One of the reasons why Apple is one of the best brands out there – apart from the charm of the iconic, late Steve Jobs and the fact that their products are the very best – is that they work very hard on their product launches.
As Isaac Walterson noted in his popular biography “Steve Jobs,” the company has a tradition of making product launch events work for the benefit of the company. Now, not all businesses can afford Apple’s product launch budgets but the best practices can be used by any business, nevertheless. Here’s how to get your product launches right:
Plan your launch
Not every company is Apple Inc. Before you do anything about launching products, consider the following: Who is your target audience? What excites them? Where do they lounge and gather? What are the media that reach out to them? Would a web-based launch suffice or should you go offline? In both cases, how do you wish to position your products? Planning is crucial for product launches.
What goes with the launch?
It’s only human to want something tangible in your hands when you go out somewhere. Return gifts after visiting a wedding, brochures and flyers after visiting a store, getting a free gift just for visiting a website – all of this makes you look forward to such events. Make your product launch an event that people look forward to. Give away something promotional in nature yet useful to your audience. Things such as general promotional merchandise, promotional bags, promotional stationery packs, and other such products work great for your business.
Get the buzz
One of the key aspects of successful marketing is to create an ever-whirring buzz around your brands, products, services, and product launches. Invest in great relationships with PR specialists, write out press releases by yourself (or have a professional develop them for you), and connect with local or global journalists to cover the launch story on their newspapers. It does take effort on your part but look at the returns you get.
Information should go with the launch
Unless you have a business dealing with products that need no explanation, you will have to explain the workings, features, benefits, and tips about every other product or service you might sell to your customers. How do you do that when the focus is the product launch? You don’t. Instead, you give away free promotional CDs, DVDs, folders with brochures and flyers, stationery items with your website URL printed on them (your website could have all the information), stack whitepapers or reports about best practices/tips on using your products well on promotional USB sticks, or maybe print user guides. Create a pack and give these out to your potential customers when they attend your launch.
