by Joshua Hobson
Launching a new product is an exciting new venture for any business. A new product or range has the potential to boost sales, increase brand awareness and add an additional revenue stream for your company. But if you don’t have a strategic marketing plan behind a launch, a new product could flop.
The key to a successful launch is an integrated strategy. One channel alone will not do enough to really sell your product; you have to take advantage of all of your marketing assets. Here are just a few platforms you may want to use and how you could use them to spread the word about your new venture.
Social Media Campaign
A strategic social plan with a content calendar and an intriguing hashtag can generate some pre-launch buzz and interest.
Facebook and Twitter are popular sites you can use to get the word out and announce your new product but you could also use Snapchat or YouTube to be a bit more creative with your announcement.
Cosmetics company, NARS, used the Snapchat app to offer a sneak peak of one of their newest collections and the very nature of the platform means that it’s unlikely that the content can be copied and released elsewhere - creating an exclusive space and offering additional intrigue.
Competitions are not only a good way of attracting interest but also collecting email addresses and building a social following. Read more about how you can use competitions to grow your business here.
For any new product launch, social media is a great place to start.
PR and Stories
Your new product launch may be a story that is worth reading. If it is, getting some coverage in local news or in industry publications can be a good way of increasing brand awareness and making sure that as many relevant people are exposed to your brand story as possible.
Launch Events
Launch events can be a useful opportunity for meeting customers and press in person to talk through your new product - and when it comes down to it, they can be enjoyable and fun experiences for all involved.
Holding demos, answering questions, taking bookings and encouraging social sharing can all be powerful strategies for pushing your customers down the sales cycle. These strategies can be harder to do solely online so an integration of online and offline marketing activity can really help.
Brand Partnerships
Are there any similar brands who may be able to help you spread the reach of your new product? New products need all the help they can get in terms of exposure so if you do have a relationship with a similar brand with a similar product, why not hold a Facebook competition together or co-host an event?
For example, if you’re a launching a new pair of tennis shoes, are there any tennis racket retailers who may be able to hold a tennis tournament with you to help launch the product?
Video
Video and other visual styles of content are increasingly popular because they can be much more engaging than reading a product description or a text-heavy news article. Investing in a high quality video can help you get the key features and messaging across in a more engaging and impactful way - definitely one to consider!
Pre-Ordering and Crowdfunding
Your new product doesn’t have to wait until it is launched to start bringing in revenue. You can take pre-orders or even crowdfund your new range so that your customers are excited as far in advance as possible.
You can also use this to get a taste of the popularity of the product - lots of pre-orders means that there is definitely a demand there.
Other Marketing Channels
You will probably have existing marketing channels that you can also use to help promote your new product whether through email newsletters or a blog post on your website. If you use these channels too, make sure the messaging is consistent with the rest of your campaign.
Website and Customer Experience
If you’re selling your product online or are even taking enquiries, the process needs to be as streamlined as possible. There’s nothing worse than generating hype and getting customers excited only for them to struggle to use the website when they do want to buy.
Make sure that the checkout or enquiry process is smooth, quick and easy - but also make it enjoyable with creative text and beautiful product photography.
A well designed website is the final piece in the product launch puzzle but if this isn’t right, all of the marketing before it could be a waste of time.
Key Takeaway: The key takeaway for any product launch is making sure that there is a buzz and people are talking about it - but to also make sure that all of your marketing assets have consistent messaging and work together. Integration is key!
