Tips for a Successful Product Launch

Now and then, a new product is in the loop and about to get launched. It’s expected of every business to have a product (or service) that launches from time –to ensure business sustainability.

However, not all products that launch are successful. Some endure the test of time for a few weeks, few months, or even years after launch. No business owner wants to be the one that launches a product that doesn’t get the attention of the target audience and ultimately converts to sales.

What makes the difference between a product that successfully launches and one that doesn’t is the strategy put into the developing, promoting, and even the launching process itself.

Here are the top 5 tips for running a successful product launch that’ll increase your sales conversion chances.

Market to the Right People

The goal of any product should be to satisfy the needs of the consumers. To meet the needs of these consumers, the producers have to know about them. A successful product launch needs to be marketed to the right people. To do this, there are a couple of steps that need to be taken.

First, you need to survey the market. Studying the market gives you a good idea of how to serve prospective consumers better. Few questions you may need to answer are;

• Who is likely to need this product?
• Why would they want to buy this product?
• What problem is it likely to solve in this person’s life?

Answering these questions gives you a great idea of what direction to take and why anyone would want to spend money on your product in the first place. It’s a good idea to create visual avatars for various audience segments. Then you need to frame your product marketing strategy that corresponds with their situation, needs, and worries.

This is the first step to an effective product promotion strategy.

The chances are that your current audience might not be the most relevant if your product diverges from your existing portfolio. Surveying your products will also give you a level of feedback from your audience. The feedback can then be used to make subtle changes to your product quality and quality.

Use research to fine-tune your product targeting and convert your product to one that consumers need and want at the same time.

You can also evaluate your previous marketing campaigns’ effectiveness for a new audience and times and apply the changes accordingly. The changes may be to identify current marketing approaches to your strategy.

After you do this, you can package your product in the best possible way, even better than any other person’s.

With these, you’re on the right path to having a successful product launch.

Factor-In Your Competition

In figuring out your market audience, you’re also able to identify your market competition. This piece of information can make a significant impact on your product success.

Bringing it down to a basic level, you should be able to answer the following questions – what makes my company and my product unique when compared to a similar brand or product? Why should consumers choose my product over my competitors’? What makes my product stand out and keeps bringing people back? My brand? My price? My customer service?

Figure out your company’s unique selling points. Use it to grab your audience’s attention so they trust that your product will fulfill what similar products may not be able to.

Taking a close look at your competition allows you to learn from them also. Hardly do we have new business ideas nowadays. What we usually have are repurposed ones. So, with whatever idea you have, take a quick look at your competitors and figure out how to enhance your own products. Gnaw, a Norfolk-based chocolate manufacturing company is leading the chocolate industry.

A few years ago, they decided to capitalize on chocolate product exports, something similar companies weren’t building on yet. Now they’ve been named UK’s small business of the year and have doubled their yearly turnover.  They simply took a look at the competitors and offered innovative approaches to the same problem.

The entire idea is to offer a product that already exists in a better way than what your competition is already offering or offer a new one in a way that attracts the highest consumers to you.

You need to launch a product that’s not exactly what’s in the market. That’s how you can have a successful launch.

Go All-In on Social Media

Launching a new product means you’ll need a little more than your team and friends to push for a successful launch. The most viable means of reaching out to people interested in your products is via the internet, specifically social media.

Social media allows you to connect with so many people at once. Marketing an existing product is different from marketing a prospective product. Here are some of the best ways of promoting a product launch on social media.

Optimize Social Media Profiles

Optimize your social media by updating your social media profiles. If you have an existing business page, you can push your audience’s attention towards the new product and launch plans. Make sure your three latest posts on your different channels are talking about your new product launch. That way, anyone visiting your pages for the first time will instantly have an idea about your forthcoming launch.

Use Relevant Hashtags

Hashtags are one of the few ways to push products to a broader audience. Using generic and specific hashtags pushes your activities to the faces of those that use such hashtags. However, an attention-grabbing and unique hashtag will draw your audience’s attention to the specific message you’re trying to pass across. Remember, being consistent with hashtags is important.

Update Profile and Cover Pictures

Then, update your different profile pictures and cover photos to publicize your new product launch. Even though it’s easy to dismiss little details like profile pictures, being consistent across your media channels creates an impression in your audience’s mind.

Use IGTV

Instagram has a feature called the IGTV video that allows you to upload longer videos than the regular Instagram feeds. Using this feature allows for precise product details and launch plans.

With the entire product launch plan underway, handling the creation of Instagram and Facebook posts may be a bit of stress, especially creating designs and cover photos. Instead of getting professional assistance in addressing this, you can use a tool like PosterMyWall to make these posts.

Create High-Quality Posts and Designs

Using templates on PosterMywall to create high-quality Instagram posts and to design Facebook covers is cost-effective and time-saving. Besides, the process is easy and there are several templates to choose from.

Have a Product Launch Event

Staging an event that people can attend and get familiar with your new product is an excellent strategy for successfully launching a product. First, occasions usually call the attention of people to whatever they want them to see.

They see publicity materials around and know that an event is going on around them and for a particular reason. Also, product launch events are an excellent opportunity to introduce the audience to the product and allow them to see for themselves how things work.

A launch event — like that of Apple whenever a new product is about to be launched — is preferably physical with decent press coverage, but if it isn’t possible, throw a virtual product launch to signal your product release. Not only will this give a good appearance for your brand, but it will also make your audience take your product more seriously.

Make adequate preparations as to how the event will go and strategically plan marketing your product with every chance you get.

Don’t hold back. Make sure you get the public’s attention on every platform available. And if necessary, repost and share reminders in the subsequent days of launching.

Use Post-Launch Feedback

After a successful launch event, you’ll get feedback about the new product in one way or the other. You can build on this to keep promoting your new product to bring in more sales for you. One way to do this is by reaching out to different media and PR firms, especially those that covered the pre-launch story and ask for a post-launch story.

This way, your audiences are given the opportunity to follow your product story and long to be a part of that story. When an audience feels like a part of the journey – from inception to production, to selling, they’ll want to remain in the picture as long as possible.

Stories of experiences are what sell a great product today. If you have a sellable product story, be assured that your audience will like to hear about it. Build on it and use it as a selling point for your business. Your social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube are excellent opportunities to build this.

However, don’t expect it all to be rosy reviews, especially from those that have purchased or tried out your product. Constructive criticism for your product can be a great thing. This way, you’ll know what to improve on, the things to cancel out, or continue using.

Set up accounts on feedback sites like Google and Yelp to get reports from your consumers.

Final Thoughts

Thinking up a product idea, planning for it, and creating the product is a different ballgame from putting out the product for release to the public. The product launch stage is one that needs to be thoroughly thought about and planned for.

These 5 major tips can help you get through your product launching stage.