Top 5 Things to do for a Product Launch

The extent of success for a product is often determined by its launch, which is as much about doing things properly as it is avoiding mistakes. This article is designed to cover the top five things that, if done properly, will substantially increases the success of your product launch. It covers the latest techniques and trends used by top marketing agencies and high growth startups that have managed to quickly leverage their product or service to achieve early market traction. Even if you are not currently planning a product launch, it can still be helpful when determining how to proceed in the market at any stage or quickly accelerate from a period of suppressed sales.

1. Create a Detailed Schedule

Few product launches have gone over successfully without a detailed schedule outlining their implementation and associated budget. Unlike normal marketing campaigns, where the timeline is longer and many events are occurring simultaneously, having a detailed schedule is critical for a product launch. The sequence in which events occur are often times more important than the events themselves. For instance, acquiring one interview to introduce your product must be supported by several recurring ones at pre-arranged times. If this is not done sequentially, the market could lose interest and you will have to rebuild the initial buzz that you established from the initial one.

2. Use Influencer Marketing

A growing trend within the industry has been influencer marketing for product launches. This includes devising creative ways to benefit from the reputation of industry influencers. An influencer does not necessary need to be a celebrity. They can be anyone that has a large amount of followers or connections, for instance, a small band or well-known thought leader. Influencer marketing is effective because many consumers are increasingly distrustful of traditional advertising schemes, but trust those that they see as iconic or representing their ideals.

3. Pitch to Media Professionals

Pitching to media professionals is a must for all product launch campaigns. Similar to influencers, consumers trust mainstream media for unbiased insights and to form opinions about products or services. When many companies think about public relations, they instantly consider the top publications. A major untapped market is the plethora of small bloggers that often have a more targeted and focused niche demographic than nationwide coverage. Moreover, starting small and then building up to a national level can also be more effective as you will gain more credibility by having some smaller victories than being entirely undiscovered.

4. Stick to your Budget

It is easy to get carried away with the budget when seeing the demand building from the product launch campaign, or being restrictive when you see other expenses piling up. However, since you are sticking to a pre-defined schedule, any adjustment to it along the way is likely to be made with less rationality than the pre-planned event. Obviously if you are receiving daily collections calls and your company is being liquidated, it may be a good idea to re-structure your product launch budget. However, in most circumstances, short-term volatility should have very little impact on the long-term schedule and implementation of your product launch budget.

5. Leverage Your Traction

The reason planning and sticking to your product launch plan is so critical, especially if you are using a crowdfunding platform, is that you must build upon the initial traction received. This is never more important than the ending period of the product launch campaign. Assuming the campaign goes well and you have made most of the market aware of your product or service, you must find a way to quickly convert and retain them. This means having a lead conversion and customer retention strategy in place in order to perpetuate the traction received from the launch campaign. You may have follow-up pay-per-click campaigns that begin, paid promotions on social media, or mass advertisements across television networks or online videos. Whatever your strategy to build ongoing demand, it is almost certainly critical to sustain and grow as you accelerate.

Following these five strategies is not guaranteed to make your campaign successful. However, it can substantially increase your odds of success by directing you on the path to optimum performance. The most important thing to consider Is to make calculated and pre-meditated decision and following these five things will be much easier if you do so. One consulting firm works with many clients to form product launch strategies in their business plan. They have personally seen the performance increase by focusing on these five points, but also avoiding several potential mistakes during their implementation.