A successful product launch doesn’t happen on its own. It takes careful planning and preparation to launch a product successfully. You must build the buzz, let people know about it, share it with the world before it’s time to launch. Promotion is crucial for success, and here’s how to do it the right way.
Telling Your Product Story is More Important than Showcasing Features
Storytelling has captivated the business world as an effective way to engage an audience with brand messaging without the pushiness of traditional sales pitches. Storytelling can make products and brands more relatable in human contexts.
When creating stories about your new product, avoid overemphasizing its features and benefits. Instead, create scenarios that illustrate the problems and experiences that real people have and how your product solves them.
People tend to consider feelings in addition to facts when making buying decisions. So, you can use your storytelling to make them feel good about choosing your product. So, every story you tell should connect with your audience before promoting your business and products.
You can use stories to tell the story of your business and introduce your staff and how you work together to supply value to the marketplace. You can also tell stories of customer experiences that include testimonials and case studies. Additionally, your stories can exhibit the values that underlie everything you and your business do.
Promoting Product Launch Without Spending a Fortune
Even businesses with a lot of money should consider using inexpensive ways to tell their stories while launching a product. Needless to say, for some firms, affordable promotional strategies are vital. So, regardless of the size of your business or budget, the following methods can help you effectively launch your product without spending a fortune.
#1 Use Social Media for Engagement
Top social networks attract hundreds of millions, if not billions of daily users. Out of all those people, surely some of them will want to know about your new product. Get started by making sure that you have active profiles on the social media platforms that your customers prefer.
Next, engage your customers online. Rather than pitching sales, use your time to get their feedback. Share your ideas with them and let people tell you what they think. When the time comes to release your product, invest into promoted posts and paid social media advertising to spread the word.
#2 Provide Regular Updates via Email and Social Media
After announcing that you have a new product in development, build excitement by providing periodic updates to your audience. Create an email marketing campaign that will let people get sneak peaks at your development process and introduce them to your team.
You can also provide updates via social media, including the results of product tests as well as early testimonials. You can even announce introductory offers and other promotions that will sustain intrigue all the way up to your launch date and beyond.
#3 Offer Prototype Testing
Get your customers and prospects involved in your new product by sharing prototypes with them. By creating a working prototype that you will offer for testing, you will get instant feedback on what your prospects think about the product. They might share it with other potential customers and spread brand awareness this way. Additionally, you can conduct interviews and run focus groups that can provide insights that will shape your product’s release.
In short, the feedback you receive through firsthand experience with a working prototype, you can dramatically enhance the quality of your product, by tweaking its features and specifications. Meanwhile, you might get some new ideas of your own when you see how your product interacts with people in real-world settings.
#4 Use Crowdfunding Platforms
Kickstarter and other crowdfunding websites give you a valuable channel for promoting your upcoming product launch. To get started, spend some time getting a sense of how much interest customers have in your new offering.
Typically, backers will pledge a certain amount of money in exchange for the product you want to launch. You can also encourage investment by offering special promotional items, early bird deals and more. Crowdfunding is both a marketing and fundraising strategy.
#5 Get Influencers to Review and Talk About Your Product
Look for opportunities to put your new product in the hands of influencers in your industry and market. These are usually people who operate authoritative websites and blogs and have large social media followings.
When these prominent figures mention or recommend your product, their audiences will respond. Consequently, you gain access to larger audiences and, ideally, more customers than you could independently reach.
In summary, you can do a lot to set the stage for a fantastic product launch, without spending a lot of money. So, get to work now telling your story in ways that will win endorsements and engage audiences.