Insights / Branding
Launching a product campaign can be a stressful process, especially if it’s your first time.
Where should I start? Should I go for social media ads or influencer marketing? How to come out with an impactful campaign big idea?
These might be some of the questions that are swirling around in your head, giving you headaches and insomnia. You want your product to be a success, but you also want to minimize any risks that could jeopardize its viability. Read on for 8 proven tips to create a killing product launch campaign.
1. Know Your Audience
The first and most important step to start planning your product launch campaign is to know your audience. Of course, as a business owner who has already got your brand and products developed, we understand that you’ve already had your ideal customer group in mind. The ones who would want, need and like your products.
However, to approach a Product Launch Campaign, you need to know and understand them deeper. In this stage, it is advisable to draw out your buyer persona complete with your target customers’ demographic, geographic and psychographic details.
Some of the questions that could help guide this research are:
i) Who are your ideal customers? (Gender, Age, Financial Status, Educational Background, etc)
ii) What are their interests? (Hobbies, Likes & Dislikes, Things & Issues that they are concerned about)
iii) What problems they may be facing? (Painpoints, Needs, Hopes, Dreams, Wishes)
iv) Where do they normally hang out at? (Most Used Social Media, Most Visited Cafe/Shops/Shopping Malls)
v) When do they normally buy your products? (Their Favourite Festivals, Shopping/Sale Seasons)
Bear in mind that all of these data are the key to strategising your campaign plan in regards to the concept, promotional plan and marketing strategies. The more detail you know about your target customers, the more relevant your campaign can be.
2. Create Meaningful & Relatable Big ideas
Next, dig deeper into your target audience’s psychology. Learn what issues are currently on top of their mind, what are they most concerned about and what are they attracted to. Stand from their point of view to brainstorm meaningful and relatable big idea concepts that resonate with them.
For instance, the Bullet Journal aka Bujo has become a popular trend among young Malaysian women aged 20-30. Hence, O’leste used this to their strength and created a Bullet Journal Campaign that promotes their skincare line. Incorporating the idea of documenting skincare routines and habits in the journal, O’leste is able to stand out from its competitors and create an impactful campaign.
3. Tell a Story
If your Product Launch Campaign’s Big Idea is telling your customers what is your product, then you should also craft a compelling story around the campaign telling them why should they use your product. The story in your campaign should be able to evoke your audience’s feelings and develop an emotional connection. More than often, consumers buy on emotions rather than rationale.
One of the best storytellers and marketers is Apple’s, Steve Jobs. Learn his 3-act structure formula: Set up, Confrontation, and Resolution to create an awesome product launch similar to a Hollywood production. The Set-Up paints the picture of where your customers are currently at, kind of like an introduction to a Marvel Hero movie. Then comes the plot twist where the hero is faced with a confrontation, or in this case a problem or issue that the customers are experiencing. Lastly, resolution comes when your product is there to solve the problem. Basically, your customers want to know that you understand them, their problems and hold the solution that could conveniently solve the issues.
4. Organize Fun & Exciting Games
Another effective Product Launch Campaign idea is to organize fun and interesting games or competition to engage with your target audience. This can be done via offline or online campaigns in various ways, such as lucky draws, giveaways, or contests.
Most consumers are attracted to giveaway contests because of the principle of reciprocity and competition. This marketing strategy plays on the consumers’ psychological behaviour that there’s a higher chance of consumers remembering your brand and buying your product when you give them the free stuff first. Likewise, the giveaway contest is also able to ignite the competitive emotions in consumers as they want to try their luck at winning.
5. Create Engaging Bite-size Educational Content
Other than organizing contests, you shouldn’t overlook creating valuable content for your target audience. If you want to leverage your social platform’s engagement, you should publish relatable content consistently.
Some of the content you could post that’s in line with your Product Launch Campaign are:
- Explaining the special features/USP of your product
- What problems could be solved
- How to use your product correctly
For instance, when Handmade Heroes launched their new product - Snow Shroom Hyaluronic Acid Serum, they posted this educational piece following their launch post. One important tactic to do this is to break down technical terms into easy to understand layman words and divide them into digestible bite-size social posts. This type of content would allow your audience to better understand your product and the benefits that they bring in.
6. Choose the Right Distribution Channel
After having your content created out, the next thing to do is to plan out your distribution channels. What kind of channels would be more effective to distribute your campaign content? Offline channels like billboards & print ads? Or social media & EDM?
If your business has the budget, we would advise you to utilize both traditional and digital marketing to reach the full potential of your campaign. However, you may also opt for digital channels if you want to be cost-effective. Ultimately, this also depends on your target audience’s most used medium.
7. Be Consistent with Your Campaign Collaterals
Additionally, you should also be consistent with your campaign collaterals in terms of colour palette, fonts and designs. It is no use if you use contrasting and inconsistent colours in your campaign social media posts because your audience will have a hard time recognizing them.
As an example, for the Snow Shroom Hyaluronic Acid Serum Product Launch, Handmade Heroes used a coherent colour palette on their Instagram posts which is not only visually pleasing but also easy to recognize.
8. Incorporate Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing has proven itself to be effective again and again. Hence, you shouldn’t forego this golden opportunity to use in your Product Launch Campaign.
Essentially, you should seek influencers that are honest, authentic and fits well with your brand image and industry. You want genuine ambassadors, not click-baits creators. Consumers can tell fake product reviews online and this can cause an unexpected backlash. Thus, you should be extra careful when choosing influencers.
In summary, if you follow these 8 tips, not only will you have a successful campaign that increases your brand awareness and generate sales, but also valuable customer insights to launch a better campaign next time. Nonetheless, a creative advertising agency can always come in handy when you need professional assistance.
