I think this can still be considered an intermediate MVP that can be tested. The goal of lean is to eliminate waste, so there is a risk that an MVP with working code has no demand whatsoever.
One drawback to this approach is that it may give you false negatives. What if you landing page copy doesn't work or your AdWords copy is wrong? As with all lean/custdev hacks ymmv. Bottom line is you need to find customers to talk to, otherwise everything is an assumption.
i don't disagree that there's value in using this stuff. a lot of value. but doing only this is not an MVP. "P" = product, something you're selling, something people are using.
there should be another name for this. MVI maybe? minimum viable idea?
Wikipedia's article on mvp (I know, I know), includes this:
>The canonical MVP strategy for a web application is to create a mock website for the product and purchase online advertising to direct traffic to the site. The mock website may consist of a marketing landing page with a link for more information or purchase. The link is not connected to a purchasing system, instead clicks are recorded and measure customer interest.
the wikipedia article seems to me to be referring to an MVP more as a process, and the smoke testing by creating mock websites as one part of that process.
i can agree with that, on some level, but i still feel that to have a complete MVP (process), you necessarily have to have a P at the end of it.