before getting to what software this program specifically includes I want to point you to a few studies.  These studies were conducted by independent agencies and compared our development tools to other leading tools in the space. 

<Insert Studies Here>

We’ve also prepared some cost analysis so you can see how much you’d save in implementation costs between the WebsiteSpark Program and a Linux/Apache based solution.

<Insert Cost Analysis Here>

This is the crux of my argument.  My biggest problem with how ScottGu introduced this program is that he didn’t give any reasons why people would want to switch to Microsoft tools.  He just said “we’re giving them away for free" which again, to me, says “we think you’re stupid enough to jump to our platform based solely on the word free".”  That’s not the way to start a new business relationship.

If you’ve come this far in the post we hope you are at least considering Microsoft Development Tools for your next project.  Remember, we’re not asking you to switch this very second.  Just give us a chance and see what we can offer.  That’s what the WebSiteSpark program is all about.  Giving you a “no money down” way to try our tools and see what we have to offer. 

Speaking of which, let’s go over what WebSiteSpark Includes:

I’m not going to put the list here but I did want to make a point about the list.  In it he makes no attempt to sell the actual products.  He just lists them as if people who aren’t Microsoft Developers are going to know exactly what they are and what advantages they represent (which is unlikely with products like Expression Blend that aren’t commonly known among open source developers). 

When you’re trying to sell someone on something you have to give them all the information they’ll need to make a decision.  Don’t expect them to go hunt down the details themselves.

One last thing I would have added…

One last note to our friends in the development community that advocate for other tools.  We understand a lot of you look on Microsoft with suspicion.  We accept that and even own up to causing it to a large extent.  We’re not asking you to trust us right off the bat.  But again, the tools are free.  So why not try them out and over the next few years see how we act towards you.  See how we’re open to starting a dialogue about your concerns and how we’re willing to work with you to address those concerns.  If you do I think you’ll find we’re a trustworthy partner to have.

And that’s about it.  I actually don’t have anything on the disclaimer section.  It’s fine as disclaimers go so this ends my little virtual post.  I’m not saying what I put above is great and if I was actually making the post I’d spend days going over the exact wording to make sure I really nailed it.  But hopefully it at least makes the point that announcing something is about selling it not just about telling people of it’s existence. 

If you don’t sell the thing you might as well not release it at all.