While all those are excellent and must-have benefits, have you ever considered using product launches to gain more exposure to grow your business?
Here are some simple strategies to generate more income for your business while creating loyal customers.
1. Offer Behind-the-Scenes Access
Every business wants to find those few super fans they can use to get solid testimonials and recommendations from, and there’s no better way to reach them then with a new product launch.
This allows you to not only build buzz about your upcoming product, but it gives your customers a chance to feel like they are part of the decision-making process.
This key strategy means they become emotionally involved in your business and your products, and makes it all too easy to get them to spread the word. They did, however, help you with the final product!
So how can you offer this exclusive opportunity? Give them exclusive behind-the-scenes access to how you made (or are making) the product, ask their opinion on colors, design and other ideas.
Take Alexis Grant for example; she just launched a new self-published book on Kindle and asked her readers for input on the final book cover. Nearly 300 responses came in with surprising results, with suggestions from font size changes to background alterations.
The final tally for the votes was 105 for the laptop cover and 176 for the red coffee cover. She was able to generate a lot of buzz about her new ebook since she included – and listened – to her audience’s opinions.
The final product was a better version of the red coffee cover with bigger and clearer font subtitles. Listening to your communities suggestions makes them feel like contributors, nearly guaranteeing they’ll share your product with the world because they helped create it.
2. Spread the Word With Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding sites like IndieGoGo and Kickstarter are becoming increasingly popular and have quite a large following of people, making it a great time to take advantage of an ever growing audience.
You can leverage these already built-in communities to spread the word about your product and thus increasing your brand’s exposure. Not only will you gain loyal followers, you’ll engage potential buyers to invest in your brand’s journey.
This is something new startup Eone Timepieces leveraged to fund their new product called The Bradley. Little did they know they would not only exceed the initial $40,000 goal (by over $500,000) but they also received huge amounts of media attention from utilizing that platform.
How effective was the media attention from this crowdfunding campaign? Well, they raised $16,000 in revenue due to being published on Cool Material, another $14,000 because of a mention on Gizmodo and $10,000 in sales from a post on Hodinkee.
3. Use a Rolling Launch to Involve Customers
One of the best product launching strategies is to use a rolling launch to generate buzz and sustain a solid revenue stream (without overloading yourself).
Knowing how to set up your rolling launch is key to making it a success. Most importantly, understanding some of the uses of the rolling launch will help you grow your business.
So what is a rolling launch?
It’s a product launch process that’s repeated over and over again. The purpose of this is to allow for continuous income that’s consistent, instead of a one-time launch and short-lived payday. You also get a chance to involve your customers on a regular basis instead of overloading them with promotion at the beginning of your launch.
4. Get More Media Attention
When you launch a new product it’s the perfect chance to create more buzz about your business and its mission. It’s an excellent excuse to get more media attention when you send out a press release or create a marketing campaign.
With the help of social media, you’ll often get more media coverage for free as opposed to the traditional paid route – especially if you’ve been building up to the release. Then once potential customers find out about your new product, they’ll learn more about your business, and you’ll have the opportunity to turn them into paying customers.
My friend Kimberly Palmer, of PalmersPlanners has grown her freelance writing business through creations of her money planners. As her column on U.S. News has taken off so has the sales of her printable custom planners.
Her work and planners have been featured on The Today Show, The New York Times and many other big media sites. Since launching her Etsy store, she’s sold over $10,000 worth of money planners thanks to media mentions.
Each time she’s featured on TV or on a big website, she sees a significant spike in sales, sometimes even as much as $200 a day. All of her success helped her land a new book deal based on her experience with launching her Etsy Shop.
5. Create Valuable Connections
One of the best ways to build a successful business, is to embrace your “competitors” as collaborative partners. The benefits could not be more realized then when you’re launching a new product. You can reach out to fellow business contacts and let them about your latest launch.
Maybe even offer a discount to their customers if they help spread the word via email newsletters, social media, blogs and the like. And of course, when they launch a new product you can do the same for them.
This is a win-win-win because;
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- your business is getting more exposure,
- you’re creating a valuable business connection,
- while sharing new products and resources with your customers.
These are just a few simple ways you can leverage a new product or service to create more buzz for your business. What is your experience on using product launches? Share your thoughts in comments below!
