Do these 6 things when you launch, or risk it being a flop!

 A launch is a period of time when you are introducing something new to the market. It could be a whole new business, launching yourself as a consultant or coach, or an exciting new product, service, or a promotion. 

Launching can be a challenge, a tricky and confusing time. It can be overwhelming to organise the operations side of your business while also worrying about customer response and feedback, marketing and sales. That’s why we’re sharing six things to consider when planning your launch strategy — to eliminate launch burnout — and to skyrocket your chance of success! 

Step 1: Pre-launch – Beta test your product

You want to make sure there is a demand in the market for whatever you are going to launch. A quick way to do this is to do an early launch with a small subset of your intended audience. You could then gather early feedback from this group and tweak the product or service as much as practical. Save yourself and your brand from going hard on a big launch of the wrong product, it's a tough thing to recover from and believe us, it happens!

Step 2:  Pre-launch – Build Brand awareness

You don’t want to throw a last minute party that no one turns up to. Spend some weeks (if not months) before the launch building up recognition with your target audience. Use social media to start collecting Likes and Followers. Start building an email list. Talk about who you are and how you can serve your audience in a unique and better way. Build some buzz around your brand!

Step 3: Pre-launch – Engage or collaborate with an influencer

There are so many things distracting people today that everyone has a very short attention span. Your launch is a small window of time when you have the opportunity to attract a large number of people to your business. A great boost is to invite a local celebrity to be part of the launch and it’s especially effective when they a) genuinely will use your service and/or b) align with your values. The key is finding someone who has influence within your niche, aligns with your brand, suits your budget and who is available during your launch timeframe.

Step 4: Launch week – The big reveal!

A successful launch is not just one post on social media or one email to your customers. You want to reach as many people as possible. Think about all of your marketing channels — radio, newspaper advertising (including online news outlets), a press release and interviews, posters, flyers, digital banner ads — all traditional and digital channels that your customers use. The goal is to make sure your brand is on top of everyone’s mind!

Step 5: Launch week – Have extra hands on deck

Make sure you are ready to service a large volume of customers during the launch period. You need to get all your ducks in a row — from having sufficient stock to making sure your IT systems and sales processes can handle the influx. You do not want system crashes and endlessly busy phone lines and you don’t want to keep excited new customers waiting for the thing they’ve just bought from you. Make sure you have planned and prepared for all different scenarios!

Step 6: After you launch — retarget customers who have shown interest

Not everyone is going to jump in and make a purchase during the launch. It is always a good idea to go back to building brand awareness post-launch. Ideally by now you will have built up a customer email list through some sort of sales funnel. Reworking this list will generate more revenue and help your brand grow organically.

Learn more about launching a new service to market and to get advice about your launch plan join Vicki & Laura of Two Four One in a FREE online masterclass — Level-Up Your Launch Plan. Tap here today to sign up — we’re live on Friday, September 24th!