 |
Product Launch Campaigns - the Lifeblood of the Business
Author: edmond hennessy  | Posted: 19-02-2008 | Comments: 0 | Views: 33 | Rating: (73)  (?) 
 Few company events are more critical than launching new products and services. Many firms just go through the motions during product launches, repeating the same worn-out formulas they’ve always used—but every product launch is an opportunity to turn a new page in your company’s history, and it can make the difference between rags and riches.
Any new product can be directed towards an existing market (a set of known prospects and customers) or it can tackle new markets. But when introducing a new product or service, you need to innovate, going beyond what has been done in the past. You have a choice—let your product get lost in the noise or launch it differently.
The introduction of a new product requires a major launch effort if your company is marketing a new family of products (or services) towards a new target market—a different class of user or a different application emphasis than you have worked with before. You might also be trying to revitalize sales of an existing product or service, which requires a launch to sustain revenues, attract new customers, and ward off competitors.
In either scenario, avoid limiting the product launch campaign to a single, big-bang event with no plan for follow-up. You are positioning the product for its life cycle. Successful product introductions are company-wide events. They must be the focus of your entire organization.
Setting the Stage for a Product Launch
Long before product launch happens, you need to spend time on pre-launch activities that build the opportunity base. This pre-launch research will provide insights on the validity of the product, the features it needs, pricing and packaging considerations, and so on. Think in terms of projected revenue (at 12 to 18 months after launch, for starters), the profits you will need to break even, and the potential return on your investment.
Front-end research and analysis is the process of gaining insight and collecting data that will shape the product launch campaign. You are not simply collecting information, but interpreting it. Avoid focusing simply on the launch – consider the product life-cycle in your planning. Chances are, the data you gather to support your launch campaign may be a year or more old by the time the actual product hits the market. In the words of the Great One – Hockey Legend Wayne Gretzky, make sure you are going where the puck will be, not where it is. Otherwise, your launch campaign may miss the mark.
Elements to research during data collection
Market-based
– Competition for your product or service
- Potential customers’ buying influences and attitudes
- Market readiness and demand for your product
Product-based
- Key applications, features and advantages (from the customer’s viewpoint)
- Service and support components your product will include
- Packaging considerations
External-based
- State of the economy – by Industry Sector, Area or Region
- Regulatory changes in your Industry
- Technological considerations (current and future)
Developing the Right Concept for Your Product
Creativity is essential to a product launch—but balance it with the sobering thought that the concept you choose will be critical to launching a product that must generate revenue. Avoid the temptation to be clever in your campaign—it could lose the audience, diminish your credibility or worse, be a source of entertainment.
A good theme for a product launch campaign focuses on the problem solved, not merely the product’s use. Just as important as choosing the right concept is selecting the right launch vehicles for your campaign. Consider media and PR, direct-response pieces, catalogs, e-mail communiqués, Web site promotions, industry guides, e-casts, and telemarketing. The vehicles you choose will depend on what works in your specific business and what your appetite and budget can tolerate.
Choosing Your Message
The essence of your whole campaign will be its message. The right message captures your audience’s attention, explains your new product or service, distinguishes it from its competition, creates action, and has the ability to perpetuate the theme of the campaign (for the product’s intended life). Themed campaigns tend to do better than product-focused ones. They can also be perpetuated for a longer life.
Your message must be expressed in the attitude, tone, and language of your intended customer. It must also speak to your product, and your product alone. Put your message through the logo test. If you can replace your company’s logo with your competitor’s logo, and the campaign message still makes sense, go back to the drawing board. Work at it until you get it right.
While You Are Waiting
While campaign materials are being produced, you can be readying your company for the formal launch. Use this time to talk to media sources, investors, and other interested parties. Create a written campaign action plan that describes key tasks you must complete, target dates for their completion, the resources you require, and how you will measure your progress.
Promote and publish early-stage successes for your new product frequently. Whenever you can demonstrate customer acceptance for the new product, it will breed confidence with your Target Audience including your internal company employees.
After the Launch
Done correctly, the work you put into developing a successful product launch will stay with your product for its entire sales life. But when the product reaches maturity, you may need to revisit this process, innovating new uses for the product, repackaging it, adding value, finding a different distribution mechanism, introducing new incentives, and so on to ensure that it continues to generate revenue.
Once you have mastered the process of a successful product launch, you can extend the marketability of any product and give it new life.
Your launch methodology can make or break you in the competitive business jungle.
Is your launch method keeping pace?
Are you confident that your upcoming launch is positioned for success?
Copyright 2007
Performance Marketing Group
Edmond Hennessy
Rate this Article:
Current: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s).
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/product-launch-campaigns-the-lifeblood-of-the-business-337400.html
About the Author:Edmond Hennessy is a seasoned, well-recognized veteran in the COTS Embedded Market. He has authored many works including the “Mission-Ready COTS” Industry Guidebook, “COTS Supportability & the Life-Cycle Proposition” and “Beyond COTS: Repackaging, Reformatting & Tech Transfers.” He has participated in key industry panels, has been a keynote speaker in E-casts dedicated to signal-processing applications and has been tapped as an industry executive to comment on disruptive and emerging technologies that impact the Defense & Military, Homeland Security and Healthcare/Medical Target segments. Mr. Hennessy heads up the Performance Marketing Group (PMG), a private market programs & consulting firm. His new book Market Warfare: Leadership & Domination over Competitors will be released in early 2008. For more information visit http://www.pmgresults.com/ or call (603) 552-2096.
|
Submitting articles has become one of the most popular means of generating quality backlinks and targeted traffic to your website. Join us today - It's Free! |
|
Latest Marketing Tips Articles
Types of Inks Used for Full Color Prints
By: Zoe Phoenix | 26/07/2008
Inks vary from each other. they have different properties that you may consider to come up with a quality full color prints.
Coating Options for Postcard Printing
By: Zoe Phoenix | 26/07/2008
There different coating options that you may consider for your postcard printing. Here are some choices that you can utilize for your print ads.
How to Save on Your Next Postcard Marketing Campaign
By: Zoe Phoenix | 26/07/2008
Campaigning for your postcard marketing can be costly. Here are some tips that you may considering on how to save money for your advertising venture.
Business Promotional Pen for a Better Relationship
By: Remy LeBeau | 25/07/2008
In business, things don't always have to be so complicated. Sometimes, a gift as simple as a business promotional pen can establish a great relationship. Branded pens are great gifts for executives and business partners. Casual acquaintances or trade show attendees, on the other hand, will appreciate business promotional pens with your logo and company name, even if they're not branded.
Preparing Your Document for Print
By: Kaye Z. Marks | 25/07/2008
Before sending your postcard, flyer, or brochure to print, make sure to prepare the format correctly. Otherwise, your product may come back looking very different from what you sent, and at no fault of the commercial printing company. Below are some printing tips to help you fully prepare your print advertising job before placing an order.
Customized Supplies for Organizational Development
By: Remy LeBeau | 24/07/2008
If you have read "Organizational Development through Personalized Supplies" you will learn that the company's overall efficiency is highly dependent on its employees. Rewarding their efforts is important if you want to keep your employees and work more efficiently and increase their productivity.
Organizational Development Through Personalized Supplies
By: Remy LeBeau | 24/07/2008
Is your company not doing well as it should? Maybe you need personalized supplies to give to your employees and keeping them happy to work for you. In this article, it talks about the using Personalized Supplies in enhancing employee's productivity and organizational development.
The Importance of the Right Keywords
By: Vinodd Kumarr | 24/07/2008
When you set up a shop you need customers to be successful. Every person that walks in through your door is a potential customer. The more traffic you have through that door the more chance you have of making sales. On the internet it is the same. To get that traffic to your site you either advertise using PPC and or optimize your site to get search engine traffic.
More from edmond hennessy
Pmg Announces Launch of Market Warfare Book
By: edmond hennessy | 15/07/2008 | Sales
A must-read for the courageous Warriors that drive small-to medium sized businesses.
A Marketing Cookbook that provides real-world, breakthrough techniques that generate new sources of business, wreak havoc on competition and drive performance of Sales/Distribution Networks to new heights. Anything goes -and It's Warfare in today's Market Jungle!
Disruptive Marketing - a Matter of Survival
By: edmond hennessy | 21/04/2008 | Marketing
A must-read for Entrepreneurs and small-to-medium sized Business Owners that put their neck on the line and drive to beat the odds.
A "How To" guide that provides a success formula for applying Disruptive Marketing to your firm.
If your firm is not generating the expected results, you may need a dose of Disruptive Marketing to get back on-track.
Add Water - Instant Success: How an Unknown Company Made Big Waves
By: edmond hennessy | 02/04/2008 | Marketing
A must-read for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners that can benefit from the experience of a small company that had the appetite to make it to the Big League.
A formula for success for those firms that have the breakthrough product or service - but lack the Go-To Market experience.
Target Action Planning - the Missing Link Between Strategy and Tactics
By: edmond hennessy | 19/02/2008 | Management
Everything needed to translate your firm's Strategies into hard-hitting tactics that generate tangible results.
A proven goal-and-priority setting system that breeds accountability and revitalizes focus and purpose in your organization.
Includes a proven and mature methodolgy/approach, framework, implementation plan and action plan examples.
A must-read for Leaders, Executive Managers, Department Heads and heads-up players that have been seeking the "Bridge" to implementation.
Competitive Replacement Program - an Untapped Golden Nugget
By: edmond hennessy | 19/02/2008 | Marketing Tips
Everything needed to wreak havoc and attack the competitors' installed base to create new sources of sustainable business for your firm.
Includes an innovative and proven methodology/approach, framework, implementation plan, techniques and tools needed to wage war and dominate the competition. A must-read for scrappy entrepreneurs, marketing executives, sales professionals and forward-thinking make-it-happen players that want to turn the tide on competition.
|
|
Marketing 
