How to Develop an Effective Product Launch Strategy
Launching a new product is NOT easy, so understanding the stages of product packaging and development is key to an effective product launch strategy.
You have a new idea for your business, and the new product seems like it should be a winner.
The question is, what are the best ways to launch that new product idea into the public domain?
An effective product launch strategy can make or break a business, and it is only through finding effective ways to develop and promote your new product that you will find success.
Launching a new product can be a stressful experience, but with a solid product launch strategy in place you can reduce your sleepless nights and lower your frustration levels. Get your new product launch strategy off to a good start by ensuring that your new product reaches the most people possible.
Here are Some Great Tips to Help You Launch a New Product More Effectively
1. Know your customers
Knowing who your customers are is the number 1 step in any marketing strategy.
Whether it’s from your current client list or the market research that alerted you to the potential of your new product, knowing what your customers want is key to your launch. Being aware of how your customers will use your new product, and emphasizing why they should use you to provide it is essential to your campaign. Every product launch takes planning and time to get right, and knowing your customer demographic, and the best ways to target them, is key.
Knowing who your customers are is the first step in being able to solve a problem for them. Too many people do these steps in reverse by coming up with a product and then struggling to find an audience for it. A great example of a company launching a product the right way was Beats Electronics. As Jimmy Iovine stated; “You’ve got to be lucky enough to identify a problem where you think you can help,” Iovine had identified two key problems in the music industry: first, the degradation of record sales because of piracy. Second: the degradation of audio quality because of Apple’s plastic earbuds.
2. Understanding the Stages of Effective Product Packaging:
Creating a new product is exciting, but don’t rush to the packaging process because there are some crucial steps to consider before actually launching that product on the market. One of those aspects is creating custom packaging. In order to make sure that your label will be effective, you need to take some time and consider how you would like the end product to look like.
This is important for multiple reasons. First and foremost, you probably want it to be appealing, but you should also consider a few marketing strategies. With the help of a designer, you can create personalized product packaging that will suit your product and work for your clients too. A lot of work goes into designing the perfect package, but that is not all. Below you can find the stages of creating an effective product packaging that you’re proud to call your own.
- Solicit Feedback
Even if you’re only developing your product packaging, you could still use some feedback. Before getting in touch with a designer, you need to brainstorm a few ideas and ask people around you what they think. It could be a few close friends or even some customers. This stage is important because it lets you know if your ideas meet people’s needs or not. If not, this is a good time to make changes and move on to the next step.
- Start with Design
Once you have a slight idea of how you would like your product packaging to look like, it’s time to let professionals do their jobs. You could suggest a few fonts and color combinations, but they usually know better what combinations are successful. Effective product packaging takes quite some time to complete. If you can’t make up your mind, maybe you could ask the person who you’re collaborating with to create a few options that you can choose from. Product packaging design is essential because this is your direct communication with your customers.
- Consider Transporting
Transporting your packaging from the factory to the premises of your business or simply shipping it out to your customers might not seem like a big deal. Though, this step of the process is very important because it’s the only way to make sure that your products make it in one piece. Careful packing is important, however, it is also important to make sure that you manage any waste you produce through your packaging process. If you need to quickly sort and organize any cardboard waste to recycle, there are companies out there that provide different types of baling wire to make your job easier. If you’re looking for good quality products for your company, you can contact Baling Wire Direct.
- Protect Your Ideas
Shortly after branding your products you need to trademark your name. If you’re about to launch a website too, this is a good time to purchase a web domain for it. These steps won’t break the bank, but they will ensure you that your brand is safe. For added security, you need to check out intellectual property laws and get in touch with a lawyer. At the same time, you need to put a fair price, no matter how much money you end up investing in your raw materials, product packaging and so on and so forth. Customers will be able to tell the difference between your products and your competitor’s so you must remember that effective product packaging always works.
3. Use social media to create buzz
Getting people interested and on board as early as possible will be critical.
Just look at the video GripStud used to show how effective their new product was. The video alone motivated hundreds of purchases and generated tons of reviews just like this one;
I am constantly telling friends and colleagues about your studs and we use them a bunch here at my work (I am the Mtn Mngr for Alyeska Ski Resort). My winter work boots are studded along with my fat bike tires and I even ran some in my Goodyear Duratrac MT tires all through last winter and they performed fantastic even while towing my snowmobiles. You guys and gals put out a great product and I will keep telling anyone who could benefit from using them all about them. Thanks and keep up the good work.
A simple marketing campaign on your Facebook pages can help spread awareness in a very natural way. Something as simple as a teaser campaign can increase buzz about your new product, and it is key to your success that as many people as possible are aware of your upcoming launch. Using social media to promote yourself during pre-launch is also useful for building and maintaining relationships with your clients, meaning that they are more likely to use your services in the future.
I’m going to include crowd funding platforms in with social media as well. Using platforms like KickStarter is a great way to get interested influencers to back your product and help spread the word.
Preparing to generate this type of social buzz is going to require some stellar marketing materials primarily in the form of videos or any other items that will help illustrate the benefit of the product.
4. Dedicate a new webpage to the product
Nothing says fresh like a brand new website, and whether you’re an existing company with a new line or a start-up with a brand new service, you want a dedicated website for customers to use. If you feel that you lack the technical skills to build and maintain a business website, there is plenty of help available, and hosting through sites such as theaccessgroup.com will make your product launch run considerably smoother. A website is more than just a description of your company, it is a statement of your ethos, your dedication and the perfect place to spend as much time as possible explaining your new product.
Having a website for you new product launch will help new customers identify your product as an established brand and not just fledgling product trying to crack into the consumer world for the first time. SkinnyBeef, used their website in this fashion to help establish consumer confidence as well as using it as the main hub for their social media and online marketing efforts by driving new customers to their website as a means to collect customer data for continued email marketing.
*ProTip: by Neil Patel
One of the most important things to do before you launch your product is to start generating an email list of potential leads.
This doesn’t have to be a list of buyers. It can just be a list of your current fans or even friends who have expressed interest in your product.
But you need to make sure you have a list.
Once you launch, you need to use effective email marketing to reach out to those people as early adopters.
5. Plan a Giveaway and Promotions
Jimmy Iovine gave away hundreds of the famed Beats by Dre headphones as part of his unconventional marketing strategy. While you may not be as wealthy as Jimmy Iovine, you should have plenty of budgeting in place for product give-a-ways.
Everybody likes getting something for free, which is why so many people share competition posts on their social media. For the cost of a free sample of your new product, you could be reaching thousands of new potential customers, as social media algorithms increase the potential reach of every post. For every retweet, share or like, your social media is able to be viewed by more people, and as a result, you increase your customer base.
Launching a product on the market takes a lot of work, thinking, and investment. If you’re still working on your product packaging, this little guide might come in handy.
No matter your product and no matter your ambitions, failure to take the adequate steps in the run-up to your product launch is a guaranteed way to fall at the first hurdle. It is imperative that you take advantage of the available resources in order to maximize the potential of your new product.
