For an entrepreneur, not much beats out a new product launch for excitement. You have spent months developing this great new idea, and it is now ready to get gobbled up by the adoring public. However, it is never as simple as that.
If the public does not know about your product, how will they buy it? You could have developed the best product since sliced bread but if nobody knows about it, nobody will buy it.
This where marketing comes in, and not just marketing after you launch your product, but marketing before you release it. Pre-launch marketing is the act of telling people about your product long before you plan on launching it.
Creating a buzz around your latest and greatest new idea is the best way to ensure you make sales as soon as your product is launched. So what are the best pre-launch marketing strategies you can use? That is the question we hope to answer via four great tips designed to give your product launch the boost it requires.
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Create a Coming Soon Landing Page on Your Website
Also known as a lead generation landing page, a coming soon page is somewhere you can send early leads. You can use this page to provide information on your soon-to-be-released product, collect email addresses of those interested, and even allow customers to pre-order your product.
This is the most important step in your pre-launch marketing strategy, as anyone coming to this page will already have some knowledge, and therefore, some interest in your product. The content on the page should create a buzz around your product, while you should use any emails collected to keep your customers up to date on your launch date and to keep your product fresh in their minds.
Using a free landing page builder is a great way to do this. Website builders such as Wix make creating a pre-launch landing page simple. Choose from conversion-optimized templates or create your page from scratch.
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Generate Interest Among Your Subscribers
Now that you have collected subscribers thanks to your newly created pre-launch landing page, the key is to keep them interested in your product. Put in place email marketing campaigns to continue the buzz around your new product.
You could set up a campaign that sends emails to your subscriber list a few times a week. As long as you ensure each email offers value and you do not irritate potential customers with too many emails, this should help your conversions once you release the product.
Perhaps you could release additional information about the features of the product, make customers aware of any special promotions you have planned, or give subscribers early access to the product before it is officially released. In addition to email campaigns, it’s also worth considering the SMS channel. Sending SMS online is very easy and can greatly enhance your marketing efforts.
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Use Social Media to Spread the Word
Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools when used correctly. Twitter, in particular, is great for pre-launch marketing. Most consumers use social media platforms to research products and services. So, using your social media profiles, you can tease your new product and direct interested consumers back to your ‘Coming Soon’ landing page.
It is important to put a lot of thought into this stage of your marketing strategy especially growing your business online. Make sure you tell customers about your team, how the concept of your product was born, and then release teasing snippets about the features of your product. Furthermore, you could consider hosting Q&A sessions or hand out discount codes to users who retweet your posts.
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Create a PR Kit
Another great way to let people know about your product launch is through others telling them about it. If you want journalists, websites, and bloggers to write about your product, you need to make it easy for them to find information about it.
A press kit does exactly that. Your PR kit should contain the details of your product and your brand that they can use to create content. Make sure it contains information such as your company background, key members of your team, the key features of your product, and high-quality images.
Final Thoughts
The creation of your product is just the first step and arguably one of the easiest. Once you have created the product, there is nothing left to do. However, the marketing of your product is something that never has a finish line. You constantly have to work hard to develop the best marketing strategies to find and convert customers.
This should all start with an effective pre-launch marketing strategy, as detailed above. Without one, you have to start from scratch on the day of your product launch. By promoting the product long before its release, you at least have a starting point to work from on launch day.
