What does it take to get a product from ideation to market saturation? The answer is a well-defined B2B product launch marketing strategy. Over the last 20 years, we’ve helped more than 200 + B2B clients successfully launch new products and services, and now, we’re passing along our expertise so that you can see a return on your next investment.
Align Marketing and Business Goals
Goal setting may seem very basic, but it is a critical part of any strategy. Goals guide all decisions made to help reach them. Plus, with no goals to aim for, the marketing activities decided upon often will not contribute to anything.
When setting goals, there are two areas to think about, marketing and business goals. Each plays a critical role in the product launch marketing strategy. Having a clear understanding of business goals will help in the definition of marketing goals. These two should align because marketing supports overall business success. If they do not align or support each other, they will often not help achieve success with the new product.
This portion of the marketing strategy is more important than most may think. If there are no goals to aim for, marketing, sales and other teams have nothing to aim for and no starting point for their plans and approaches.
Get your product launch on the right path with the strategies in our Product Launch Toolkit! Download it for free to get your team prepared for product launch liftoff.
Know the Competitor’s Strengths and Weaknesses
New products will have competition, whether it is a few products or many. Regardless of how big the competition pool is, it is essential to know key competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. All organizations have them. Knowing what they are can help in the formation of a product launch marketing strategy that highlights your product’s strengths and uses your competitor’s weaknesses as an advantage. Whether it is using a SWOT analysis or Porter’s Five Forces, there are several ways to analyze all aspects of a competitor. You might choose to go this route or do something less structured, but whatever is decided upon, know the competitor’s strengths and weaknesses as this will serve as a competitive edge moving forward in the product launch process. This element of the marketing strategy helps outline who the competition is and what needs to be done to differentiate the new product.
Understand the Target Audience and Key Pain Points
The target audience is one of the most important components when forming a marketing strategy. The audience characteristics and pain points drive what marketing efforts are created and what messaging is used. When forming the marketing strategy for the product launch, know how to address your audience’s most common pain points, and think about which medium would most effectively address these challenges. For example, thetarget audience’s pain points may be best explained with short interactive videos that convey emotion versus an eBook about your new product features. Remember to think critically about what problem(s) your product solves, and how you can clearly communicate the solution at the right time and place.
Craft Relevant, Impactful Messaging
No marketing strategy would be complete without messaging. This part of the product launch marketing strategy influences several things. Marketing goals, competitors and target audiences all drive messaging. Messaging will then drive the marketing activities in the product launch marketing plan created once the marketing strategy is finalized. When crafting messaging for the new product, focus on these three things:
- Pain Points: The new product would not exist without audience pain points. Messages should speak to those pain points. This ensures relevancy and impact on the audience because they relate to them. Plus, this also opens opportunities for new prospects outside the target audience. They might realize they have a problem they did not know they had and take interest in your new product.
- People: Focus on internal people, those that are contributing to the product launch, and external people, those that demo the product and have feedback. Input on what works and what does not can come from these two groups of people. Consider what they have to say about what worked for engaging them with the new product. Consider what internal individuals have to say about what they think will best reach audiences based on trends or past data.
- Product: This is a no-brainer but focus on the product. Ensure messages clearly state what the product offering is, what it can do and why it is different from the rest. This is where competitors come into play. Prospects have seen marketing for competitor products, so it is important to differentiate while also showing why yours will meet their needs more effectively than others.
A product launch marketing strategy is the building block that will drive all subsequent marketing, sales and product efforts. It establishes the who, what and why, giving marketing the foundation needed to clearly understand the goals, audience, competitors and messaging to reach prospects and buyers.
Ready to define your product launch marketing strategy or execute a new company or product launch? Let’s talk! Contact us today or request a free marketing consultation.
There are no comments