How to develop a successful marketing plan to promote your brand's new product (Checklist) |
The strategy you choose for your marketing can be what the difference is between great sales and a disappointing launch. Develop a strategy for marketing the launch of your brand using this list.
An intelligent person once said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
In the case of launching an innovative digital product we couldn't agree more.
In order to help you set yourself up for success to achieve your goals, we've created an easy-to-follow checklist of six points to build your plan for marketing. Follow these steps to create your own marketing strategy that you can apply to every new product launch.
Marketing plan for the launch of a new product checklist
You can download a PDF of the checklist here .
First, set objectives for the launch of your new product.
You can have the biggest marketing budget, and most expensive equipment, but unless you have goals set your plan for marketing is just like a vessel that has no rudder, i.e. directionless.
Marketers have a bad habit of setting broad goals. We talk about things like "make greater sales" and "drive engagement" but we don't really think about how achieving those goals will look like in action.
Why do we do that? One reason is that it's hard to recommend specific general marketing objectives or methods to gauge performance. Each creator is different and has their own KPIs (KPIs) in line with the goals they have set for themselves.
The setting of goals that are unique to your brand, business and product will help you select which metrics to track prior to the launch.
As an example, if you are trying to gather registrations prior to the launch of your online course, it is possible to keep track of the number of site people who sign up to receive your pre-launch email updates.
In contrast, if your goal is to convert new customers through advertisements on social media You would be able to track how many people are clicking on your Facebook ads, and how many of those visitors then purchase your product.
For setting the appropriate goals for your marketing plan The Goal framework SMART.
By using the SMART goals framework, you design your goals to meet five criteria:
Specific: Create specific goals that focus on specific areas of your business.
Measureable You must ensure that you are able to quantify your goals and monitor the progress you make.
Attainable:It's fun to dream about the future, but goals that seem impossible are often a source of discouragement. Keep your goal challenging and doable.
Important: Check that your goal aligns with your company's values, branding, and overall business goals.
time-boundGive your self a clearly defined date to meet your goals. Deadlines hold us accountable and give us a timeline to strive towards.
The SMART objective you have set for yourself could include: "By adding a pre-launch landing page to my website and collecting 100 email sign-ups for my pre-launch before launch day next month."
With specific metrics that you have in mind with a reasonable goal and an action plan to achieve it then you are to launch your venture successfully. What that action plan looks like depends on a variety of factors -- including your target audience.
Step 2: Define your target audience
The answer is as important when preparing for the release of a new item.
Here's why: You can't sell your product if don't know who you're marketing to.
The target market is the potential customers you plan to sell your products or services to. In order to make your marketing as effective as possible you must learn about your prospective clients as individuals, not just their demographics.
Buyer personas are where they come in.
Content marketing consultant Amy Wright explains : "Buyer personas describe who you would like to be your customers, what their days are like, the challenges they face, and how they come to their decisions."
A buyer persona might look like this illustration for one Spotify's target customers:
Explore forums, communities on the internet, and read reviews on products that are in your field. Consider:
What do my potential customers talking about online?
What challenges do they face?
What are their intentions?
What do they value?
Which language are they using?
If you understand how your audience talks and thinks, it will help you communicate why your new product is the perfect match for them.
Your customers would like to discuss their thoughts and thoughts with them. 64percent of customers would like brands to communicate with them. 90% of them are more positive view of businesses that solicit feedback from their customers.
In the event that you start discussions in your brand community, you can build connections and bonds over values that are shared. You get to know your target audience more personally, which helps you create marketing messaging that is a hit with them.
An excellent example of how you can learn from your customers comes from Tiffany Williams, founder of Rich Girl Collective .
( allows creators such as Tiffany to build brand communities, connect to their fans and even sell digital goods through one single platform. Test it on your own with a trial of a 14 day trial. )
In the end, the more you understand your target audience The more effectively you will be able to adapt your advertising to the needs of your audience and demonstrate what your product can do to assist them in achieving their goals. You'll need that info to proceed with the next phase.
Step 3: Establish your unique selling proposition (USP)
Once you've figured out all the details of the issues of your intended audience's as well as their needs and objectives and needs, you'll be able to identify your own unique selling proposition (USP).
Beginning with the outcome you want to offer to your client, and then go in reverse to figure out how your product achieves that result. That's your USP.
Your USP is also known as your value idea , answers two questions:
What is the problem my product can will solve for my clients?
What makes my product different from my competitors?
If you establish your USP, you're reaffirming that your product will help your audience meet their expectations or get over a real obstacle. And that's a key piece of an effective launch. 35percent of new businesses fail due to the lack of a market demand for their goods or services.
That's why there's no product-market fit. Your product-market fit is the extent to which your product is able to meet customer demand. Your USP defines that fit, and describes what makes your business apart from others and entices potential buyers to choose your company.
If you aren't sure the factors that make your product stand out, conduct market research and learn about the competition.
Do you have any issues that which your competition doesn't solve? What do you offer different? Your course may be unique with more visual lessons that others in the same topic Perhaps your expertise provides you with a new viewpoint from the other makers who are in your area.
Your USP can also help you figure out how to market your product.
Take Death Wish Coffee as an example. Most coffee brands highlight features like smoothness or flavor, however, Death Wish takes a unique method of describing "the most powerful coffee in the world".
Death Wish knows that their target market is looking for extra-strong, kick-in-the-pants coffee, so their advertising messages highlight that differentiator. Their USP may not be appealing to all coffee lovers however, it reveals what makes them unique and focuses on the market they are targeting.
In the end, if you know what is unique about your product and unique, it is possible to highlight this through your marketing. Use the same language that the people you are targeting use to talk about their pain areas. Your messages will resonate with the appropriate customers.
You're nearly ready to share that messaging across the globe However we must ensure that you're able to do so without spending a dime.
Step 4: Determine your marketing budget
As a creator, you probably don't have the budget to employ an outbound sales team as well as an in-house marketing team which is fine. However, you must figure out what you are able to manage to invest in marketing before you start running ads or commissioning your designs.
The good news is that you don't have to spend an investment of six figures to implement a winning strategy. In fact, more than one-third of small-sized businesses are spending less than $10,000 for advertising annually.
When you are determining your budget, you may be able to delegate money to expenses like
Toolkits and software that allow you to develop contents, connect to your target audience and run campaigns.
Freelancers include Copywriters, graphic designers, video editors, and web designers.
Paid ads, for example sponsored content and paid search advertisements, and social media ads. (We'll discuss more on paid social advertisements in the following section.)
If you've got your budget and your budget in place, it's time to take the next step five and pick the right marketing platforms for your launch.
Step 5: Select the marketing channels that you will use
Different tactics appeal to different types of audiences Not every approach can be used by every creator, budget, and product.
Plus, there are many more than a few digital marketing channels that one creator could tackle by themselves, which is why it's crucial to choose the right ones for you and your customers.
Here are a few the most popular channels to take into consideration when putting together your marketing plan.
Email marketing
It is essential to include email marketing in any digital marketing strategy. More than 4 billion individuals use email each year. They will send around 350 billion emails a every day.
Both customers and marketers enjoy emails. Customers and marketers alike love it. 73% of customers consider email to be their top channel for marketing communications, while 59% of marketers mentioned emails as their primary source of ROI in 2018.
Email is also a reasonable option for small businesses with an unfinancial marketing budget. It costs around $42 per dollar spent , email has one of the highest return on investment (ROI) of any other marketing channel.
Here are some resources to aid you in building your email lists, pick an email marketing platform and make the most of email marketing.
Marketing via social media
Marketing on social media is most effective when you combine both paid and organic initiatives. Organic social media marketing helps you connect with your potential and existing customers. Paid social ads help you get the attention of your customers.
In order to generate buzz about the new item, Twitter is a solid alternative. In one instance, a designer and marketing expert John D Saunders utilized a video on Twitter to promote an online course that was launched:
John's YouTube video was a way to let the audience be aware of what they can anticipate from the training and saw high engagement by retweeting 30+ times and more than 200 likes.
In the case of paid social Ultra-specific targeting tools can allow you to reach the right people faster than what organic advertising can. Over 60 percent of marketers affirm that social media advertising has been in some way efficient for their company.
Facebook advertisements are a low-cost option for small-scale businesses as well as solopreneurs who want to put their latest products in front of a larger audience. Like, for example, business coach Melyssa Griffin used this video ad to promote her Pinterest course specifically for blogger.
When the correct audience segmentation put in place, Facebook ads like Melyssa's convert into digital product sales for the creators.
Below are some other tools to assist you in mastering social media marketing:
Content marketing
Content marketing cost 62% less and could generate greater than three times the leads than traditional marketing. It's an affordable way to reach your audience build your reputation, increase your experience, and build relationships with prospective clients.
The people you want to attract discover the blog's content via searches or through other channels of distribution.
They learn from your articles and then begin to trust the expertise of your team.
They sign up for your email list or follow your social media accounts.
Keep them informed about the launch of your product.
They're eager to purchase your latest product, help you and take lessons from you.
The trick is creating blog posts that provide real value, not just longform product ad copy.
It is important to compose your blog posts using search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. SEO allows the people you want to reach them when they are searching for appropriate keywords and phrases. It's the reason nearly 64 percent of marketers spend time on SEO.
Below are a few resources that can aid you to get started in SEO and Content Marketing:
Website and landing pages
Picture this: Your launch marketing goes as planned.
Visitors are flooding to your website, ready to learn more about your product or sign-up for announcements prior to launch, and then make a purchase. You need to create an effective landing page to make all your hard work be worth it.
Checking your idea for a product.
Create your list of emails prior to the day of your launch.
In your landing page for pre-launch Include a brief description of your product and tell visitors why they should sign up to find out more about it and be informed when your product launches.
Take a look at Nicole Saidy's product description for her online training course: Becoming a UX/UI Designer .
Nicole understands that transitioning to user experience design can be overwhelming. However, she's here to help. Her goal is to help her clients find out if the service will be beneficial for them, through addressing their issues.
Here are more tips for designing page designs and landing pages that generate sales
Once you've selected your marketing channels, you may think you've completed the list. However, there's a crucial action to get the most out of your launch marketing and set yourself up for success -today and in the future for several product launches that are to follow.
Step 6: Track your results and keep iterating
Sixth and last stage monitoring your progress and continually evaluating your marketing, is much more of a continual procedure than just a list of tasks.
After and during your product launch, revisit your goals that you established at the beginning of step. If you're not meeting your objectives, then you'll have the chance to gain knowledge and make changes for your next launch or perhaps update your current marketing activities.
As an example, say your marketing emails haven't been as successful as you expected. Your open and click-through rates are lower than you'd prefer However, you'll can make adjustments before launch day. It may be time to run some A/B tests .
A/B testing (or split-testing) involves changing different elements of your email one at a time, then watching how these changes affect the effectiveness of your emails.
If you were to test A/B different subject lines, such as your clients get the same email but with a different subject line. If you can compare both open rates, you can discern which subject line does better, then use the information to improve future emails.
Above all else, remember that experimenting with new ideas and being willing to learning from your mistakes will help you grow as a creator.
Maybe you discover that the marketing method you're using isn't the right fit for your audience or business. That's valuable information to bring to your next launch strategy.
"Experiment! It's hard to know what to do online marketing, and each group of possible customers will be different. Therefore, you'll need to test to find out what's effective (and the ones that aren't). When you're doing anything, consider, measure the results, and modify your techniques to improve them. There isn't a single magic bullet in this article!"
"To succeed in company, you must first get comfortable operating a failing business because most of the time, success comes later."
In the Startup Curve , invented by Y Combinator founder Paul Graham Failure is a standard phase that occurs just before your company is on the verge of expansion and scaling.
The bottom line is:
Be open to experimenting on your marketing strategies to determine what works best for you along with your company, brand as well as your target audience. By keeping your goal set and a bit of time, you'll be on the way to establishing an effective launch strategy that you can implement for numerous product launches in the future.
Craft a go-to-market plan for the launch's to be a success
You've put in the effort to make an item that people will love. An effective marketing strategy can assist in making all your efforts pay off when it comes to launch day.
For a quick recap, here are the steps you need to take in creating the marketing strategy you want to use to launch your new product:
Create SMART goals for the launch of your product. Figure out what a successful launch means for you and the indicators you'll be tracking.
Determine your audience's needs and learn about them as individuals rather than just demographics. Conduct customer research and talk to them to learn more about their challenges and aspirations.
Establish your unique selling proposition (USP). What is it that makes your product the best choice for the ideal buyer? How do you stand out from your competitors?
Determine your marketing budget. You don't need to spend an arm and a leg in order to develop a campaign for marketing that boosts sales.
Choose your preferred marketing channel. Marketing via email is essential however there is many other options out there to choose from. Figure out which ones align with your goals and audience.
Keep track of your progress and continue practicing your marketing plan. More you understand about your customers, the more successful the next launch of your product marketing strategy will be.
Be aware that you may not get it 100% right the first time, and that's okay. You may need to go through some trial and error but once you figure out the best way to serve you and your customers and your product, you'll soon be a marketing expert with launches day sales to prove that it.