There’s no such thing as too much marketing buzz when it comes to launching a new product or service, so put your efforts towards building this excitement. Keep track of your activities and track metrics so you can see what works and what doesn’t and do it even better next time.
Launching a new offer involves bringing together a product (or service) and a market. In order to do this, the first step is to understand both.
It all starts with your offer. For example, my latest offer is the Public Relations Academy. Choose a product (or service!) that’s high quality, unique, and within your area of expertise for best results. Shop around and see what’s available on the market. Use it yourself so you have a keen understanding of how it works.
Here are 10 ways that you can build buzz for your next launch:
Choose the right launch date. Figure out when the buying season for your market is. If you can, tie it in with something seasonal, like your holiday promotions, or something that’s currently being talked about. Create a content plan with this free planner and map out monthly themes. Look at events that relate to your offer.
Use scarcity tactics. Limit the number of products or create an early bird special that includes added features or other goodies and limit the number of these available. This gives people a sense of urgency about buying the product, since there’s a chance they could miss out. On the flip side, if you are launching a new service, you might only want to work with a limited amount of new clients!
Offer pre-orders. Add a discount, freebie, or incentive to pre-orders and announce how many pre-orders you’re getting as the launch day approaches to show that people are excited about buying early. Combine pre-orders with scarcity tactics for the best results.
Create a sense of mystery. Slowly and gradually reveal information about your product or service. Produce teaser content. Offer hints about what’s to come. A sense of mystery makes your launch like a great book where the reader can’t wait to turn the next page.
Line-up your brand ambassadors and affiliates. Enlist influencers early on in the pre-launch phase and get them talking about your product. It’ll seem to your audience like everybody everywhere is talking about it and they will want to be part of it. This is called the fear of missing out (FOMO)!
Know your customer. Get to know your audience and build strong relationships with them. Know what excites them about your product so you can use this to build buzz. Survey them and then give them what they want. Figure out where they spend their time online so you can talk to them there and build engagement.
Celebrate! Hold a big event or an opening ceremony for your launch. It should be something fun that will make your product launch a big splash.
Build anticipation. Hold some small pre-launch events that include free giveaways and a chance to gather customer feedback.
Talk about the benefits of your offer. Emphasize the way it concretely improves the lives of its users. Through your marketing content, paint a vivid picture of what life will be like with the product and what life will look like without it.
Ramp up the excitement as you approach the big day. Share more content, interact more with your audience, and keep reminding them that the launch is coming so they don’t miss out. This is especially important if your offer has a deadline to sign-up.
As for the market, you should understand your audience and their needs. Create a target customer profile and try to identify their main concerns and problems so you can solve them. This profile should describe the ideal person who benefits most from the product you’ve chosen.
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You should also have a good idea of the competitive landscape. See what similar products are out there and what makes them unique so you understand your own product’s strengths.
Next, decide when you will hold the launch. As a general guideline, it’s good to start about three months out. However, you can’t really have too much time, so it’s okay to make it longer.
Once the big day is set, make a huge list of everything that needs to be done. Create a calendar and schedule every single task down to the smallest daily things-to-do. You can change it if needed, but this will help you stay on track so nothing falls through the cracks.
Remember, you can’t do everything at once. Work through your list of launch ideas, decide what works and then try some new tactics during your next product launch. Build on what worked and take what didn’t work off your list. Good luck!