If you have an amazing idea you want to introduce to the world, you will need a plan. You may have the best new product, but it will all mean nothing if nobody knows about it. That’s where a product launch comes in. If you want to learn about a product launch, why it’s important to plan your new product launch, the best ways to launch, and much more to help you with branding, you’ve come to the right place. Read on to get a synopsis of how to launch a product.
What is a product launch?
First things first, let’s learn what a product launch is. Essentially, it is the debut of a new or renewed product on the market. It is the moment all your hard work has led to, the moment you build up to, and finally, show the world what you’ve been making. It is the culmination of bringing your product to life.
Building buzz around your product is crucial, maybe even gathering pre-orders and filling your potential customers with excitement before launching a new product. But why?
Why it’s important to plan your product launch
It’s often said that a goal without a plan is just a wish. Having a plan is a way to minimize your chance of failure and have a clear process you can follow. Instead of teaching you why it’s important to plan your product launch, we will just show you some pros and cons of a new product launch, and you can decide for yourself.
Advantages of a product launch
- Excitement and awareness: When you use social media, email, articles, events, and press releases to inform the public about a new product coming soon, it builds up anticipation and thrill. They become familiar with the product and may convert easier after your launch.
- Building trust: Through sneak peeks, demos, free trials, or free product samples, you can introduce the product without starting sales. You will familiarize your potential customer with the product and build trust. It can also be done through word-of-mouth, communities, and being active on social media.
- Test run and experience: When building up buzz around your new product launch, you will get questions and inquiries that’ll help you prepare for what’s to come after you launch a new product. You will hear feedback and learn more about what your customers want.
Disadvantages of a product launch
- Need for investment: Launching a new product is not a one-day job. It involves all of the efforts you take to prepare for it, and it’s going to be costly. However, there is a way to fund your product launch most beneficially. That way is called Crowdfunding, and we will discuss it later in this article.
- The difficulty of planning: How you plan your product launch is essential to its success. Each product requires its own way of launching. Finding the perfect plan takes a lot of research, time, and energy.
The benefits obviously outweigh the cons. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, right? If you put in the work, educate yourself, and thoroughly plan, it will pay off.
How to prepare for a product launch? (Step-by-step)
Before the big day, there’s a lot to take care of. You are already thinking about launching if you have an almost-ready product and the right team. The main work you will do regarding a product launch is preparation. So, let’s get right to the point. Here are our 8 steps to preparing for your new product launch.
Define your target audience
This one is a no-brainer. When you have a product, you must know who will buy it. Who can you intrigue and excite before a product launch? Who are your early adopters? All of these questions need to be answered before launching a new product. Here are some key characteristics you need to define:
- Age
- Gender
- Spending habits
- Interests
- Occupation
Having a particular target group in mind will help you choose a direction for your marketing efforts, decide the style of content to produce, your messaging, and much more.
Understand the buying journey
Once your target is defined, you need to get into their mindset. Usually, your potential buyer goes through a couple of stages before finally converting. Those stages include awareness, consideration, intent, and purchase. Depending on which stage each customer is in, they require different treatment. Here are some questions you can ask to understand your buyer’s journey more deeply:
- What are their main pain points?
- Where would they find you?
- What or who influences their buying decisions?
- What can lead them to buy your product?
Put yourself in their shoes. Tell them what they want to hear, and your efforts will pay off.
Secure your online identity
Whether it’s a domain for a website, an Instagram username, or a trademark, you have to acquire them before launching. Some domain names might be taken or held for a high price, and those tedious details must be figured out.
Create a brand book
Before launching a new product, you must build a strong understanding of your brand. A brand book defines all the necessary elements of your brand and guides all your departments. Here are some things a brand book may include:
The first step in creating a brand book is creating a name for your company brand. This should be unique and memorable, which will help to identify your company’s products and services. Once you have a name, you can begin to develop other aspects of your brand,
- Story of the brand, its ethos, mission, and vision
Creating a brand story is essential for any business, big or small. There are a few things to remember when creating your brand story. First, ensure it’s authentic and reflects your company’s values. Second, keep it concise and easy to understand. And finally, ensure that it aligns with your overall marketing strategy.
Once you have the basics down, you can start to flesh out your brand story. Begin by introducing your company and its founder (or founders). Next, briefly describe your company’s history and how it evolved into its current business. Finally, finish up by talking about where you see your company going in the future. This last section is especially important as it helps to establish your brand’s mission and vision. To develop a good brand story, you can start checking what examples of brand stories international companies such as Google or Apple have. Checking them will surely benefit your own.
- Brand logo (with acceptable uses and variations)
The brand logo is one of the most important elements. It is the face of the company, and it should be immediately recognizable. For this reason, it is important to put thought into the design of a logo. Every aspect of the logo should be carefully chosen to reflect the company’s values, from the colors to the fonts. Once a logo is created, it is important to protect it by trademarking it and registering it with the US Patent and Trademark Office (or with the trademark office your country has).
Part of creating a brand book is deciding on a color palette. The colors you choose will be associated with your company, so it’s important to choose wisely. You’ll want to consider things like the feeling you want your brand to convey and what colors will work well together. Once you’ve decided on a color palette, you can add company icons that reflect your brand identity. These icons will help people quickly identify your company and what it stands for.
Creating a brand book for your company is essential to maintaining a consistent look and feel across your marketing materials. This includes specifying the fonts, sizes, and styles used for your logo, taglines, and other key elements. While it may seem like a small detail, using the wrong font can make your brand look sloppy or unprofessional.
- Brand messaging, tone of voice
When it comes to creating a cohesive brand identity, messaging is key. The tone of voice you use in your communications will significantly shape how people perceive your company. That’s why it’s so important to develop a brand book that clearly outlines the message you want to convey. This document should serve as a guide for all of your communications, from website copy to social media posts. Establishing a clear tone of voice ensures that all your communications are on brand and consistent. This will help create a strong and recognizable identity for your company.
Do a demo or give out free trials
Tease your potential customers with previews, demos, and free trials before launching. This way, they will become familiar with and get used to your product, thus increasing the chances of converting when you launch. Plus, this is a sure way to get feedback from potential customers. The preparation period before the official new product launch is crucial when you need to listen to your target customers. A tiny tweak may make your product more appealing and make your product launch even more successful.
You can reward your early adopters by giving them early user incentives. This will also raise the buzz about your new product launch and awareness.
Define a clear-cut strategic plan
As with any other plan, you need to have information from your research, goals, and other criteria you want to meet. Here’s a rough list of what you will need:
- Market research report/evaluation
- An understanding of your competitive landscape
- SWOT analysis
- ROI metrics
- KPIs for measuring success
- A killer marketing strategy (with social media countdowns, email announcements, influencers to create additional brand awareness, etc.)
Create an onboarding scheme
The first impression is going to stick. So, you must map out your first customers’ experiences clearly. Whether you’re making hardware or software, imagining how someone would interact with a totally new and unknown product is crucial. Will they need a tutorial? Do you need to write “open here” on the package? The smoother the process, the faster they will adopt your product.
Launch!
Finally, all the hard work is going to pay off. This is the shortest part of a new product launch, but just as important as the rest. However, if you decide to do your product launch, make sure it’s in your own style and shows off your product’s personality. We talk more about ways to launch your product later in this article, but for now, good luck!
What are the main reasons for product launch failures?
It’s important to make your product launch plans with every possibility in mind. Don’t just try to do the right things. Remember also actively to avoid the wrongs and prepare to deal with them if they are ever to occur. So, we thought it would be good to teach you about the most common reasons for product launch failure, and we hope you will avoid them.
Here are the top 4 reasons:
- Not doing proper market research
What problem is your product solving, and is there an actual gap in the market for it? How will your product differ from competitors, and why will it be better? Here are some questions you have to ask right when you set out to build a new product. As a result of improper market research, many companies create products that have no demand and ultimately fail.
- Not listening to feedback from customers before a new product launch
Gathering feedback should be an essential part of your product launch steps. You are making the product for them, so it should be what they want.
- Rushing the launch or being unprepared
Timing is everything. Launching before you’re ready is a common practice, and it works for some. Our advice is to have a clear product launch strategy, go over your product launch plans several times, and take the leap. Don’t just wing it or try to play safe.
- Confusing customers with your messaging
How you look on social media is crucial in this day and age. If you use inconsistent messaging or something unfit for your product, it might leave the wrong impression. The last thing you want is for your potential customers to think you’re trying to scam them.
Popular ways to launch a new product
You can launch your product in many different ways. You can use a combination of multiple or focus on just one, but here are some examples for you to choose from:
- Go big and do an official launch event like Apple does every time.
- Launch on social media with ad campaigns and countdowns.
- Launch on online platforms like Product Hunt.
- Launch your product with Crowdfunding
How to launch a product with crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the easiest way for newcomers to do a new product launch. It’s an all-in-one platform where you can gather feedback, raise funding, do pre-orders, market, and finally launch with a bang. Before we get into the how to let’s talk about why you should launch a new product with crowdfunding on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Here are just a couple of reasons:
- It provides an enormous marketplace where you can increase your organic reach.
- You will validate your idea and get feedback.
- Get pre-orders from actual customers.
- You get an approximate metric for demand and produce accordingly.
- Build a community around your product.
Now that you see its benefits let’s dive into the steps you need to take to launch your product with crowdfunding:
This is the first and most important key to having a successful or even a million-dollar campaign. You will need to build an email list and a following that will help you build a community of loyal customers and make your product launch and general product a success.
With the help of your community, you can reach your goal faster than ever. The sooner you reach your goal, the more it signals to the platform that your product is useful and relevant.
- Rise to the top of the platform
If your product performs well on the platform, the chances of being recommended to visitors are higher. Thus, you will get a higher organic reach.
- Build momentum and blow up
Keep up the good work, update your community on your progress, and see your product keep growing.
Of course, you can always get the help of a crowdfunding agency that will help you with branding, content, promotion, email marketing, and, ultimately, reaching your goal.
Final thoughts
A new product launch is not a small task. It takes lots and lots of preparation, time, effort, and funds to make it successful. This article outlined a product launch, its pros and cons, steps for preparation, crowdfunding, and how it is the easiest way to launch. Follow our product launch steps, and you’ll be on the right track.
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