Creating a product launch marketing plan is an exciting milestone especially for a new company which is in its initial stage to hit the market. However, for success to be realized, there has to be a strategy in how things are done. And developing this plan requires thorough understanding of the market, before any step can be taken. So if you’re just wondering how successful companies and organizations create their product launch marketing plan, the following tips should give a clue as to what should be expected.

Creating a Killer Product Launch Marketing Plan

1. Types You see, product launch strategies are usually integrated into the overall marketing plan of the company in question. However, for companies that have been into business for so long, their launch plan is usually done separately from the overall marketing plan, even though this overall plan has reference to their launch plan. You can create strategic planning in your company or in your organization when your main goal is to seek funding. On the other hand, your strategic planning can also be short notes from your small marketing department — not necessarily dependent on external funding sources. 2. Factors For your product launch to be successful, it has to address factors such as product features, comparison to your competitors, the number of competitor products in the market, pricing and distribution strategy. In fact, you should consider each of these factors holistically if you want a fair chance of success in a plan. 3. Phases Most products will be released in their trail versions — mostly known as alpha and beta versions (to customers who are technically-oriented). The earlier versions of your products aren’t perfect. That’s the reason you should offer them for free so that customers can try them and point out any errors they encounter. Beta versions of a product are generally released to a wider network of audience since they’ve been improved to reflect quality. But on the other hand, alpha versions are restricted only to audience who are within word-of-mouth. Therefore, those who receive products in their alpha versions should understand that the product is nowhere near its final stage. 4. Marketing Channels Successful product launches usually take advantage of multiple marketing channels that are beyond what is used on a day-today basis. Things such as event marketing, social media, extensive PR, print and digital marketing play an important role during product launches. After the launch has taken place, you should narrow down your budget by picking only the most promising advertising channels. Here are 5 steps to Planning your Product Launch Effectively (a) You Need to Define Your Launch Objective Is it an internal or an external product launch? In other words, are you launching to an existing customer base, or a new one altogether? If you already have an internal list of customers intact, then it makes sense to test the new product using your existing list first before telling a wider audience — which comprises of new customers who have never purchased from you before. Again, ask yourself whether you’re trying to build a list or sell a product. This will give you a solid basis for measuring your objective, so your efforts won’t go down the drains. (b) Take Inventory Once you know the objective of your product launch, it’s time to consider the inventory of your launch assets. Your launch assets should include joint venture partner list, email list, mail list, videos and just about any other asset you might be having at the time of the launch. Again, if this product launch is taking place on a web platform, then you may need to include assets such as your site, web copy and so forth. (c) Craft that Killer Offer Since you’ve taken all your inventory, it’s time to craft the offer. This is the time to outline why you are best compared to others. You’re going to answer the question of what sort of guarantees you’re going to offer, reasons why they should buy from you, how they’ll pay for the product and also delivery channels that are available. The purpose of answering these questions is to be able to identify the core drivers behind why prospects will be prompted to take action and purchase whatever you’re offering. Think about all the problems that you’re product will address, then craft that killer offer around them. This way, people will be able to buy the product, knowing that it’s going to address their needs. (d) Your Team You can’t do it on your own, so you need a skilled team to help you in developing a successfully product launch marketing plan. Maybe you need a graphic designer, a web developer, a web host, a copywriter and so forth. Again, this also depends on the size of your launch. So to narrow it down, it’s recommended that you identify your strengths and then craft your way using a team that can work on those areas. (e) The Launch Plan Itself It serves as a blueprint to the entire launch process. It highlights the tasks that will be involved, as well as the the sequence of events. Therefore, this blueprint should include a day-to-day strategy for releasing content during your launch, video creation, print copy creation, and a landing page creation. To round it up, you need to gather your team and discuss all the items you’ll need so that the strategy you’ll be using is comprehensive. Probably you’ve heard people say that when you fail to plan, you are ideally planning to fail. There’s a vast array of details involved in product launching, and you need to follow all of them using a script. You see, this scripts begins by highlighting pre-launch processes, going all the way to highlighting steps that will be taken to fulfill orders. And of course you need to test everything before you can carry out a successful launch. There’s nothing more disappointing than convincing the market to buy your products only to realize that your shopping cart isn’t working, so they can’t order a thing. The good thing is that you can always recycle your inventory and assets you used in your previous plan to carry out subsequent launches.Your product launch marketing plan can be effective when you follow the above steps successfully.