How to launch a new product in the market? What is the best launch strategy? More importantly, is there a perfect one for everyone?
Ever since the big bang gave birth to the universe and with it marketing, businessmen have been wondering about the perfect process to launch a product effectively: does it depend on the product?
From the target audience? From the market and the marketing strategy that accompanies the product launch?
No one knows the answer, but after reading this galactic guide, you will know what steps to follow before, during, and after launch. Are you ready to discover the strategic steps to succeed with your new product?
Ready? 10, 9, 8, 7 … 3, 2, 1 GO.
Pre-launch phase of a new product
Many inventions in history have been abandoned without ever having been used (except by their creator). Others, have entered our lives changing them permanently. Why?
The products that are successful are not those that are incredibly original, or incredibly cool, or incredibly beautiful. They are those that respond incredibly well to a need or want.
Therefore, to know whether your product will be successful in the market, you must first know your target audience well. What do these people need?
Define your buyer personas
Start with buyer personas. A buyer persona is a fictitious character who has all the characteristics of your potential customer.
No, no science fiction: we are talking about a real marketing technique. Imagine your typical customer: who they are, what they do, what they want, what they fear, where they buy, how and why.
If you already have a database of business customers you have an excellent base of information to build the ideal buyer personas to your offering.
Build a multifaceted and detailed profile to understand how your product can change the habits of your potential customers.
Get into position
Immediately place yourself in the position where you need to be at the time of launch: work from there.
I’m not talking about the physical store or a desert area where the shock wave of a rocket taking off can’t break anything. I’m talking about your positioning in the market.
Find, through market research, the angle that differentiates you from all competitors, a point from which your product is clearly visible to those who want to observe it.
No one sees a satellite in the sky from the center of a city covered by light pollution.
Launch test
No galactic mission starts without first going through a testing phase. Select a few people (customers if you have any, acquaintances, volunteers) to use your product as testers.
Gather their feedback to improve it before starting with the actual market launch.
Ten, nine, eight, seven…
The countdown begins. That growing feeling of anticipation has a specific name in marketing: it’s called hype.
Creating hype before launching a new product in the market is your dutiful task.
You can use social media, for example, and reveal some clues or details, start countdowns, propose a virtual or real corporate launch event. Work so that people in your target audience know to stay tuned.
The time to market the product
Launching a new product to market is a struggle-it requires careful planning of marketing strategies.
Within them, a digital strategy is now a must. Don’t have teams of NASA engineers behind you? You don’t need one: what you need is a marketing consultant with clear ideas.
Strategy is always important when it comes to marketing, but in the case of a new product launch it is even more so.
In fact, it is your star map to best approach this journey. The destination, it’s the goals you set for yourself.
You have to achieve it in the (reasonable) timeframe you set. How?
Through the marketing activities you have identified to reach your target audience, attract new customers and increase sales.
As you go along, I recommend that you monitor your periodic results against your goals.
The perfect marketing activities to promote a new product launch
A landing page or landing page on the website
If there’s a launch, it has to land somewhere. And where else but on a landing page dedicated to your new product?
A landing page is a web page created specifically to “land” all clicks from advertising campaigns or newsletters.
It must be engaging, explaining your product’s value and benefits. The goal is to inform, yes, but also to convert: push to purchase, to download a promo, demo, etc.
Hit the gas with ADV campaigns
Paid campaigns are amazing for launching a new product. You can use Google Ads or social network sponsorships such as Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads.
In the case of Google, you have to identify keywords well to intercept related queries from users.
In the case of social, it is important to know your target audience well in order to refine the audience and find new potential customers. In both cases, campaigns must land on the landing page;
Leverage the email marketing engine
Increase the power of the launch by also leveraging e-mail marketing.
This solution is perfect if you already have a database of customers and leads to whom you can tell the news. Even in emails, use a persuasive Call To Action.
Intrigue the recipient who, by clicking on the CTA, will land with you on the landing page;
SEO is a sustainable fuel
Start working on SEO, optimizing the landing page to be found on Google, but also writing blog articles.
Ads campaigns give the push to launch, they are impetuous and immediate, but in the long run they require a very large budget. SEO goes slow, but it is sustainable fuel.
Write optimized content that will take a few months to index in Google, but will do so “organically,” without an advertising budget.
With a good SEO strategy you can conquer the top positions among the search results on Google, with a generally very satisfactory return on investment.
What to do after the new product is launched on the market
Like a probe to Mars, your work begins now. Start collecting data to measure how the launch went, whether your idea will find a suitable habitat, whether there is life for your new product in this market.
Ideally, you should implement in your strategy a CRM such as HubSpot, which allows you to collect, catalog and segment all your contacts.
Data can be positive or negative, but do not be discouraged because they represent a form of truth, which is essential for improving and optimizing product features and marketing strategy.
Above all, don’t expect to find crowds of customers right away-there is someone you need to pay more attention to.
Sighting of Early Adopters
At first they seem alien to others, but later they prove to be an added value to your strategy. Early Adopters are the first customers to buy your product and use it.
They love to experiment, to get there before other people, to get ahead of trends and habits.
There are not many of them, but if they are “influencers” who are experts in their field they start a virtuous process: other people, on their advice or to imitate them, will start buying.
Early Adopters are already all around us. Identify them and pitch your product, activate them-they are tremendous resources for successfully launching a new product in the marketplace.
Houston, do we have a problem?
If launching a new product seems harder than going to the moon, remember that Factory Communication is a communications and marketing agency that has all the know-how to guide you on this galactic journey.
From market positioning, to communication and marketing strategy, to operational steps, get dedicated advice to find new potential customers and give your business wings.
Learn how Factory can get your start-up or product off the ground.
