How To Successfully Launch A New Product Online

After working hard on your product line, you are now ready to launch. What you want, obviously is to make a lot of sales. Too many times, product launches just fizzle. They die out even before making a buzz.

The problem that I see often is that the entrepreneurs themselves did not make a lot of noise. One pitfall that many entrepreneurs always commit is a dependency on word of mouth. Sure, word of mouth is great, but it does not work all the time.

So, what should you do? Today, I will show you how to successfully launch a new product online. At the end of this tutorial, you will have a clear guide on what you should do to make your launch a success.

1. Find where your target market is

This sounds like a no-brainer, but it is one of the most common mistakes of entrepreneurs. They think that once they have a social media page and a website, people will find them.

This could not be farther from the truth. A saying in business goes: “If you build it, they will come.”

This is wrong. There are millions of websites out there and billions of social media pages. No one will find you. You have to find where your target market is and then let them know what you are doing.

So, where do you find your target market?

Here are some high-level steps:

Understand who your market is
Look for places where this type of person hangs out
Get involved in social media or online forums
Give them value
Let them know who you are

Finding them is not as easy as launching a social media page. The first thing you have to do is to understand who they are. If you know who your target market is, you will know where you find them.

For example, if you are launching a clay product, your target market comprises sculptors or art enthusiasts. These people can be found in art communities and forums. That is where you should go and tell them about yourself.

2. Create a story and momentum

Storytelling is tough, but it has to be done. You need to create a story of your product and let people know about it. You may need the help of expert marketers to get this done.

How does this work?

What you are trying to do here is building momentum. You have to do this before your actual product launch, like a month or so before your product becomes available.

There are many ways how you can do this. You can create a fictional story, or you can share various videos of your product in use. Naturally, you cannot create a story unless your product is ready.

Your stories must gain momentum. They should touch the hearts and interests of people—your target market.

In our clay product example, you can create a series of videos showing people how to make a sculpture. With this, you can tell them about the product that you are launching soon. This is going to prompt people to subscribe to your channel or get into your email list.

And what good does it do?

Think about it this way: all the people who subscribed to your email list are people who are likely to buy your product. You can send them an email notification telling them that they can now buy your stuff on your launch.

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3. Prepare a marketing plan

There is no better way to launch than to have a carefully strategized marketing plan. You already spent a lot of money on your website and your product development, so you might as well spend some on marketing.

The success of your marketing activities depends on several factors. Here are some questions that you need to answer:

Did you choose the right audience?
Are you using the right social media or marketing platform for your product?
Is your ad copy effective and professionally done?

Here are the things you should do:

Choose the channels for your marketing such as Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc.
Create content that appeals to your target audiences
Set a budget that you are willing to spend on your marketing activities.
Prepare bonuses that you can offer for those who are going to buy

A marketing plan is not that complicated. It is really nothing more than creating an ad, or any content, that you will show to your target market.

4. Offer your value

Fourth on my list is to offer value. Many entrepreneurs make a mistake because they make assumptions that the consumer knows what the product is for.

There is a reason why products sold on TV Shopping channels succeed. They know how to offer the value of their products.

Here are some tips on how you can do this:

Identify the problems or pain points of your customers
Understand how your product can deliver a solution to these problems
Highlight the benefits of your products

When I say benefits, I am not referring to features. A benefit is something that the customer gets. For example, a malleable clay’s benefit is less work time and a better sculpture. The feature is that it is flexible.

As you can see, you need to focus your attention on the benefit because this is what people are going to buy. If your product is a battery, the benefit is less charging time and longer standby and use time. The feature is that it is made of some kind of element like Lithium.

5. Work with influencers

My last advice for your product launch is that you should work with influencers. Before your launch date, you have to contact influencers and work with them.

Here are some of the things that they can do for you:

Product demonstration
Product comparison
Product review

If you do this, the influencer must only launch his content once your product is already released. If he launches a video before your product launch, his followers will visit your site. And if they cannot buy, they are not likely to come back.

You also have to choose the right influencer. If you are selling clay, work with an artist, not a singer. The artist can use your clay to make a sculpture, and then he can say somewhere in the video about your product or your brand and where to buy it.

Big-time influencers are costly—they charge by the number of their subscribers. Work with small-time influencers as they normally do not charge money—they only want free samples of your product.

Summary: how to successfully launch a new product online

A product launch is one of the most anticipated events for a business. You need to do it right, or your business is going to fail. My tips are standard practices, and a lot of people who have released products and failed will agree that they missed doing something crucial.

Review each step, and then plan for each of them. You need to anticipate a potential setback, so you know how to respond to it if it happens. Get everything ready, test them out, and launch your product like a pro.