10 Top Tips for Marketing Your Next Big Product Launch
Launching a product successfully doesn’t happen by chance. It requires conscientious effort, the right marketing mix and a lot of planning. Of course, there is no single secret to success when it comes to product launches, but there are some golden rules that, if followed, will smooth your path to success.
We’ve laid out our top ten below.
Get Familiar With Your Brand
Today’s business landscape is all about branding. If you don’t know your brand or don’t have one then it would be a long, hard way to the top.
To make sure your brand is in line with your upcoming big product launch, you have to determine what your brand is about and what you want to be known for. Once you have the answer, base your marketing efforts on it so people can start associating it with your business.
Arrange an Event For Your Product Launch
If you’re looking to generate the right buzz for your product launch, arranging an event is the way to go. It’s one of the most surefire ways to marketing success because it effectively creates awareness for your product while also conveying that it’s important enough to garner attention.
More than that, you’ll also have the opportunity to engage with your target audience and get to see real-time reaction and feedback to your product — both of which can help you gauge success and if you should be marketing more widely.
Make Sure Your Product Launch Event Has a Purpose
A product launch event is a serious business. It costs money and takes time to market so it only makes sense to ensure that it would pay off for you in the long run. The key to seeing to it that your event gets you results is to determine what purpose you want to achieve with it.
Is it to have more sales? Or to increase product awareness? Whatever it is, having a purpose in mind will help you steer your marketing efforts towards the right direction.
Form the Right Partnerships
When it comes to marketing your next product, no launch event is an island. You have to form the right partnerships or risk the possibility of your event being a dud.
Forming partnerships can be done in a number of ways. You can connect with influencers in your field, who can talk up your product launch to their followers, or invite sponsors and thought leaders to grace your upcoming event for additional exposure and draw.
Have the Right Guests
Now that you’ve formed the right partnerships, the next best step is to invite the right guests for your event. Having an event with the wrong invitees could mean your product launch fails to even get off the ground.
To give you an idea, your guest list should always include people whose presence will give credence to your product. These are influencers and thought leaders in your field. It’s important to get the right kind of coverage as well, so invite industry, local and even national press to your event as well. The more PR you can do the better.
Have an Event Plan in Place
Now that you have an idea of what your event purpose is and who to invite, you need to draw up a plan that fleshes out the details for your product launch event. This means determining the budget, date and venue for your event as well as how many people you plan on inviting.
Draft a Digital Strategy That Makes Use of Multiple Channels
Your digital marketing shouldn’t need to compete with the actual physical event, but should instead complement and enhance the experience. A good digital strategy makes use of multiple channels in order to make the most out of your marketing efforts. It should integrate different platforms that you’re audience will likely be in especially when it comes to social media.
Have a Pre-Order System in Place
Having a pre-order system in place can generate a sense of buzz around your product, whilst also helping to push ticket sales. By generating hype and increasing awareness for your product launch across social media and digital platforms, this will then allow your consumers a way to act on their interest by pre-ordering your product before the event itself.
You don’t have to be a big company to have a pre-order system in place as long as you’re doing your marketing right, you’ll get advanced purchases in anticipation of your actual product launch!
Be Clear About Your Benefits
When you’re launching a product, it’s easy to get caught up with all the new, shiny features you’re offering. However, features alone won’t sell your products and you have to be clear on how a specific feature can make a difference in their lives. Remember people don’t buy into functionality, they buy into solutions to their problems.
Give People a Reason to Attend Your Product Launch
If you’ve done your homework, it should be easy to give people a reason to attend your product launch. The hard work doesn’t stop there though. You must make sure that you create a product launch that is memorable for all your attendees, giving them a reason to continue engaging with your brand and shout about you to their peers and friends. Using custom promotional bags and giveaways is a great way to ensure your guests take something away from your event, maybe it’s a complimentory product or a unique gift in a stylish and useful bag. Something that your visitors will only be too happy to reuse again and again and show the world your brand.