There’s a lot that goes into preparing to launch a new product. Whether it’s your first time or ninth time, it can be unnerving. Here are a few keys to a successful product launch:
What is a Product Launch?
A product launch is a well-developed plan to debut and announce a product in the market. The marketing plan typically communicates the marketing strategy for launching the new product and how you hope the customer will respond to it. Not having a marketing strategy in place for a new product is one of the most common product launch mistakes to avoid.
12 Keys to a Successful Product Launch
Before you launch, it’s important you know your product inside and out. Make sure you understand the problem you’re trying to solve with the product. Focus on communicating the vision of your company and how this product fits into that vision.
Aside from the product developer, the marketing team launching the product should know the most about that product. By knowing the product that well, you’ll be able to better develop your marketing strategy.
Here are a few keys to a successful product launch:
1. Research, Research, Research
Most of the time, the product developer is the person who best understands the particular problem that the product solves. They’ll have a deep understanding of who the targeted user is and why they need this specific product.
The marketing team’s job is to understand the market. You should be able to answer questions like:
What are people’s dislikes and likes about the product?
How do current customers feel about it?
Is it an innovative product?
What sets this product apart from other similar products?
How does your new product fit in the current market?
If you can answer these questions, you are well-acquainted with the product and what it offers.
2. Focus On One Buyer Persona
Creating a brand new buyer persona may not be necessary, but you should be able to pinpoint who in your target audience is the best fit for this product. Talk to people in your target audience who fit the profile to determine what they need and their goals. Are they facing any challenges? This isn’t just a useful process for a product launch, it’s helpful when you need to identify your customer journey, too.
3. Create Your Messaging
You need to refine the narrative around your product so it focuses on the most important features of the new product. This needs to be concise yet informative, which can be tough. Most product developers feel the need to focus on how great specific features are. Try to avoid doing this because, at launch, you might only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention.
The messaging around your product should be concise and memorable. It should effectively communicate how valuable this product is as well as what it does. This messaging is important but should change as you refine your messaging while talking with fellow teammates and customers.
4. Be a Part of the Beta Testing
Having testers try out your product before you launch is an important step in the product launch phase. Make sure to take detailed notes of their feedback. You may receive both positive and negative feedback. Use the positive feedback to help refine your messaging and use real customer stories to support your pitch. Using real customer stories is also a great way to use reviews in your marketing.
If you receive negative feedback, don’t panic, and don’t ignore it. Negative feedback is useful because it pinpoints exact issues that need to be corrected to have a successful product launch. Ignoring negative feedback can push your customers away and have an impact on your product’s success. This can lead to a reputation management problem and damage your business’s credibility.
5. Refine Your Messaging
After you talk to prospective customers, and salespeople, and complete beta testing, you’ve probably encountered a few things in your messaging that should be changed or tweaked. This is a good thing! You learned something to improve your product.
Refining your messaging may take some work if important things were missed in the process. if things have been done thoroughly, your messaging won’t need a total overhaul. A tweak or word choice in the description or tagline might be required.
6. Set Some Goals
Your goals need to be specific but ambitious and that can be a challenge with a new product. Ask yourself, “What could we achieve if everything in the launch went exactly as planned?” Answering this question helps you set a goal for your campaign, but keep in mind that this usually is a number that is typically not achieved.
7. Finalize Your Branding
Another key to a successful product launch is strong branding. Your brand matters to your business, but branding for a product is a bit different from company branding. This is because you’re creating an identity for a specific product within your company. Even so, you should remember it needs to feel cohesive and connect with your company’s brand.
To create a solid product branding, utilize the information you gathered for the research phase. This can help you shape elements like the product name and tagline. It can also help you decide on images, packaging, and color palettes. This research can also be useful in developing your marketing plan and communications.
8. Develop Your Marketing Strategy
A marketing strategy is an essential component of a product launch. Marking strategies help you get the word out about your new product or service and promote it. Marketing strategies require a good deal of planning and organization is key.
Your marketing strategy needs to consist of setting goals, understanding your competition, budget, content, and messaging, and picking your marketing channels. You’ll also need to develop a timeline and create an action plan for implementing your strategy.
9. Create Your Promotional Content
Once your marketing strategy is planned out, you need to work on your promotional content. This promotional content should align with and support your marketing strategy. This type of content can include blog posts about the product or service, email campaigns, and landing pages for your website.
It may be helpful to use a content or editorial calendar. This helps you and any other team members keep track of all content. You’ll also need social media content for all the platforms you use.
When developing types of content for social media channels, try to tailor your content for each platform. Different types of content and even tones may work well on one platform but tank on another. Instagram is a great place to showcase photos of products with catchy captions. Short tutorials and demo videos are perfect for TikTok and Instagram. Blogs are useful for explaining details of the product and how it is useful for the customer.
10. Get Your Team Ready
Your product launch won’t be successful unless every department is ready. Everyone should have a good grasp of the product or service. They don’t need to be an expert but should be able to answer basic questions about the product.
To make this a little easier, let your team familiarize themselves with the product. If necessary, offer training sessions or demos of the product or service. Make sure everyone has access to marketing materials like presentations and product sheets. For the marketing and sales departments, be sure to go over the marketing strategy and timeline. This ensures everyone is on the same page and isn’t caught off guard.
It’s also really important to make sure your website is functioning smoothly. Catching any possible snags beforehand can save you a huge headache and frustration. Go through your site for an audit and work on any issues you find. And if your website is slow, outdated, or just isn’t performing, these could be signs you need a new website.
11. Launch Your Product
It might be nerve-wracking, but you have to launch your product sometime! Before launching, make sure to go over all the details and materials one last time. A meeting launch day can help everyone be on the same page as well as answer any last-minute questions or issues. Then, your product or service can go live!
While launch day is undoubtedly going to be busy, make sure to celebrate your team as well as the launch. Acknowledging everyone’s hard work goes a long way in building strong office relationships.
12. Evaluate Your Success
After the product or service launches, you should be keeping track of its progress and your marketing strategy. If certain aspects aren’t working, you may need to tweak some things. You should also evaluate your goals to see how things performed. This evaluating process can help you shape further launches and marketing strategies.
These are just a few keys to a successful product launch. Launching a new product or service is an exciting and sometimes nerve-wracking time for your business. However, if you follow these tips, it should be less stressful and, hopefully, a lot more rewarding!