introduction
An up-and-coming company developing leading-edge technology invested close to two years creating the best possible product. The features of their product were great, the design was great, and investors were enthusiastic. When launch day finally arrived, there was little awareness of the product being available. This has nothing to do with the product and everything to do with how the company marketed itself.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of new products are added to the marketplace. However, only a small percentage of new products will have any success. In today’s very competitive and busy online world, even a great new product may never generate any revenue unless it is supported with an effective marketing plan. Developing and executing a structured launch is essential; a structured launch dictates whether your product will create momentum or fade into obscurity.
In this article, we will examine how to market your new product through the ultimate launching check-list for new products. To gain success for a new product, it is critical to have the following three components of a successful marketing plan: (1) create a solid pre-launch foundation, (2) develop and implement a high-impact launch program, and (3) create long-term growth strategies through continuing development of your post-launch metrics.
Establish a Solid Foundation Prior to Launch
In advance of running ads or publishing social content, the real work is done. Successful marketing efforts begin prior to launch day; they begin with clarity of purpose.
Define and Identify Your Target Audience and Product Positioning
When products fail, they frequently do so because they have been created for everybody. By precisely targeting the audience, marketing messages will resonate better with the audience that receives them.
Steps to take:
Develop Buyer Personas: Who are the individuals that make up your target audience? What are their demographics (gender, age, income, etc.)? What do they like to do? What are their goals? What are their pain points?
Identify The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) For Your Product: What is it about your product that makes it meaningfully different than your competitors?
Analyze Competitor Products and Identify Gaps: Be sure to identify areas of opportunity where your brand will be able to differentiate itself from your competitors versus copying their methods.
Example:
When Slack entered the workplace communication space, they did not position themselves solely as just another messaging platform. Instead, they marketed themselves as a productivity solution that reduced internal emails—something that every organization could understand.
Validate Demand Prior to Launching Your Product
- Traditional marketing models have viewed product launches as “big reveals.” New-age marketing sees product launches as “informed rollouts.”
- To validate demand prior to launching a product, consider implementing the following techniques:
- Beta test with a limited number of users
- Create a landing page that measures early interest
- Create a waitlist to gauge interest
- Conduct surveys about product feedback
This approach reduces any potential risk while turning initial users of your product into long-term advocates.
Differentiating Your Marketing Plan From Outdated Launch Models
Outdated marketing models relied on guesswork and mass advertising. In the current data-rich environment, proper planning will reward marketing campaigns and improved communication to targeted audiences.
Use a High-Impact Launch Strategy
- A launch day should feel like the culmination of an elaborate marketing plan rather than just another event.
- Integrated Marketing Campaigns
- After an initial touchpoint, customers usually make several more before making a final purchase.
A successful launch often includes:
- Blogs/Videos/FAQs created for content marketing
- Email drip campaigns
- Influencer collaborations
- Social media ads
- Paid ads
Example: Apple does not use just a single touch point for its product launches. This includes keynote addresses, press coverage, digital efforts and retail opportunities. Thus creating a cultural event around your product rather than a product release.
Use Stories to Evoke Emotion
- Features give information; stories provide motivation. Show transformation versus only stating specs.
- For example, instead of stating, “The battery lasts 20 hours”;
- State, “You can work, travel and be creative all day long without having to look for an outlet.”
- Emotion increases recollection and recollection influences buying behaviour.
- Create a Sense of Urgency with Scarcity and Momentum.
Psychology is involved in marketing; you can use various strategies that trigger urgency to buy without being an aggressive seller. Some strategies are:
- Limited time offers
- Exclusive early access
- Founder’s pricing
- Countdown campaigns
- All of these strategies lead to instant urgency.
What’s Changed with Launches?
Traditional product marketing’s focus was on reach; modern product marketing’s focus is on engagement.
Instead of asking, “How many saw this,’ marketers now ask, “How many wanted to buy this?’
Optimizing Challenges After Launch
For many businesses, their launch date is thought to be the culmination; however, it is much closer to the starting point.
- Long term marketing leaders are flexible.
- Measure Success not Looks
- Vanity metrics do not demonstrate if something is working or not; for example large volumes of impressions do not correlate to increased revenue.
Measure your marketing success by the following outcomes:
- Cost of acquiring a new customer (CAC)
- Conversion rates
- Customer retention
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)
- Net promoter score (NPS)
Demonstrating that you are bringing the right audience to your marketing channels not just a large volume of users.
- Grow Your Customer Base into Your Sales Force
- Word-of-mouth is still one of the best forms of marketing.
Create customers who will do the marketing for you through:
- Referrals
- Promoting their content
- Demonstrating results from your product
- Offering customer rewards for referrals
Dropbox used this strategy by providing incentives for users who referred new people and consequently drove massive growth for them.
- Constantly Improve Your Positioning
- As businesses evolve over time so will their marketing position.
Post-launch optimization should include:
- A/B Testing
- Creative asset refresh
- Pricing optimization
- Channel exploration
Successful marketing organizations treat their strategy as a living document rather than a set in stone format.
Today’s Advantage
Marketers today have access to real-time data and analytics which allows them to make quick pivots instead of finding out why something didn’t work after the fact.
calculation
it takes much more than just having enthusiasm for the launch of a new product to be successful; structure, insight, and adaptability are also required. The most effective launch strategy begins with a solid foundation before your product enters the market, focuses on execution via coordinated launch efforts, then uses post-launch optimization to ensure continued success.
Organizations that invest in knowing their audience, developing an integrated marketing campaign, and tracking performance will have a huge competitive advantage over other companies who use nothing but gut instinct for their decisions.
In the future, product launches will likely become increasingly competitive as digital channels continue to expand and consumer service expectations continue to rise — those companies that treat marketing as a strategic discipline rather than a carry-over activity will be the ones who attract all the attention and loyalty of consumers.
Take action now!
Before you launch your next product, take time to assess your overall readiness for the launch. Develop excitement about the upcoming release of the product by building quality anticipation as well as telling a compelling story; measure performance continuously, and make adjustments frequently to improve results. Great products deserve great marketing — and your launch can serve as a driving force behind a successful product by following the suggested checklist.