Whether you are launching a new product, service, or a new business, you’ve got your work cut out for you. The excitement and thrill of a launch is wonderful, but it tends to balance with anxiety and confusion along the way. As you plan your product launch, it’s good to take time and check in to make sure you’re on the right track.

For the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a look at what’s necessary for a successful product launch. Today, we’re starting with a few hacks to prepare in advance and get your plan ready.

Get Organized

Organization is key when it comes to how you plan your product launch. The fact is, there are so many moving parts to balance that it can become overwhelming. 

Maybe you and your team have management tools in place. But if you need some efficient methods of communicating throughout the process, there are some great choices out there. With simple organization in one place, your project can instantly become more streamlined. You want to be able to see what you’re doing, but you also need to know where other people are in the process. That way, if the project is hung up somewhere, it’s easy to trace. Once you’ve found the source of the hangup.

Managing Your People

• Slack
• Skype
• Go to Meeting
• Google Hangouts

Managing Your Projects/Documents

• Dropbox
• Trello
• Monday
• Google Drive

Nail Down Your Story

As with every element of your business, your Product Launch needs a good story! 

This primary story attracts, retains, and carries your customer through the entire buying process. They need to consistently hear this theme from start to finish. The story throughout your launch will influence every aspect of your marketing. Consider this as you work on the ad copy, the web design, and even your marketing emails throughout the launch. 

What does your story need to consider? 

1. First, what problem or struggle is your ideal customer currently up against? 
2. Second, how will your customer be the hero of their own story by using the new product to solve their problem? 
3. Third, what does success look like for your customer after buying and using your product? 

Throughout every stage of the customer journey, it’s important to emphasize the emotional tone and feel of this story. The story carries them. It doesn’t just run parallel to their experience but rather guides the experience. 

Decide Which Channels to Leverage

Of course, you can’t launch your product and expect customers to flock to you. You need to find the optimal route to advertise it. This ultimately goes back to something we’ve talked about before. You have to know your customers. Knowing the demographic and ideal client you are selling to is the only route to gauging the proper channels. Within understanding the ideal channel, you can decide the next steps to take to move forward with your advertising. First, determine which channels you will use to launch your product.

You can opt for paid advertising through channels like Facebook, Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn Ads. Or you can choose owned or organic traffic through your website, blog, organic searches, your YouTube channel, podcasts, or even webinars. Then, there’s the option of sponsored content or partnerships. If you aren’t sure which channels your customers will most likely respond to, check out our post on targeting your ads.

Decide on Your Deliverables

Every product launch requires necessary deliverables. These support the marketing campaigns for your launches. While there are many different deliverables you can include, a few are essential, or at least extremely beneficial.

They include:

• A Website
• Sales/Landing Pages
• Product Pages
• Paid Ads
• Creative Email Campaigns
• Blog Posts
• Lead Magnets
• Social Media Posts
• Affiliate/Sponsored Content
• Podcast Content

These deliverables will help direct your audience through their journey to becoming customers. You may not use all of these, but you will want to weigh the benefits of each and how you will make up for any that you don’t include.

If you aren’t sure about any of these particular deliverables, follow the Planify blog as we have covered some of these topics and will continue sharing essential info about these topics.

• Consider your pre-launch timeline and think about what’s required. When will your site, sales pages, content, and ads be created? When will they be scheduled to post?
• Next, look at your launch date and cart dates. What is your launch date? When will all the discounts, early, normal, and final offers open and close? 
• Pay attention to when content goes live. When will the blog posts, social posts, sponsored content, and podcast episodes go live? Is there anything else that needs to be launched at this point?
• Lastly, think back to our previous blog series about funnels. What does your funnel look like? Sequence your different ad campaigns and email campaigns. Then align them with your content and cart timelines.

Get Ready For What’s Ahead

Now that you’ve taken the proper steps to organize and plan your product launch, it’s time to get the rest prepared. If these early stages, or the necessary deliverables ahead, are a little too much for your shoulders, Planify is here to help. We understand that navigating your digital marketing journey can be a difficult process. That’s why we have experts on the job to bring your business goals to life. From business coaching to website building and reputation management, we’ve got you covered.

Not quite sure what’s coming? Stay tuned for the next blog, where we will be looking at the deliverables needed before your launch.