‘The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life’ Steve Jobs
Around this time many business owners start to consider the New Year and some new ideas they may want to promote as part of their business plan. Even if you are not the type of business owners that regularly update their goals and marketing plan you may be considering a new product or service which you want to take the market in the New Year.
Planning for a new project is very exciting and great for business, although it poses a few challenges from a marketing and sales perspective, namely:
- Defining the product in terms of USPs, features and benefits.
- Defining your key target markets
- Taking the product to market
Out of the above, the biggest challenge, in my opinion, is the third one and particularly the ability to create a real buzz around your new product. In order to help, I searched the web for some inspiration and came across a Blog by Kissemetrics which covers a guide to building a buzz for your next product launch based on Steve Jobs’ numerous successful launches of Apple’s products. Whilst Apple product launches have become the stuff of legend, explains the Blog, there are a number of strategies which any company can deploy to make their own product launch a success. So here is a B2B tailored take on the guide;
- Make sure you are clear on how your new product addresses real issues that affect people’s lives. If you have to spend a lot of time explaining the benefits, you might find it hard to get the new product off the ground.
- Start planning your product exposure early, even before you have a launch date or a demo…. Social Media posts lend themselves to statements like ‘Just sat at the pub planning our next product launch in the New Year….’ Sometimes being a bit vague can help create interest in the marketplace.
- It helps if your new product is new and exciting within the framework of your industry. Even if it is not the most innovative product ever, emphasizing the key difference and innovation is always a good idea.
- Make an event out of your product launch, invite your colleagues and clients, even your mum, to celebrate the new chapter in your business. This will give you a great reason to shout about your new product and create some momentum.
- Finally, if you are having a launch, make sure you plan it and make it into a worthwhile event which people will enjoy and remember.
I hope this is helpful and gave you a few ideas. As always the devil in all of this is in the actual details so if you are launching a new product and need some help here are a few things you could do:
Go to our website to see the kind of support we can offer you and/or get in touch to discuss your ideas further.