What does it take to launch a product that your consumers love and rakes in all that profit? It is a question businesses have been asking for years and years. How can one achieve success with their product?
Most people think that a “great” product sells itself. However, even the most in-demand product can bring in a loss, if the marketing strategy is bad.
Every step of the product launching needs to have harmony. Your formula for success depends on your plans about the product launch process and how well you handle it.
Follow this product launch checklist, it will keep you on track and help you to take your product through all stages from idea generation to a successful launch.
The Product
Idea Generation
Having a unique idea for a product can be its selling point. Believing in your product is important but be rational in your imagination. Determine the launch worthiness of your product by answering these questions:
Ask yourself, why would consumers use your product? Who are the people that might use it and which age group do they belong to?
Consumers look for a product that fulfills a particular need. How well does your product fulfill that need? Most important, is it better than similar products already available in the market?
You might want to start a business by launching a product, but doing it without any prior experience often ends badly. Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula can help anyone release a product successfully.
Product Research
After settling on a product idea, extensive research is required to understand the following points: Who uses this kind of product? What demographics does it appeal to? Are there similar kinds of products out there?
By doing market research you can identify your potential consumers, understand what they are currently using and how you can make your product better than the options already available in the market. Identify its unique selling point and use it as a promotional tool.
Suppose, your product is a hand cream. After doing your necessary market research, target women from that age group who are interested to buy your hand creams. You should plan your packaging, advertising, pricing, and quality, aiming to appeal to that particular consumer group.
Testing
Product tests are crucial for ensuring the success of your product. Quality control is a vital part of gaining the trust of a loyal consumer. If your product quality is low, you will lose your investment and your credibility as a producer.
If there is a requirement for quality control certifications for the product you are producing, make sure you take the right tests. You can also conduct beta testing on a small group of survey testers. Their experience and feedback will help you perfect your product.
The Team
Organize Your Team
Your team needs to stay organized. Delegate the tasks and choose your group leaders. You will not be able to keep your eyes everywhere all the time.
Make sure you choose responsible and capable leaders for each team. They will make sure things run smoothly, deal with minor issues, and report to you in time. Proper task delegation will ensure things run perfectly.
Keep Them Informed
Keep your team informed about everything. A little misinformation can bring down the entire process. Give them deadlines to meet the launch date and make sure they are aware of the date. Remind them to deal with any minor hiccups before the big day.
If there are changes, call a meeting and let everyone know. If one person is misinformed, it will create problems for everyone.
Motivation & Consistency
Keep your team motivated at all times. The product launch is an exciting time. Make sure everyone is on the same page and working enthusiastically. If something goes wrong and the team morale is low, reassure them that if everybody is working hard together it will work.
Keep an eye on every operation and ensure consistency in all tasks. If the product sells successfully in the market, there will be more demand in the market. Your team should be able to handle the situation with consistency.
Prepare Teams for After-Release Duties
After the release, you need to prepare a sales team and a customer service team.
Your sales team needs to have people who are capable of handling customers. They will make sure that by their power of sales persuasion your product is being sold.
A good customer service team will secure loyal customers for you. The quality of customer service you provide will attract future sales and ensure return customers.
The Marketing Strategy
Product launch campaigns are a vital part of the process. You need to decide on how much you are willing to invest in promotion. If invested wisely for the right product, you can increase your customer reach and sales.
From branding to advertising to engaging customers, the entire process will require creativity, capital, and a devoted team.
Product Packaging
Product packaging becomes a way to identify your product. When people see your goods on the market shelves, the color, shape, and form become its identity.
Product packaging is part of your brand creation. Large brands spend thousands of dollars to create the perfect brand image and the product packaging is a part of it. An attractive and smart outer look will attract more customers to it.
Advertisement
The medium of advertisement you choose will depend on your target audience. For example, a product for youngsters will be better advertised on billboards than in a newspaper.
The advertisement has become easier than ever. You don’t have to spend a lot of money shooting a commercial for TVs. Advertisement on Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc, reaches a wide range of audiences.
If you are selling it online, these advertisements can bring the customers right to your website. From image ads to small video ads, with less effort and money you can extend your reach.
Involving Media
The old school way of launching a product always involves various media outlets. Reach out to journalists with your press release. Your press release needs to be persuasive, otherwise, you will fail to get the attention you need.
Find journalists who are involved with the market you are aiming for. Inform them about the item you are promoting and the launch date. If they find your product interesting, they might even take an interview or mention it in their articles.
Creating Hype
Getting media involved can help create the hype you need. You might want to hold a product launch event.
You can invite people who have influenced the sector your product belongs to. For example, for a beauty item, even if you can’t reach a celebrity, you can try bringing a social media influencer.
Before the launch, create a social media presence for your brand. You can engage customers and create hype on social media. As more people interact with your page, your customer reach will increase.
Put a capable person in charge of your social media accounts. Online presence is crucial for promoting products these days, as people spend most of their free time on the internet nowadays.
The Product Launch
Maintain Deadline
Ensure that every aspect of production has been completed by the deadline. If you have promoted a particular d-day for launch, you must meet that deadline.
The people you have succeeded in getting attracted to your goods through the promotion and hype are expecting it to arrive on that date. Do not disappoint them as it can lead to customers losing their interest in your products.
Last Checking of Product
Right before the launching event, check your product one last time to ensure everything is the way it should be. This can save a lot of trouble because finding the issue after it has been launched can end badly. You can lose customers and it will hinder the success of the launch.
Launch Day Media Support
If you hold a launching event, make sure it gets some media coverage. If you can involve a television channel or a news portal, that can help you spread the word. If a channel covers the event, people will be able to see it from their homes, and this will also help to attract a larger audience.
Create an event on Facebook for the launch and involve people online. You can also do giveaways which will attract more people to the event.
You can cover the event online, with the help of your team, and stream it live on social media. This can save you money and still bring in more people.
Prepare for After Launch Issues
After creating all that demand, it is crucial to meet them. You have to ensure that you have the supply and the capacity to produce enough to tackle that demand. Make sure your team is mentally prepared to handle the pressure.
Also, no matter how good your product is, there will always be some people who may not like it. Bad reviews, problematic customers, etc, needs to be handled with tact. Your PR and customer service team should have the capability to handle such situations.
Final Thoughts
Product launches can go either way, but to ensure success, we must work hard and do our best. This checklist will aid you in releasing your goods successfully.
