How to Market a New Product

03/17/2020

[ Article was originally posted on conjointly.com ]

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One of the most exciting moments as a business is a product launch you’ve been working on in secret for months or years. The building and iteration process is finally to a point that the public can see, and you’re gearing up for the big reveal. But there’s still work ahead of you, from marketing the product to gathering connections for a big media push.

Here, you’ll find three distinct methods and tips for marketing a new product that will help you adequately prepare for product launch and fully realise the potential of your hard work.

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1. Find realistic beta members

Prior to your final product launch, one of your last actions will likely be running a beta test. If you’re creating a hardware product, this will involve sending out a physical device to potential customers; if you’re making software, then you’ll be finding customers willing to download a new program. Either way, you’ll want to be absolutely sure that your beta members are well within your target market. While it may be interesting to seek out beta testers who just think your product is interesting, you will be wasting precious data points that could otherwise be used for true users down the line. Though the search might be more restrictive this way, doing so ensures that you’re gearing up for a proper product launch instead of a less directed campaign.

2. Seed the market

Though you’ve likely been told multiple times that your product is solving a problem in your industry, incoming customers may not even know that a problem exists. If you simply launch your product, potential customers will likely pass it over because they don’t know the problem it’s solving. That’s why it’s critical to seed the market space by creating content pointing to the issue you’re solving. Write some articles and create other SEO-friendly content that guides potential customers to your problem and ultimately to your solution and do this far before your product actually launches, so you’ll have some traction building along the way.

 

3. Plan your launch channels carefully

One quick way to flop your launch is to spread out your product messaging across too many platforms. This essentially dilutes your launch, making fewer people are of the launch due to inefficiency. Instead, plan to primarily use only a few of the most effective channels. If you know that the bulk of your potential market uses a specific email newsletter or frequents a specific website, aggressively target those spaces. Likewise, if many of your potential users are on only one social media website, make sure that’s your primary focus. In doing so, you’ll amplify your message to the right spaces, ensuring that the vast majority of your potential early adopters see your launch right away. In turn, this will generate hype and awareness that can cascade across platforms you didn’t even initially target.

Successfully marketing a new product takes a significant portion of time and careful planning. Taking the time to plan early and iterate on those plans often is essential for the creation of a marketing plan that consistently drives your messaging before, during, and after launch.

SOURCE: https://conjointly.com/blog/how-to-market-a-new-product/?msID=d14176c6-4e57-4096-8f45-a0c3c1cbc616