You’ve spent the last several months putting your heart and soul into a new product, service, or website and are wondering how you can get your audience as excited about it as you are? The last thing you want is to launch your product and hear crickets. The best way to have a successful product launch is to have a solid launch strategy. Start with these five tips that will create FOMO and lead to a more profitable product launch for your business.
CONTENTS
1. IDENTIFY THE KEY BENEFITS FOR YOUR AUDIENCE
People over Product
The key thing to keep in mind when approaching your product launch strategy is who it will benefit and how. You need to focus on the people more than the product. This can be tough but when it comes to knowing how to launch a product successfully, you need to ensure it is truly solving a problem or fulfilling a need.
Spend time outlining exactly how your product or service will benefit them and make their lives easier. If it doesn’t, you’ll have a very hard time getting them to care about your product at all.
For example, if you’re launching a social media template kit, don’t focus so much on the cute designs and sleek typography choices you made. Instead, focus on the time they’ll save by using them, the impact it will have on their audience growth, and the way it allows them to connect with their audience in a way that grabs their attention.
2. MAKE A PRODUCT LAUNCH PLAN
Choose a Launch Date
This is where you will want to put some serious time and effort. Start by choosing a launch date to work back from. Strive to give yourself at least two weeks to ramp up to your launch. The goal is to give yourself enough time to build anticipation and FOMO. The more you mention your upcoming product launch through a deliberate strategy, the more curious they will become.
“I guess I should see what all the hype is about.”
Be Detailed with Your Launch Process
Your marketing strategy to launch a new product or service should outline step-by-step what details you’ll be dropping and when. How are you building hype about your launch? What platforms are you using to achieve this? I can't recommend Notion enough for creating your launch strategy. It is what I use for all of my business planning and development.
Look to Other Industries for Product Launch Ideas
Think of an upcoming movie release and how much time and effort goes into building hype around a movie. Some production companies are dropping teaser trailers a year out. As the date gets closer they release new trailers, film clips, even behind the scenes footage and film stills that circulate through various entertainment news outlets. All of this keeps the release top of mind and tantalizes your curiosity.
As the release date gets really close you’ll see the cast doing their rounds of the late night talk show circuit. All of this is part of, what is essentially, a product launch strategy.
The takeaway: look to other industries to see how you can build hype by adopting their strategies into your own launch process.
3. INCLUDE TEASERS IN YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH STRATEGY
Pique their Curiosity
One method to build interest about your upcoming launch is to offer little teasers. On social media, post a simple image or graphic with the launch date to pique their curiosity or give them a preview of the product. Something that will satisfy their eagerness but maintain their interest.
For example, if you’re launching that social media template kit I mentioned earlier, post one example of your templates to give them a little taste of what’s in store.
There are other ways you can build hype this way too, like showcasing some behind the scenes footage from a product photoshoot. You can be as elusive as you want, just be strategic in your approach.
Get People Talking About It
Another strategy is to share some select samples with your friends and family for them to post about. Connect with others in your network — does anyone you know have a podcast? Try to setup an interview to discuss your upcoming launch. Only, of course, if it aligns with the podcast’s audience. The main point is to get the right people talking about your upcoming product launch and expand your reach.
Make Them an Offer They Can’t Refuse
While those are examples of shareable content teasers, you can also enact some teaser tactics that are known to build interest. Try creating a waitlist for your product or service. This suggests to your audience that it could sell out and nothing says I NEED THAT like a little FOMO. This also gives you an indication of how well your launch might go based on your early registrants.
Go even further by offering a discount or bonus to those who sign up early. If you have a sales page for your new product or service, include a countdown timer at the top. This builds urgency in your audience and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a good deal?
4. BUILD AN EXPERIENCE AROUND YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH STRATEGY
It can be a real challenge being original within your marketing strategy to launch a new product. How can you make the launch experience exciting and unique? People are faced with new product launches all of the time (sorry but it’s true). Spend some time thinking of ways you can create an experience for your audience throughout your launch.
Create a Video Series
Make a video series that drops new details or tips every other day. This will give them something to look forward to and keep them coming back for more.
Design a Quiz that Correlates with Your Product Launch
Create a quiz with a platform like Typeform or Interact that connects to your product launch. Perhaps it tells them which version of the product is best for them or maybe it tells them how your service will impact them based on their personality. People love the personalized outcome and this can promote a positive brand experience.
Get Them Involved
Social media is a great tool for interacting with your audience. Think of a way you can get them involved. Create a contest or poll that invites users to name your product or service (maybe the winner gets free access or a discount). This will make them feel like they’re part of the process and guarantees they’ll be around for launch day!
5. MAKE IT WORTH THE WAIT
Going back to our first point, will your new product or service make an impact on your audience? Will it be worth the hype? Production companies test their movies on focus groups. Big brands test their products this way too. How are you ensuring your product will be well received?
If everything you’ve built up over the course of your launch leads to a product that isn’t going to deliver, you’ll do more harm than good. Be sure it is going to be worth the wait and worth the hype.
I have faith in you. Chances are, if you’re taking the strategic approach to launching your product, you’ve put the work in and are proud of what you’ve accomplished. You’re not going to rush this, you’re already taking all of the right steps to make this launch the benchmark for every future launch. In fact, if this new product launch process is a success, you can use it as a launch strategy template going forward.
GOOD LUCK — I can’t wait to see what you do!
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