Aug
Steps to a Successful Online Product Launch
My Company, SEORCHERS, is launching a new web developer product this coming Monday. We are going through great lengths to ensure the launch goes smoothly and effectively. This includes several hours of my own time doing research for product launches. I have taken tons of pages of notes, and compiled a total launch strategy for our Small Business Web Design product and would like to provide an overview for those of you in a similar situation.
Launching an online product can be an intimidating prospect for some. Questions such as how to get the word out, where to advertise and whether people will respond positively or negatively in the blogosphere can create a stressful working atmosphere. On the other hand, some put too little thought into what their online product launch plan will be. Just slap a press release up online and it’ll get picked up eventually, right?
Neither the stressed out approach nor the “slap it up” approach guarantees a successful online product launch for your business. Your goal should be to put information in front of people who will read it, remember it, and promote it. By following the steps below, you’ll accomplish all three of these goals without holing up in your office for the next six months.
- Optimize Your Website for Conversions
This step has to come well before your product launch because all the promotion you do will ultimately lead potential customers back to your website. Put some effort into visual design, usability, and conversion optimization in order to make it as easy as possible for a customer to convert once he’s reached your site.
- Create an Offer They Can’t Refuse
This will be the basis for your promotional campaign. Think through answers to questions like these: Why should a customer buy your product? How will your product make his life better or easier? What problems can your product provide solutions for?
- Plan Your Communication
Once you know what you want to say, determine what venues you’ll use to communicate your message. You can begin with an online press release, but don’t stop there. Use your existing email list to communicate with customers, providing helpful tips and information along with your sales copy. Blog about your product on your website, post a video on Youtube, hold a webinar, and offer a discount for people who respond within the first two weeks. If you have the ability to incorporate a direct mail campaign, I would absolutely NOT avoid using this marketing strategy.
- Incorporate Social Media
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can be powerful resources, but don’t place all your eggs in the social media basket. Include Facebook updates and Twitter posts in your overall communication plan and include links to your product page that will get people onto your website where they can find out more. Remember, though, that the businesses using social media successfully are those that maintain a continual presence and that take part in existing conversations in order to offer useful information, not just sales pitches. In other words, make social media a regular part of your online marketing strategy; don’t just use it to promote new products.
- Ask Others to Review Your Product
Instead of being intimidated by the blogosphere, use it to your advantage by asking the most influential bloggers in your field to review your product. You’ll also likely receive additional exposure when lesser known bloggers pick up the topic from popular blogs and highlight it on their own sites.
When you follow these steps throughout your online product launch, you’ll receive maximum exposure for your effort. Keep your new information in front of readers’ eyes and you’ll see the results in conversions on your website. Remember, recent studies have shown that people need to see something seven times before they end up making a purchase. Once you’ve done your initial launch, you need to continue to market your product!
Have any of you recently employed a product launch? What were some obstacles you had to overcome?
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.Related posts:
- Measuring Your Online Marketing Strategy: Bringing It All Together In part 1, part 2, and part 3 of this...
- 10 Steps to Publishing an Ebook First, let me preface this by saying, publishing an ebook...
- Developing a Basic Social Media Strategy Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—these are names that have become buzzwords not...
- Online Reputation Management and Monitoring In today’s business world, it can be very easy to...
- Why Your Business Needs a Social Media Strategy Social media has become the new bandwagon for businesses hoping...
these are some wonderful tips, thanks for sharing, will put them to use soon! ^_^
Hi,
This is really great to read and i appreciate it that you have shared so useful and helpful tips with the readers of this blog. I will keep this in mind. Thanks a lot!
Very informative article! Mashable just did a poll and found that the majority of responders said that they did not trust Facebook and would prefer to use Foursquare or other services. In my own very informal research, I could not find anyone who plans on using Facebook Places. There is also a lot of concern about the privacy because you are automatically enrolled. The settings can be a little tricky to opt out if you are not paying attention. I do agree that the smaller sites are going to have to stay on their toes and compete on reliability, service and privacy.
Trevor B. Reed @Charleston Marketing Firm´s last [type] ..Thesis 18 Review
I find here best Steps to a Successful Online Product Launch with have a great suggestion…..
Great article, thanks Justin, I’ve bookmarked your site
To me the best step is “creating an offer they cant refuse”
That is so true. I mean how many of us have signed up or bought something cause we just had to have it.
Great tip man
Chris@Gold Miners´s last [type] ..Investing In Gold During A Recession
I’ll remember all these tips. Keep on blogging!
Justin, great post… I think the Optimize Your Website for Conversions is extra important. Many people focus so much on SEO and they forget about the conversion.
I think if you have the money, running a PPC campaign for the conversion testing is important because it brings in such a huge amount of traffic so fast. Then just test different variables and keep trying to beat the control. Even an increase in conversion from 1 to 1.5% means a 33% increase in profits.
Having a credible landing page works well. Also, the usability of the page also must come into the mind of every product launch. If this things are forgotten during the launch, no matter how much you tried to market this page or SEO the page, conversion and sales wont be that good.
Thanks for this great article
thanks for the info and explanation provided
I will soon be confrunted with a web product launch, I do know what it is to be drown under notes and solutions, places to gain product exposure and so on. Like the saying, think from the perspective, look at your own product with unknown and potential buyer eyes. First steps to product launch in my view, exposure and motivation
I will soon be confrunted with a web product launch, I do know what it is to be drown under notes and solutions, places to gain product exposure and so on. Like the saying, think from the perspective, look at your own product with unknown and potential buyer eyes. First steps to product launch in my view, exposure and motivation
This is a great informations
thanks.
Your given tips are very useful for online launch a product successfully, its really a great information and useful too.
http://seobyexpert.com/
Great tips, i have launched my website recently and i am about to seo my web site . these tips helps me to do so. optimizing social media, blogging etc.
Justin, great post.
turkey travel agncy http://www.onenationtravel.net/
Awesome idea…Hope you are doing good with your launch too!!!…Best wishes for it and thanks for sharing your management + Marketing ideas!!…
Best of istanbul airport taxi service web site best price and friendly http://www.istanbultransfer.net
I’ve been looking for new posts here and I came across this one. Really interesting information. Product launches sounds a lot of work. Social Media Sites might be the best strategy here, they can get the word out fast and spread even faster if done right. Thanks for this!
Product launching is very important part of business. This is where you figure out if you can have profit or lost. The information presented on this post is so great and helpful to have a successful product launch. Just follow these tips and the chances to succeed is better.
Thanks, Justin. Your post triggered a long list of things I could include in my first launch. Very helpful!
Shawn Tuttle´s last [type] ..What Training Bras Teach Us About Realizing Our Potential