Congratulations are in order, it seems.
Your product is ready to be launched. Finally!
Now all that is left is to make your product live and reap in the benefits.
You are waiting for leads and customers to start purchasing…but uh, oh.
It turns out, no one even knows about the existence of your product in the first place.
Where did you go wrong?
There’s a short answer to this question: you overlooked pre launch marketing.
Running a winning digital marketing campaign prior to your product launch is extremely essential in this competitive market.
If you generate a pre launch buzz, then you will already have a massive audience when the time comes to finally launch your product.
Let’s have a look at how you can create a pre launch buzz around your product.
First, Understand The Scope Of The Product
You cannot go about promoting your product before you even understand essential things such as who you target audience is and what potential your product has.
Other than that, it is also important to analyze what resources you are willing to spend and what is the ROI against the spend resources.
Unbounce points out all the questions you need to ask before you create a buzz around your product.
Once you discern all these things mentioned above, you can build a solid strategy for your product pre launch promotion.
Be prepared to work day and night for your hype marketing campaign. In the end, it will be well worth the effort.
1. Take pre-orders
This is probably one of the most effective yet overlooked pre launch strategies out there.
Apple does it. Tesla does it.
Then why not try out something that every major brand is succeeding at?
After you take pre-orders, you will witness a legion of customers turning up in droves, wanting to get their hands on the brand new product.
Now you know how Apple is able to sell thousands of units within a few days of their product launch.
However, this tactic only works if your brand is already somewhat popular amid a decent customer base. If your is decidedly new in the market, then this trick might not work as efficiently as it works for the brands that already have a strong foothold in the market.
However, there are other strategies that work for everyone, whether a new brand or an already popular one, which takes us to the next point.
2. Start blogging about it
Blogging is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website and at the same time, draw awareness about your product.
Have a look at this infographic to have a solid grasp of why blogging is so beneficial when it comes to promoting your product:
However, you have to make sure that you talk about your upcoming product without being overly promotional. Try to craft your content in such a way that it promotes your product but at the same time offers a valuable solution to your readers and potential customers. Talking about your about-to-be launched product in your blog will help you build much-needed anticipation around your product.
You can also conflate regular blogging with guest blogging.
Try to get in touch with other brands in your niche and get your content published on their blog. This is like a free advertisement practice that will help you generate tremendous hype around your upcoming product.
3. Leverage Influencer Marketing
Not everyone can pay millions of dollars to A-list athletes or Hollywood stars.
But there is a great alternative that has emerged in the past few years.
Yes, you got it right: influencer marketing.
While it is not entirely free to get influencers to promote your product, it is not exceedingly expensive either.
Most of the times, you can even offer some other incentives other than monetary payment. For instance, you can provide a free trip to your launch event or provide a sample for your product for free.
The best part is that these influencers usually hold a persuasive authority on their audience. People know that they are not getting paid thousands of dollars, which again helps in building trust in influencer marketing. And unlike A-list stars, these influencers are regular people who are easily accessible to their audience; hence, most of the people find them relatable and more trustworthy.
Statistics prove just how lucrative influencer marketing can prove to be.
Influencer Marketing delivers 11X ROI over all other forms of digital media.
Numbers certainly do not lie. Influencer marketing is indeed powerful.
Manually search for influencers with a substantial follower-base in your niche and then connect with them via email or any social media platform.
If you don’t have to scythe through the internet in search of a perfect influencer, then consider using a service.
4. Tease your target audience
One of the best ways to build hype around a product is by creating a bit of mysterious air around it.
The key is not to reveal your product right away.
First, tease your audience.
Humans are curious by nature. If you build anticipation around your product and give them small glimpses, they are more likely to follow-up on the progress rather than after seeing the entire product all at once.
Mobile brands have mastered the art releasing teasers.
Take this example by Google Pixel:
As you can see, they are not offering any concrete information or even a full-fledged image of the device. However, this small glimpse is enough to get people talking about it.
Here’s another example by Sony Xperia:
Sony Xperia launched a short teaser video with their upcoming phone in 2018. The only thing you could see in the video was the curved lines of the phone and the date for the forthcoming conference.
The teaser was aired one week before the event.
This is a great way to create a hype around your new product and let your audience’s imagination run wild.
5. Encourage social shares
Influencer marketing should already take care of your social media clout.
However, to increase your outreach, even more, make sure to incorporate social sharing buttons on your product landing page.
If social sharing buttons on the page do not work, then try out another option.
Ask them to sign up to learn more about your product and then redirect them to a “Thank You” where you can again prompt them to share your product(s).
Summing it all up
Follow through this guide to generate hype around your product.
Don’t make the mistake of launching your business without garnering an audience base first. The marketing world is so competitive that you can never have enough tactics in your arsenal.
So, do what you may, but make sure that before you launch your product, you already have a solid audience-base lining for the launch.
From riding on the coattails of influencers to blogging, all of the tips mentioned above are considerably easy to implement. You need to create a marketing calendar to get started and generate results. And yes, don’t forget to determine the scope of your product before you begin with your pre launch marketing campaign.
Tim Ferguson
Writer and Editor of Right Mix Marketing blog
Tim Ferguson is a writer and editor of Right Mix Marketing blog. He enjoys writing about SEO, content marketing, online reputation management, social media, AI and Big Data. When he is not writing and editing for Right Mix Marketing, he spends time on learning more about content marketing and getting better at it. You can follow him on Twitter at @RightMixMktg