So you’ve finally made the perfect product, and it’s now time to introduce it to the market. You probably think that the product will sell itself, given how great it is. However, this is a mistake many companies make.
Launching your product or service in the market takes a lot more research and planning than you may think. A study by Harvard Business School found that more than 30,000 new consumer products are launched every year, and 95% fail. To prevent this from happening to your product, you need to craft an effective marketing strategy.
Your product launch has to generate buzz and build excitement within your target audience. This can be difficult to do with any competitors vying for the same customers. Hence, with the right steps, you can successfully rise above them. In this article, we will give you a complete guide on how to take your product launch from design to market.
1. Determine Your Target Audience
The first step in planning your product launch is to identify your primary users. What appeals to a certain demographic may not be effective for another. Knowing your target audience is a critical part of the process, as it will determine the information and channels of communication to be used for the launch.
In determining your target audience, take note of demographic information like age group, gender, and location, among others. This data will help you direct your marketing campaign and facilitate consistent messaging. Understanding your market better can also help you connect with them more closely and bring authenticity to both your communication and product.
That said, conducting market research is not a one-time activity. It should be periodic and ongoing. This enables you to monitor how the customer and market are evolving and lets you update your product accordingly.
2. Understand The Issue You’re Solving
After identifying your target audience, you will need to dig deeper and understand their pain points. Pain points refer to the specific problem or issue that your prospective customers may be experiencing. A famous saying by Plato rings true here: ‘necessity is the mother of invention’.
When designing a product and deciding its features, there has to be a need for it in the market. Your target audience has to find value in the product you’re selling—they wouldn’t consider spending money otherwise. Investing in creating a product that doesn’t add value is a waste of time and runs the risk of major financial losses. According to CB Insights, 42% of start-ups that have shut down launched a product that didn’t solve a valid customer problem.
Moreover, a good product brings its user ease and convenience. A survey by Nielsen saw that 27% of consumers reported that they wished more products could make their life easier.
A good way to understand their pain points is to conduct surveys and interviews. Take note of their frustrations and study how your product can address them. That way, you can gauge their perspective and craft a product launch that revolves around that message.
3. Safeguard Your Online Identity
More than the product it offers, a business is most known for the branding it puts out. Branding is a company’s image or identity, and it’s important to keep it consistent. According to Lucidpress, consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33%.
To ensure consistent brand representation, safeguarding your online identity is a must. This means securing digital resources like domain name, trademark, social media accounts, and the like. Securing these elements gives you exclusive rights to use them, and this strengthens your branding efforts.
4. Find Your USP
As mentioned before, there are thousands of new products being launched every day. Hence you need to identify what will set your product or service apart among a sea of similar options.
Finding your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is key to making this happen. A USP is the feature or features that set your product apart from the competition. It is the competitive edge of your product, one that can influence a buyer’s decision.
Innovativeness is a huge selling point for customers. As a matter of fact, 43% of businesses agreed that innovation is a “competitive necessity” in a product launch.
In finding your USP, you will need to study your competition. A good example of an effective USP is from the mobile app Uber, brandishing the tagline: ‘Need a ride? Get the Uber app’. Its USP is that it lets users easily book a ride anywhere at any time. This can be helpful in crowded cities where it can be hard to hail a taxi or use public transportation.
5. Put Together A Launch Strategy
Once you’ve researched your audience, their pain points, and your product’s USP, it’s now time to map out your design to market launch. You will need to be strategic about your launch plan as many brands fail at their product launch due to lack of preparation. To do this, you will need a free schedule template to keep things organized and on track. This template can help you assign roles to team members, avoid missing deadlines, and remove unnecessary paperwork.
Of course, in planning your launch strategy, you will need to set clearly defined goals and determine your ROIs (return on investment) to measure the campaign’s success. You may then make a SWOT (Strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis of your product. With these goals and data analysis in mind, you can then brainstorm marketing strategies like social media postings, email marketing, and product guides to further build your audience.
6. Use The Correct Messaging
In promoting your product, you will need to find the right messaging for your marketing strategy. Establish the communication style you will use to direct your target audience. Show your brand’s personality—the tone in which you deliver your product’s features and uses.
It’s important to keep your brand voice straightforward and relatable to your market. According to Hubspot, 86% of shoppers prefer an authentic and honest brand personality on social media. Avoid being too technical with words; keep it friendly and simple.
To find your messaging, you first need to create a catchy tagline for the product. Look back at all your market research and highlight product features that you think they may find interesting and useful. More importantly, be consistent in using this messaging on your marketing copy, product guidelines, and other written content. You should also track your performance to modify your efforts accordingly. For example, in the case of an email marketing strategy, you can track your email opens, to understand which kind of email content is working for your target audience.
7. Launch Your Product
The day of your product launch is fast approaching! Before getting your product to market, make sure you have a good onboarding plan. This is a crucial step as your first few users or customers can greatly affect the success of your product in the long run.
If you fail to onboard these users, you will have negative comments to push other potential users away. You can set up incentives or free trials to your target audience and hopefully help you retain them. That said, don’t be disheartened if it takes a few days before sales pick up. Keep in mind that it takes an average of 28 weeks for a new product to reach 75% of its highest distribution.
With that, you’re all set. You can finally launch your product to the public. Always remember to measure results and continually improve your product.
Wrapping Up
No plan is ever foolproof, so make sure you prepare your product launch carefully and be ready to address any issues that might surface in the future. Kick things off by determining your target audience and understanding the issues they may be encountering so that you can design a product that resolves it.
Highlight what’s unique about your product and use correct messaging to relay them to your audience. Don’t forget about your online identity and safeguard all the necessary digital resources. This includes your domain name, trademark, and social media accounts.
Remember: a strong launch is essential to your product’s journey. When done right, it can catapult your product to success. Make its debut count by putting together an impressive launch strategy. Keep all these in mind, and you can finally launch your product to the market. Fingers crossed, and good luck!
Author Bio
Nico is the founder of Crunch Marketing. The company works with enterprise SaaS clients, helping them scale lead generation globally across EMEA, APAC, and other regions.