Ever wondered how to take your product launch to the next level? Well, in this competitive world, being the best and getting attention from the crowd is the biggest challenge. There are quite a number of leading brands who have managed to pull the crowd with their super prolific marketing ideas. There’s no doubt that it takes a lot to prepare for the best virtual product launch idea and get noticed.
When it comes to the best virtual product launch idea, smartphone giants like Apple and Samsung are big-time players in the market. Being a super brand and owning goodwill has helped them take charge of the business world. Let us take you through the tips for a virtual product launch.
1. Email Marketing
Launch day is a great and unique opportunity to announce and let people know about your product. Launch day, if done in the best way, can captivate the eyes and create a lot of buzzes. When it comes to creating a buzz, start sending out e-mailers five to six months before the launch. Email marketing is really powerful and can generate wholesome revenue.
Set up a ‘coming soon’ or ‘out soon’ web page with an email capture widget. If you create a big waitlist for the product, it creates quite an anticipation and fear of missing out among adults. As Apple does, it rolls out media invites or e-mailers for its special event, where it mentions the day and date of the launch. Apple is known to create suspense about its upcoming products and this invites a lot of eyeballs to know what actually the product is going to be.
2. Referral
Many top-notch companies use referral programs to multiply their users. It is super exciting for us when we share a referral code and get a whopping discount or win prizes. But, we have no idea how much a company is benefitting from the refer-a-friend program. This program helps them acquire new subscribers, users, or downloads pre and post-launch.
If you plan to launch your brand some weeks or months later, start your referral programs even before. Launching a log waitlist and referral program helps the company get hold of potential customers. Referral programs are the best way to enhance and elevate your user base and this way every existing user can convert into a new one.
3. Spread through the Internet
The easy way to get known and noticed is to distribute the content of your product on the internet the day before it gets launched. This is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to spread the word about your plan. You can get traffic from Reddit, Product Hunt, or Quora as they are the most reliable platforms for questionnaires on every topic. You get noticed when you spread the word digitally.
4. Create a Hype
You are your own maker and breaker! Launch time is the easiest moment to get hold of the press. Getting a press for yourself is as easy as peeling a banana. All you need is a compelling pitch, and the email addresses of the bloggers and publications. Many publications literally wait for some juicy content and once you have made your pitch in the most succinct way possible, it provokes the bloggers and publications to take note and make your launch the talk of the town.
5. Use Visual Countdowns
Using a super visual countdown is the best way to grab attention. Visuals are pretty and noticeable, they tend to stick to the mind for the end number of days. If your product is about skincare, and you are launching 2 new flavors supposedly neem and blackcurrant, then you can make people aware of the same before the launch by sending out advertisements on Instagram or Pinterest with the number ‘2’ written on neem leaves and blackcurrant berries. Know that repetition makes messages more effective and long-lasting.
6. Viral Video
Viral marketing is indeed a trophy. It’s the most effective way to get lots of users before launch. You make a video of your product and boom it goes on to circulate through the masses. No, it is not that easy. You need to have some major time to ideate and some high-end resources to shoot high-quality videos. Once you understand the underlying science of human behavior, it becomes easy to predict what impact it is going to create and what people are going to pass on. Many influencers do the viral video thing, they create a video on a particular product and once it goes viral there is no looking back.
7. Facebook Ads
Facebook advertisements can be quite effective when you are launching a product. These are basically remarketing ads where once you visit a website it keeps following you around the internet. These ads can get you higher conversion rates which automatically drops down your ad spend. Also, due to the ‘following you around’ thing with these ads, customers tend to take your brand seriously because they keep bumping around the same product time and again.
8. Create Hashtags
Last but not the least, coming up with a catchy hashtag for your product will help you in your online as well as offline consumer hunt. Promoting a hashtag encourages people to take action online, spread your launch’s reach, and share their experiences.
Apple and Samsung produce videos post-launch of their product to keep the hype going. Videos create a bigger impact than written content due to the visuals. Also, before their launch, they do not reveal too much about their products and this helps in building anticipation and creating suspense. So, the rule is to drop hints, and create hype, but keep the exciting part of your business reserved for the actual social media launch.