Creative tips and tricks

How to Create a Successful Digital Product Launch -

Sep 8, 2022

 The last update was September 1 20, 2022

A product launch is an occasion ... similar to an art exhibit or big "open house" that speaks to the world: "Hello world, here I am. Stop by and discover more about me." Launches are an occasion to "wow" your audience.

For your audience, it's an opportunity to discover. Does this product do something that pleases me, solve some issue, work better than the product that I've already owned? The moment you introduce your product into the market is the moment when you open your doors to see how well you meet the customers' needs and expectations.

Since a digital product doesn't have the characteristics of an actual product, it isn't a part of the physical world at least - what should the introduction of your product look like? How do you plan one, how do you reach people, and how can you make all your hard work pay off?

Set Launch Goals

Launching a product is the perfect opportunity to assess your objectives and gauge your success at achieving the goals. Are you able to envision a figure that you're thinking of for the revenue you'd like to make within a specific amount of time? Are you more interested in finding out about who your buyers are and what their buying habits are? What kinds of behaviors do your buyers have? Where do they live? What is their relationship to your brand?

Make sure you have the tools and procedures set up to record all the data you decide to count. If the goal is to reach 10,000 downloads over the first 30 days following the launch date, do you have the processes in place to capture the count of downloads? Do you have the ability to pull information regarding where they originate in terms of geography? Are you ready to record their feedback?

Use Timing Strategically

The timing for a product's launch into the market is one of the most important aspects in a marketing plan. Determine the best times of the year and the places that will be able in order to increase the amount of exposure and leverage:

  • Stay away from dates worldwide where people generally take a vacation. They are typically the summer months of July and August, and public holidays such as New Year's Day, Christmas New Years, Good Friday, Easter, ThanksgivingDay, Labour Day, Bastille Day, Yom Kipper, Boxing Day, and so on.
  • Take advantage of the tailwinds from an important trade show that is in your sector or similar event that is major, like an event or announcement of a product launch or a new technology that integrates with yours. Examples: a large event or conference that teaches users of technology that will likely use your products or of a new app or operating system which supports the product you sell or increases some aspect of its usage.
  • Beware of launches you may not know about that occur after competitors' launches. You want to be in front of your competitors and not be behind or you may find potential customers aren't interested anymore. Be first out of the gate, if possible.
  • Do not delay your launch. Competitors could take advantage of that chance to launch their products earlier or, even worse, create negativity. You want to be ready with buyers who are eagerly anticipating your product, and media ready to read the reactions and report on the event.

Make a checklist for launching

The process of launching a new product requires a lot of planning, tasks, pre-announcements, post-announcements, and following-ups. Be sure that your clients can get the product on their computer, are aware of how to use it, and are pleased with their purchase. There isn't always a strict arrangement to this, however you should be sure to perform these tasks in a way that is logical. It is important to stay in the know about those which are sensitive to time and take advantage of the ones that are flexible. You don't want to miss the crucial ones. Use a checklist.

Create the big announcement

Create and implement the most activities you can to build excitement and create interest in your product prior to when it's available to buyers. It can be accomplished with large or small budgets and any company size. The first step is to select and inform partners. Involve them as early as possible so that they can educate their customers. Sales managers can be your biggest evangelists. Utilize LinkedIn connections as well as all the networks and other contacts to get them in touch with you.

Send a press release to journalists and bloggers ahead of the time, to provide them with the chance to peek (like a pre-screening of an upcoming film for an exclusive group of people). Make sure they know they've been chosen for this exclusive view. It goes beyond mere the standard of courtesy. It has the potential to drive traffic to your selling sites similar to a cowboy taking cattle for a pasture.

Industry analysts can also generate buzz. They can be reached on professional networks such as LinkedIn and your professional networks , and even in the social media forums such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Brief them, get their input and inform them of developments.

Sometimes, playing with words or creating an atmosphere of secrecy prior to a launch could create curiosity and even excitement. Give a select few details. It can help feed an exuberance, encourage buyers to get excited, and build excitement and anticipation in potential customers. Release the date for the launch months prior to the event and inform the world that something important will be happening.

Alarm the Press En Masse

Expose your product to appropriate journalists who might be interested and excited enough to share their thoughts on the product. Invest into a subscription to an online news release platform. A few that are best made for small-sized businesses include E-Releases PRWeb and PR Newswire are a few top-rated services. Mid-tier pricing for these three options is between $150 and $200. PRWeb For instance, PRWeb can assist you in creating the message you want to convey, and then send it to all major newspaper and search engine (30,000 bloggers and journalists, as well as over 250,000 PRWeb news subscribers) and track it (detailed statistics will tell how many people have read the release, where it was found and how many times the release was distributed).

Can a press release increase the traffic on your website and increase SEO? It is certainly true that a press release can increase traffic to websites; but a press release's ability to increase SEO has changed over the last few years due to changes in Google's algorithms. Press releases are more likely to appear on search results if people would type specific keywords within the press release. It's not known how likely.

Create and leverage your email lists

Mailing lists are like gold. You're not only communicating about your new product, these are potential buyers, where the dollars are getting their money from. It is important to nurture these emails like precious stones to yield sales on into the near future. These emails will continue to grow when customers spread your messages. They'll build a rapport with them. Be sure to keep them satisfied and they'll be your advocates. They should be frequent visitors to your website as well as buyers of your product and fans that will spread the message of your brand and help it grow exponentially via social media.

Are you starting your project from beginning from scratch? Chances are you do not have a mailing list. You may also already have one from an earlier product you've sold. Whatever the case you'll want to encourage visitors to your site to sign up for emails from you. If you can begin this process, the larger your list of subscribers. Create incentives and rewards. Customers will likely require an incentive to test the product.

If you're starting with very few emails Utilize social media in build them up. Boost your posts on Facebook. Add friends. Follow people and businesses on Twitter. Tweet and retweet items of interest. Build followers on Instagram and Pinterest with your product's images including blogs, images pitches, how-tos, and pitch decks. Ask people to fill out short surveys. This is one of the surveys that has hit email inboxes:

Utilize your website, sales platform, and social media platforms to draw in customers and followers and solicit them to sign up for your email list. This allows you to contact your prospects anytime in the future, with any kind of messaging you want; and it doesn't rely on the search engine results or social media algorithmic rules.

As early as possible start creating names for your mailing list by using your website. Invite visitors to sign up with their email so they can be the first to receive notifications. Offer a complimentary sample download of the first chapter (like Amazon's "Look inside" feature) as well as an e-book with useful advice or other information. Create and communicate incentives like incentives, giveaways, or discount offers for those who purchase early.

Sign up with an email service provider (ESP) particularly when you're beginning from with nothing. Here are a few services that are highly-rated that range between free and $15 per month: Campaign Monitor, iContact, MailChimp, and Constant Contact. An ESP will provide you with all the tools, templates and services needed to build a list of subscribers, test your campaigns, handle the day-to-day demands of your newsletters and create analytics.

Prepare to Help

Make sure you are able to offer quick and expert support, particularly with a new product launch. Manuals for troubleshooting and user guides can help when you or your support staff are not in the position to guide customers through problems or to answer any questions related to usage.

Provide online chat, telephone support and/or email support if you are able to. Sometimes, phone support is more effective for technical issues related to software. If it's about a loss of password, credit card problems or the software not being received, online chat or an email could be sufficient.

Make sure you have your Customer Relations Management (CRM) in place. Do not attempt to manage the support yourself. It will suck up many hours of your time, and prevent you from doing the work as an entrepreneur, which is developing selling, creating and producing sales and new and improved solutions. You can use CRM software to keep track of all your relationships with customers in one place.

Find online virtual assistants, or other people looking for part-time work you can work remotely at their homes. You can also go digital with a software provider that acts as your online help desk, or an online chat provider.

Failures breed success

Following the launch, you should learn how your products can be marketed to a global audience. Keep testing, tweaking and making modifications, if needed. If the response and sales weren't up to your initial goals, remember, it's only chapter one of the story. Don't be afraid of mistakes or shortcomings. You'll learn more from them than from your victories. This will allow you to turn a good product into an extremely successful product.