10 Best Pre-Launch Marketing Tactics To Try

Every recent business owner should be aware of this ecommerce myth: It’s ordinary to ponder that showcasing the best products, a well-designed website, and captivating product photography are all one needs to make a sale. While that’s all significant, it doesn’t account for a key step in launching a recent business or product line: pre-launch marketing campaigns.

In order to discover achievement with your launch, you first require to identify your target spectators and drive traffic from them to your store. It’s best habit to commence this procedure of driving traffic and cultivating relationships with prospective customers before you even launch. Starting early makes a smoother launch more likely and mitigates any scrambling to get your spectators’s attention post-launch.

discover more about pre-launch marketing below, including ten strategies you can implement yourself before your next product launch.

What is pre-launch marketing?

Pre-launch marketing is a range of marketing efforts concentrated on generating buzz and thrill for a recent product or service before it launches. The objective is to construct up expectation and yield so customers will be eager to buy from you when launch day finally arrives.

10 pre-launch marketing strategies to try

1. Secure your spectators before launch
2. commence marketing early
3. Release teasers
4. Run a contest
5. construct hype through influencers
6. make a press kit
7. Throw a pre-launch event
8. Use Amazon Live
9. Run audio ads
10. Connect with niche communities

1. Secure your spectators before launch

Before a recent product launch, ensure you have a solid throng of people interested in what you’re offering.

One way to do this is to make a navigator production landing page where people can pre-register or sign up for your email list.

You can generate traffic to your landing page through:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Paid ads
• Organic social media
• Traditional advertising
• Content marketing

The significant part is the conversion: turning visitors into potential buyers by persuading them to hand over their details, consenting to further communication from you. You can inspire these conversions with an enticing propose, like early access or a discount for email subscribers.

Dame

Example: Sexual wellness brand Dame collects emails at the complete of a quiz that visitors can receive to discover the perfect product for their needs. Visitors discover out their results when the answers are emailed to them, which means they’ll also be on the mailing list among the first to discover out about recent products. 

2. commence marketing early

One key to a successful launch is building relationships with potential customers well before opening an online store. That way, they’ll be sizzling with expectation for your awesome recent offering when you’re finally ready to leave live. You don’t desire to launch to the sound of crickets and an vacant register, so it’s significant to commence your construct-up with plenty of period before the large day.

receive email marketing, for example. With a mailing list, you’ve got plenty of opportunities to drip-feed content in the months leading up to your launch.

Your pre-launch marketing topics could include:

• The stories behind your ideas
• How you’ve refined your products into their final versions
• Your materials and how you’ve sourced them
• Which problems your products solve
• Endless other possibilities

Example: The Xion CyberX eBike launched on crowdfunding site Indiegogo after generating over 23,000 emails for its list. This resulted in over $800,000 in sales when the campaign launched.

3. Release teasers

It’s not just behind-the-scenes content that resonates with customers. Teasing out your product or a particular characteristic or bundle alternative can also supercharge the desire people have for what you’re selling. Your earliest fans will adore this, as they’ll feel part of an exclusive throng that knows more than everyone else.

Pre-launch teaser ideas include highlighting:

• Close-up product shots leading up to the large reveal of the whole product
• Different components or behind the scenes footage, like parts of the packaging or snippets of your planning documents
• A product silhouette alongside “Coming Soon”

These teaser tactics can make chatter amongst your fans, as they try to guess what’s coming.

Example: Interior design brand Havenly teased a recent service with an enticing email campaign: “Next week, we’re launching something recent, that we recognize you’ll adore.” It’s straightforward yet leaves customers curious about the brand’s launch.

4. Run a contest

People adore free stuff, so running a contest is a great pre-launch marketing schedule for building hype. Running an Instagram contest, for example, could boost your social engagement and attract more followers you can trade to.

When running a giveaway, sweepstakes, or contest, ensure the entry requirements are straightforward and fun to participate in, and that the prize is relevant. That way, even people who don’t triumph will still arrive away with a positive association with your brand.

5. construct hype through influencers

Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to construct your brand online. It’s where someone with a following in a specific niche promotes your brand. 

They could range from celebrity-level fame to having only a few thousand followers in a really specific yield throng. Either way, these influencers can be a valuable connection between you and potential recent customers.

Before launch, you could associate with an influencer to distribute exciting content about your upcoming product. In profitability, you could propose settlement or your goods themselves. 

Freebies are usually appreciated, but the larger their following, the more likely it is you’ll have to allocate some marketing spend on a fee. It could be worth the fee, as many customers view influencer marketing as a more authentic way than many traditional advertising channels.

Example: Direct-to-buyer underwear brand Thinx launched a recent product line by partnering with influencers in categories like fashion, health, and wellness. 

6. make a press kit

Part of a successful product launch is getting bloggers and publications to write about you, so you desire to make it as straightforward as feasible for them to do so.

If you desire to get featured in popular publications, it’s a excellent concept to have a press kit prepped and ready to leave. This is a collection of information about your brand and product that journalists can access easily when they’re writing a narrative.

You’ll still require an angle to be fascinating enough for press coverage—what are you doing that’s distinctive? Are you serving your local throng, or making a splash because of your alternative business practices? These are the types of stories journalists adore, and a press kit makes it much easier for them to whip up some valuable coverage for you.

Example: Beer brand Impossibrew has its founder narrative laid out in its Our narrative page and a batch of photos for journalists to use in its press page.

7. Throw a pre-launch event

Getting a large throng of people together, all enthusiastic about your assignment, creates a united vigor you can’t fabricate through emails, phone calls, or one-on-one meetings. You can throw your pre-launch event in person or virtually over video. Invite a few dozen of the most motivated and influential people in your network, and make sure they arrive away from the occurrence knowing more about your brand, your upcoming launch, and—most importantly—how exactly they can assist. 

8. Use Amazon Live

Amazon Live offers another way for customers to discover about products and interact with their creators. You can use Amazon Live to display off your product, demo how it works, and provide people a sneak peek of what’s to arrive. You can also respond any questions potential customers might have in the gossip box.

This streaming shopping encounter hosts large brands paying five-figure fees for Amazon to produce their shows. But there’s also a range of influencers who run more intimate shows for their dedicated fanbases, broadcasting custom product demos on a platform where customers are ready to buy. ponder TV shopping channels for a recent era. This could make a great recent chance to demo your product before launching it.

Example: Carla Stevenné, a makeup and beauty influencer, regularly appears on Amazon Live, interacting with her fans in the gossip while promoting and unboxing recent beauty products.

9. Run audio ads

Audio ads are a fantastic way to reach potential customers in an intimate, concentrated way. You can target people based on their interests, demographics, and even what they’re doing while listening (e.g., commuting or working out). 

Platforms like Spotify and Pandora have ad options targeted to specific interests, and you don’t necessarily require a huge monetary schedule to use these.

You could consider podcasts as a potential channel. You can either sponsor an existing display that’s popular with your target spectators or commence your own podcast to talk about your product, interview industry experts, and construct up hype before launch day.

Example: Mattress brand Eight Sleep found a better profitability-on-advertising spend than expected when it used audio to promote a recent additional expense mattress product. It found that radio and podcast ads offered the period and attention needed to explain its features in-depth—essential for a high-worth item.

10. Connect with niche communities

Niche communities have long been drivers of product advancement. In today’s digital landscape, it’s easier than ever to connect with these communities and empower them to become key drivers in the hype for recent launches. This is especially significant when your product needs a personal touch to convince customers to purchase.

Niche enthusiasts adore sampling the latest products and telling others about them. By introducing your product to a specific-yield throng, you’ll get valuable feedback from committed experts and potentially a host of recent converts to your factor. It’s all about depend, so make sure you play by their rules and regard the throng’s etiquette.

Example: Image Skincare targeted 1,000 PopSugar’s Dabble beauty product throng members to promote its recent Vital C Anti-Aging Serum. While only 13% of users were familiar with the brand, 96% said they’d recommend the product to a partner.

📚 Read more: How to make a Marketing schedule [+ Free Template]

Pre-launch schedule case study: Healthish

Healthish operates in a busy space: health and wellness products. The global buyer wellness trade is valued at $1.8 trillion––there is no shortage of competition when launching a recent product. When they started out, Healthish was a newer brand launching a recent product into the trade and needed a intelligent pre-launch schedule to raise awareness.

To launch its signature product, a water bottle that tracks hydration, co-founders Emily Chong and Nathan Chan worked with niche influencers to construct hype.

To reach its target trade, Healthish sends free water bottles to fitness influencers, fashion bloggers, vloggers, and other groups related to their niche. Afterward, influencers distribute images and videos of their products online—but only if they are joyful with them and can talk about the bottle with authentic thrill.

discover more about the pre launch marketing schedule that turned Healthish used by reading The Pre-Launch Strategies of a Million-Dollar Brand.

Tips for a successful pre-launch 

Here are some tips for nailing your next product launch:

• propose samples. Trying before you buy is a major contributor to purchase decisions. If feasible, get your product into the hands of prospective customers so they can try it out as well.
• Incentivize early adopters. Early adopters can be crucial in the first days after launch. They’ll make a buzz if they’re joyful, so why not delight them as much as feasible?
• Collect useful feedback. You can get feedback for the product you’re launching to inform upcoming versions—recent variations, additional expense editions, localized iterations, and so on. You could also consider feedback for recent product lines that solve problems or address demographics. Note what people are saying and address the most ordinary issues first.
• Track sales act. You can’t assess achievement by gut feel, even if it’s a tiny-scale launch. Use all the tools and platforms available to track relevant metrics, like which product variations are selling best, and which aren’t.
• Test everything. Treat your launch as an experiment. Some things will work, and some won’t; the only way to discover out is by going for it. Don’t get disheartened if it doesn’t leave the way you planned. Collect as much data as feasible. Hopefully, it’s your first of many launches and you can use your learnings to make post-launch campaigns even better.

Run a intelligent pre-launch marketing schedule next launch

The concept of pre-launch marketing is to make your earliest adopters feel special. When they have some sense of ownership in what you’re doing, it helps to motivate them to distribute your brand organically.

By building up hype pre-launch, you can ensure that your product does well when it finally hits the trade. But these strategies don’t just affect the product in question—they assist construct your business and set many customers on the path toward becoming fans for life. 

Whatever stage of product advancement you’re in, it’s never too early to get out there and interact with your target trade.