4 Things You Need To Do Before You Launch A New Product- Valutrics
You’re going to launch a new product, but you’re not sure how to get started. Product launches can be hectic, and can easily go haywire if you don’t plan them properly.
Remember the Fire Phone? Amazon’s not-so-smart smartphone that nobody wanted (not even for 99 cents).
Before you launch a new product, it’s important that you know exactly what’s necessary for a successful product launch.
In this post, you’ll learn the four most important steps for creating a comprehensive product launch strategy.
1. Research Your Target Consumers
Before you begin planning your product launch, you need to understand your audience. Conduct thorough market research to gain valuable insights into who your target customers are, and what they want.
This research will form the basis of all other steps in your product launch plan, including your marketing strategy. It should help you answer the following questions:
- How should you position your product? What does your target audience need and value? How can you position your product in a way that will resonate with them?
- Where should you distribute your product? Which distribution channels will be most convenient for your audience? Would they rather buy your product online, or visit a store?
- How should you price your product? What’s the income demographic of your target consumer? Will they find the product too expensive? What kind of adjustments can you make in order to fit their budget?
- Where and how should you market your product? Which social media platforms do your target customers use? What tone should you use in your product launch marketing content? Should you focus on your audience’s logic or emotions?
2. Develop Your Product Messaging
Your product messaging and positioning will play huge roles in how you present your new product to your target customers. Now that you have a thorough understanding of your audience, you need to craft a message that will highlight the most valuable features of your product.
Which aspects will your target customers value the most? And how can you frame your message in a way that will resonate with them?
Ideally, your product messaging should include a catchy tagline, and a value proposition. It should highlight the product’s best features, and the problems they solve.
Take a look at the Geek Fuel homepage, for example, (screenshot below). It’s not for a product launch, but it’s still an excellent example of how you can frame your messaging. It includes the tagline, “Monthly Mystery Box Of Geeky Goodness,” and a list of features that highlight the value of the service.
3. Plan Your Product Launch Promotion Strategy
Now you have valuable audience insights, and have developed your product messaging. Next, you need to plan how you’re going to promote your launch. The more effectively you promote it, the better your chance of success.
The goal of your product launch promotion strategy should be to educate your target consumers, and to build hype for the launch. Here are some ideas to help you plan your strategy:
- Start a blog, and create posts that educate readers about the product’s features.
- Submit guest posts to, or get featured in industry publications.
- Give consumers a chance to win free trials or samples of your product to build excitement.
- Provide exclusive previews to industry experts and influencers to reach a relevant audience.
- Send out regular email updates to your subscribers.
- Launch during a trade show or industry event for maximum publicity.
- Keep your social media followers updated with your progress.
Samsung, for example, does a great job of building buzz for their product launches with social media teasers.
4. Plan Your Post-Launch Strategy
For your product launch strategy to be truly comprehensive, you also need to have a plan for after your launch. You can’t just launch a product and expect it to take off. You need to have a strategy for maintaining the momentum from your launch.
Make sure your post-launch plan includes tactics to keep your customers and target audience engaged through social media, content marketing, and influencer marketing.
You should also have a support plan that includes a system for solving customer complaints and issues.
Now you know four of the most important steps for creating a comprehensive product launch strategy. If you have any questions about launching a new product, feel free to leave a comment, or reach out to me directly.