Launch your product like a boss!
What makes your product launch campaign look like a success?
Sales!
Yes, you read it right!
Sales are the immediate indicator that your product launch is a victory.
The goal of most of the companies is to get strong sales results but there are more to consider when looking at effective product launches.
When you think about product launches, you may think of some top smartphone companies like Apple, Samsung featuring the next-generation Tablet or Gadgets on an event or perhaps your mind is drawn to a particularly memorable piece of billboard advertising.
But when your company isn’t yet a big player like Apple or Microsoft and you might not have the capital for a huge print campaign then what are the other best ways to get anyone’s attention in today’s ultra-competitive landscape?
Careful measuring and monitoring are required to gain real insights which lead to a flourishing product launch.
Other goals such as increasing your brand awareness and follower base, grabbing the opportunities to create a brand identity, ensuring the long-term growth and success are equally essential while planning for product launches.
Here are some tips to consider while going ahead with a product launch:
A. Start with developing your buyer persona
The first thing that will come into your mind is the target audience. But beyond the target audience, you have to create a personality which describes the audience’s goals, needs, challenges, pain points, and motivations. And this in-depth description will further help you going ahead with the marketing activities.
But, how do you create your buyer persona?
For that, you can Interview a few people who fit into your target audience or prepare a survey form and collect the required details to create your buyer persona.
B. Be informed of the competitive price point
You should always keep an eye on your competitor’s pricing to weigh the balance between competitive and value-focused pricing and consequently creating a better pricing strategy.
Moreover, your pricing strategy should essentially include the need to return profits.
C. Think about your product launch type
Hard launch and Soft launch, these are the two primary launch types.
A hard product launch puts your product out to your entire target market right away, while a soft launch introduces it in waves.
For some businesses, you might require getting the traction quickly, at that time; Hard Launch is effective & preferable.
In contrast, a soft launch approach will provide you with a way to create viral interest through positive reviews and influencers.
D. Prepare a marketing plan
Start with designing an effective marketing plan which should be addressed, detailed and timely measured.
You should set your product launch marketing goals, decide on which all channels to target, your tactics and empathic content marketing.
Make sure your social media promotion plan for your product launch includes:
a. Pre-launch hype –
· The timeline should be 4–5 days before the launch day. For example, Coming Soon Banners, 2 days to go for our new product to hit the market, etc.
· Plan for some offers or contest to keep your engagement rate high till the day of launch.
b. Launch day –
· Post some Product launch banners with the new features, what is the uniqueness that you are offering to your audience.
c. Post-launch follow-up –
· Keep promoting the new products and their benefits, features. You can ask your customers to share their honest reviews on your site or social media and you can post them to your social media pages. Using customer reviews in your advertisements build trust and most of the conversions are also seen by these ads.
d. Integrate your new product into your regular content schedule and plan the activities to keep up the momentum.
E. Prepare a perfect sales pitch
Your sales pitch or your message should be focused on solving the pain points of your audience.
There might be hundreds of similar products in the market but you need to highlight the value of how your solution may help them promptly compared to your competition.
F. Make customer your brand ambassadors and product advocates
Remember, a short-term investment can also lead to a big profit, just make sure that your approach is in the right direction.
The approaches like these could involve samples, advanced use, or a trial period with a follow-up review.
Do not hesitate to give away your product samples for free.
People like to try new things and if it’s for free then they would like to review the products too.
So, the chances are that people will share the reviews (either bad or good) and it will create a buzz in the market.
Consequently, the top publications might approach you to cover your product success story.
When you work with online influencers, it provides access to an even larger part of your target audience and most of the effort being already done on your behalf.
There are many successful product launch stories, sharing these two amazing stories —
1. Harry’s — The Company is known for its subscription service where customers receive new razor blades, shaving cream, and other grooming products by mail.
Harry’s biggest selling point is simple: they offer custom-made razor blades at affordable prices — cheaper than more well-known alternatives.
But if you think cheaper is equal to more customers then you are wrong!
People still need to be convinced.
Harry’s did (and still does) this convincing with a trial offer featured prominently on its website and in social media ads which then drive traffic to a landing page.
The simple tactic has helped the company grow into a giant of online retailing with three million monthly recurring customers and counting, and $200 million in revenue in 2017 alone.
The learning we take from this is “Create a trial offer.”
By this, the ball is fully in the customer’s court. If they try it and don’t like it, they don’t have to buy it. They’re interested enough to try the product, which means they’re open to hearing more about what you have to offer. Just make it simple for them to access the offer!
2. Unsplash — is a website dedicated to sharing stock photography under the Unsplash license.
As a way to thank the photographers who contributed photos to help this site, Unsplash launched a Kickstarter campaign for a book featuring inspiring photos and essays from creators.
By getting influencers involved, the goal for the campaign exceeded its target by $25,000.
What you can do is “Partner with influencers”.
70% of millennial consumers are influenced by the recommendations of their peers in buying decisions and as per research, the ROI of influencer content is 11X greater than traditional campaigns.
So, next time you plan for the product launch campaign then try to consider these important points and you will observe a significant increase in your sales.
Try these tips and let me know what worked for you.
Thank you for your reading and do share this post!
Author: Akanksha Bohra
