Launching a New Product or Service.

Your R&D department have developed a new fandangle product (or service). It cost thousands of dollars in development time. Now the CEO wants some return on investment. It’s over to you to create some noise and get people interested in buying it. What’s the best way to go about it?

Here are a few tips on how to make a big splash with your product launch.

Media

A product launch is a perfect time to garner media attention. A new product is after all, ‘news’. You can hold an event, or reveal it at an exhibition, both of which are fantastic opportunities for a touch/feel experience, particularly if you do not sell your product through retail outlets.

Celebrity Endorsements

If you’re holding a glitzy launch event, it’s an ideal opportunity to try and get a celebrity endorsement while the cameras are flashing and the media attention is fully turned on your new product.

Promotion

Traditional methods of marketing such as advertising, bill boards, web, DM work very well for new product releases and it’s advisable to use a combination of these methods for maximum impact. You may also want to consider a social media or viral campaign to generate some attention.

New Name

You’ll probably already have a name for your product by the time you’re launching it (see my earlier blogpost: Naming your new product – top ten tips). Alternatively you may consider launching a competition to name your new product to generate some consumer involvement. This would then generate a two stage launch plan where later on you will reveal the new name.

Stock Levels

Assess the availability and distribution outlets for your new product. Try to avoid a situation where people have to wait to receive their product. It’s a poor customer experience after all the hype. Of course, you could turn over-demand to your advantage, whereby owning the product becomes a status symbol. This won’t work with every product and is usually confined to luxury goods or technical gadgetry. You know your product – judge stock levels carefully prior to launch.

Internal Communications

Make sure everyone in your organisation is pumped about your new product or service. Sales people will need to be well genned up on it as well as call centre staff and service/technical support people, in case of any issues with it.

What techniques have you tried when launching a new product or service? Was your launch a success? I’d love to hear your comments below.

Managing Integrated Campaigns

We all consume different types of media at different times of the day, and for different reasons. This is why single channel advertising campaigns are so rare. With the ever growing number of communication channels it’s important to understand your target market and how to connect with them. Marketers need to be comfortable in producing communications across several mediums. Here are a few tips for managing an integrated marketing campaign:

Be clear on your objectives. It’s easy to get lost on what you are trying to achieve when caught up in the million things you have to do to go live with a campaign. So remind yourself regularly of what it is you are aiming for.

Get organised. By this I mean prepare a series of folders, both electronic and paper so you can keep track of the various rounds of artwork, briefing notes, and calculations for each aspect of your campaign.

Select your media carefully. Don’t assume that TV will be the most effective medium. If your budget won’t allow a sufficient media spend for TV spots, then select a range of channels that will give you your best “bang for buck”.  Depending on your audience, this could be something like internet ads, posters and radio or a clever social media campaign

Ensure the clarity of messaging across all mediums. The big idea may work well in TV, but be less convincing on the web or in direct mail. A good agency will think this through before presenting ideas, but it’s always worth checking with a little home market research on family and friends not connected to the brand.

You don’t have to use the same images for each media channel. So long as there is a strong common message or element that links each communication piece, then it will knit together as a campaign.

Make sure you can measure the effectiveness of each media channel.  Consider different phone numbers for each call to action or a system of codes – whatever works for your business. Be aware, though that TV can drive your web traffic or your yellow pages link. Not everyone will choose to respond in the same way.

Brief all customer-facing staff. With many campaign elements, it’s essential that everyone who deals with customers either on the phone or in person are aware of the campaign and what it is about.

Measure the results of your campaign from all angles. Understand what worked and what didn’t work. Sometimes a campaign can have a surprising effect that you could never have predicted.

Jill Bynon is an award winning marketing campaign manager, turned copywriter. Contact CraftWrite for your copywriting needs across all mediums: jill@craftwrite.com.au