How to Launch a Product, According to HubSpot’s Experts

Like a tree falling within the woods, for those who plan a product launch with out spreading the phrase — will anybody use it? Will anybody even need it?

In all probability not. Whether or not you‘re launching one thing large, one thing small, otherwise you’re updating a present providing, you may wish to begin your preparation effectively prematurely of the launch date with a product launch guidelines.

As a result of there are such a lot of transferring elements on this course of, bringing your product to market might be intimidating and difficult. That can assist you, we have give you a step-by-step guidelines for a profitable product launch and gathered the most effective product launch suggestions from a HubSpot Product Marketer.

What’s a product launch?

A product launch is the method of introducing a model new services or products to the world. It includes varied advertising and marketing and promotional actions geared toward creating buzz and demand round your new providing. The last word purpose is to get prospects excited and keen to purchase the brand new product.

Product launches require a variety of planning. You may’t simply drop a brand new product out of the blue and count on everybody to purchase in — effectively, except you’re Beyoncé. Fortunately, our product launch guidelines may help be certain that all of your t’s are crossed and that i’s are dotted earlier than your official launch date.

1. Study your buyer.

Whether or not you name it “market analysis,” or “buyer improvement” it is key to study what drives your buyer. Figuring out their targets, motivations, and ache factors may lead you to creating and advertising and marketing a worthwhile resolution.

You need not carry out years of intense analysis to study your buyer. In reality, we advise simply speaking to 12 to fifteen present or potential prospects.

When chatting with them, pay further consideration once they begin sentences with “I want a product did this operate…” or “Why can‘t merchandise do that?” After they give these statements, reply with questions that go deeper, like “Are you able to get extra particular about that?” In the event that they don’t carry up any ache factors, ask them a few specific questions that may encourage them to present deeper solutions.

These conversations gives you a stable thought of what their greatest ache factors are and how one can market an answer to them. When you study these key particulars about your prospects, you may develop a buyer persona that your crew can give attention to serving.

2. Write a positioning assertion.

When launching a brand new product, you have to have the ability to clearly clarify the way it fills a necessity out there. That’s the place a positioning assertion is available in. It helps you talk the distinctive worth proposition and key advantages that differentiate your product from others.

Write out an announcement that may clearly and concisely reply these three questions:

• Who’s the product for?
• What does the product do?
• Why is it totally different from different merchandise on the market?

If you would like to go even deeper, create an announcement that solutions the next questions:

• What’s your target market?
• What phase of the target market is most probably to purchase the product?
• What model identify will you give your services or products?
• What services or products class does your product lie in?
• How is it totally different from opponents in the identical class?
• What proof or proof do it’s a must to show that your product is totally different?

Nonetheless want extra steerage on methods to write a positioning assertion? Check out this template.

3. Pitch your positioning to stakeholders.

As soon as you’ve got established your positioning assertion, current it to stakeholders in your organization so they’re all on the identical web page.

When doing this, you’ll wish to emphasize how your new product aligns along with your total enterprise technique, buyer wants, market tendencies, and income potential. Use concrete examples, tales, or information to make your pitch extra persuasive.

You’ll additionally wish to assume proactively about potential questions or objections they may have. Put together considerate responses to deal with considerations round market viability, competitors, target market, or feasibility.

In case your workers have a tough time shopping for into the product, your prospects may as effectively. In case your crew loves it, that is likely to be a fantastic signal that the product launch will go effectively.

4. Develop product branding.

Take the data you gathered whereas conducting your market analysis and writing your positioning assertion and let it encourage you as you craft your product brand identity.

Throughout this step, you’ll develop all the weather wanted to create a constant and memorable model, together with:

• Product identify, emblem, and tagline
• Coloration palette, typography, and imagery
• Key model, communications, and advertising and marketing tips
• Packaging

Product branding is slightly totally different than firm branding as a result of it focuses on creating a definite id for a particular product, relatively than a complete group. Nevertheless, they’re each nonetheless interconnected and needs to be aligned.

5. Plan your go-to-market technique.

That is the technique that you’ll use to launch and promote your product. Whereas some companies choose to construct a funnel technique, others choose the flywheel method.

No matter which methodology you select, this course of accommodates many transferring elements. To create an organized technique for launching your product, it may be useful to make use of a template, like this one.

As you create the technique, additionally get thinking about which kind of content material you‘ll use to draw a potential buyer’s consideration throughout the awareness, consideration, and purchase decision stage. You will want to provide this content material within the subsequent step.

6. Set a purpose for the launch.

Earlier than you get began on implementing your technique, be sure you write down your targets for the launch.

Alex Girard, a Product Advertising Supervisor at HubSpot, says, “Create particular targets for the launch’s success. Maintaining these targets in thoughts will make it easier to focus your efforts on launch ways that may make it easier to obtain these targets.”

For instance, the targets of your product launch could possibly be to successfully set up a brand new product identify, construct consciousness, or create gross sales alternatives.

The most effective methods to set targets to your launch crew is to jot down them out like SMART goals. A SMART purpose is Particular, Measurable, Attainable, Related, and Time-bound.

After you have your targets in thoughts, you can begin fascinated about what KPIs you wish to monitor, resembling:

• Gross sales income
• Models bought
• Buyer acquisition
• Conversion price
• Web site visitors and engagement
• Social media engagement

Figuring out these metrics forward of time will make it simpler to evaluate whether or not or not you met your targets after the product is launched.

7. Create promotional content material.

After planning out your go-to-market technique and writing your SMART targets, start producing content that may help and align with these promotional efforts.

This could embody:

Our go-to-market template may even make it easier to decide which content material you must create for every part of your potential buyer‘s purchaser’s journey.

8. Check and collect suggestions.

Earlier than you formally launch your new product, it’s essential to check it out to make sure your remaining product is the most effective it may be.

By testing the product in numerous eventualities with actual customers, potential bugs, usability issues, or practical points might be found and resolved early on. Fixing these issues earlier than launching your product ensures a smoother person expertise and helps preserve buyer satisfaction.

Gathering suggestions from customers additionally permits for product enchancment. By listening to the opinions, options, and criticisms of customers, you may achieve perception into what options are working effectively and which of them want enchancment. This feedback-driven method may help you make knowledgeable choices on enhancing the product’s performance, usability, and efficiency.

9. Arrange distribution channels.

Earlier than you formally launch, you’ll must arrange your distribution channels. This step is essential as a result of it determines how and the place prospects should purchase your product, be it on-line platforms, brick-and-mortar shops, or different distribution companions.

Effectively-planned distribution channels assist speed up the product’s time to market. By proactively organising channels forward of the launch, you may shortly distribute the product as soon as it turns into obtainable, minimizing delays and maximizing alternatives to seize early adopters and achieve market share.

For those who can efficiently place your product in distinguished retail areas or on-line marketplaces, it will increase visibility and boosts your probabilities of capturing buyer consideration and outperforming opponents.

It additionally supplies a basis for future progress and scalability. As your enterprise expands and introduces new merchandise, you may leverage present channel relationships and infrastructure to effectively launch and distribute new choices.

10. Put together your crew.

Ensure that your organization and key stakeholders are prepared so that you can launch and start advertising and marketing the product.

Earlier than the large launch day, contemplate doing the next:

• Provide your crew early entry to the product to allow them to familiarize themselves with it firsthand.
• Present coaching periods to assist your crew perceive the product inside out.
• Develop gross sales enablement supplies resembling shows, product sheets, FAQs, and objection dealing with guides.
• Conduct role-playing workouts to simulate actual buyer eventualities with the product.

Throughout this course of, it’s important that every one stakeholders are on the identical web page. Talk with the corporate by inner shows, Slack, or e mail to maintain your organization up to date in your launch plan.

11. Launch the product.

As soon as you’ve got accomplished all of the above steps, you may launch the product. Listed here are some last-minute issues to examine over on launch day:

• Double-check all the required particulars, supplies, and preparations to make sure that every little thing is prepared and dealing accurately.
• Conduct a quick crew assembly to align everybody and handle any last-minute questions or considerations.
• Control social media channels to gauge buyer reactions, reply to inquiries, and interact with potential prospects.
• Be sure that your web site and any programs associated to the product launch, resembling touchdown pages or checkout processes, are functioning easily.

Most significantly, you must take the time to have a good time the launch and the efforts of your crew. This may be within the type of a crew lunch, digital celebration, or some other inventive strategy to acknowledge everybody’s arduous work.

12. See how effectively you probably did in reaching your targets.

After you launch your product, monitor how the go-to-market technique is performing. Be prepared to pivot or regulate points of your plan if they don’t seem to be going easily.

Moreover, do not forget in regards to the targets you set earlier than the launch. Take the time to evaluate the KPI targets you set forward of the launch and assess how effectively you probably did in reaching these targets.

For example, did you exceed your gross sales projections, or did you fall quick? If the launch did not meet expectations, you may rethink your go-to-market technique and regulate from there.

The price of launching a brand new product varies considerably. For example, an entrepreneur will see vastly totally different prices for launching a product on Amazon than an enterprise firm may see for launching a product in a million-dollar market.

Let’s contemplate two examples to discover this extra carefully.

Entrepreneur Product Launch Instance

Within the first instance, let‘s say you’re an entrepreneur who has invented a design app you are hoping to promote on-line. You may conduct market analysis to find out which advertising and marketing methods work finest to your targets, which messaging resonates finest along with your viewers, and which design components enchantment to your required prospects. For those who use a number of focus teams to find out these solutions, you may count on to spend roughly $5,000.

Whenever you‘re bringing a brand new app to the market, you’ll want to decide on the most effective go-to marketing strategy to your wants. Whatever the technique you select, all of them value cash. For example, product branding may value roughly $1,000 for those who‘re paying a designer that will help you out, and web site design may value anyplace from $500-$3,000 for those who’re paying an internet designer a one-off price.

These charges don‘t embody the fee you might want to pay your self and any workers if it is a full-time job. It additionally doesn’t embody the prices of hiring an engineer to replace the app’s options and make sure the app is operating easily.

With this simplified instance, you are taking a look at roughly $8,000. In fact, you may reduce some prices for those who select to do any of those duties your self, however you may threat making a subpar buyer expertise.

Enterprise Product Launch Instance

On the opposite finish of the spectrum, let‘s contemplate a big enterprise firm that’s launching a brand new product. Right here, you’ll doubtless pay upwards of $30,000 – $50,000 for market analysis.

Maybe you may spend $15,000 on brand positioning and the advertising and marketing supplies essential to differentiate your self towards opponents, and also you may pay upwards of $30,000 for all of the product design and model packaging. Lastly, your advertising and marketing crew may need a finances of roughly $20,000 for Web optimization, paid promoting, social, content material creation, and so on.

All mentioned and performed, launching a product towards different enterprise opponents‘ may value roughly $125,000. Once more, that doesn’t embody the prices you may pay your advertising and marketing, product improvement, and engineering groups.

How one can Launch a Product On-line

To launch your product on-line, you‘ll wish to make sure you’ve adopted the steps above. Nevertheless, there are a number of further steps you may wish to observe to achieve traction primarily on-line.

1. Work out the story you wish to inform relating to your product’s greater objective.

What story do you wish to inform throughout social platforms, touchdown pages, and e mail? That is much like your positioning assertion however must be geared fully towards your target market. Ask questions like, Why ought to they buy your product? And How will your services or products make their lives higher?

Speaking cross-functionally ensures the communication supplies you employ throughout varied on-line channels align — which is essential relating to establishing a brand new product within the market.

Contemplate, for example, how Dwelling Proof introduced its new product, Superior Clear Dry Shampoo, on its Instagram web page. The story revolves round a easy nuisance widespread with most different dry shampoos — How shoppers nonetheless need that just-washed feeling, even when utilizing a dry shampoo.

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By specializing in how the product will profit shoppers by storytelling, and utilizing a brand new hashtag #NoWastedWashes, Dwelling Proof builds pleasure and demand for its new product.

2. Show buyer testimonials, case research, and different social proof to positively body your new product.

Customers wish to see that different shoppers have already taken the danger and bought your new product earlier than doing it themselves. That is the place social proof comes into play.

Within the weeks main as much as a product launch, or shortly after it‘s launch, start posting buyer testimonials, evaluations, and case research to showcase how your new product has already helped different individuals. Take this a step additional and make use of influencers to share the phrase about your product as effectively, if it’s a superb match to your model.

Customers are good sufficient to know they should not belief each commercial they see — however they’ll belief fellow shoppers. So leverage that belief by social proof strategies.

3. Create a social and e mail marketing campaign.

Create a full, complete social media campaign to extend curiosity and consciousness of your new product.

Use paid promoting to succeed in new audiences, create full product explainer movies to make use of throughout your social channels, and use e mail to succeed in present prospects and supply an unique, first take a look at your new product’s options.

Moreover, you may contemplate internet hosting a dwell stream to attach straight with prospects and present prospects and invite specialists out of your product improvement crew to clarify the brand new options of your product.

It‘s essential to notice — on this stage, you’ll wish to take note of how shoppers are interacting with the communication supplies relating to your new product. Share considerations and suggestions with the product improvement crew — it is essential to belief your shoppers and use their suggestions to strengthen your product.

4. Have a pre-order choice.

If a client is happy to buy your new product, don‘t make them wait — present an choice to pre-order the services or products earlier than it’s even obtainable. This helps unfold out demand whereas enabling shoppers to buy the product every time they’re feeling most inclined to take action.

Product Launch Greatest Practices by Business

How one can Launch a Digital Product

When launching a digital product, you may wish to start constructing anticipation with a powerful content material advertising and marketing technique. Use weblog posts, e mail advertising and marketing, social media, and different channels of distribution to extend curiosity and demand to your digital product.

You‘ll additionally wish to make sure you’re leveraging lead generation strategies to succeed in present prospects and prospects.

For example, let‘s say you’re launching a web-based course on Web optimization. Within the weeks main as much as the launch, you may create Web optimization-related weblog content material to ship to your e mail subscribers with an choice to hitch the Web optimization course’s waitlist. This helps you gauge the effectiveness of your advertising and marketing supplies whereas reaching an viewers that has already demonstrated curiosity in your model.

How one can Launch a Product on Amazon

Anybody who‘s ever shopped on Amazon is aware of the significance of a superb product itemizing. Within the weeks main as much as launch, take the time to create a powerful, high-converting product itemizing — together with taking high-resolution photographs of your product, writing an outline that outlines your product’s differentiating options, and utilizing key phrases to assist your product rank on Amazon.

Moreover, product evaluations are extremely essential on Amazon, so that you‘ll wish to guarantee you will have evaluations able to go earlier than you even launch your product on Amazon. To do that, make sure you’ve both launched your product by yourself web site first (which provides you time to earn evaluations earlier than launching on Amazon), or ship your product to a choose group of consumers forward of the complete launch, and acquire evaluations from them.

Lastly, make sure you’re prepared for an Amazon product launch by checking stock. You by no means understand how shortly your product may achieve traction on the eCommerce superstore, so be sure you have sufficient merchandise to satisfy Amazon orders shortly.

Check out HubSpot’s The Ultimate Guide to Selling on Amazon for extra info associated to Amazon.

How one can Launch a SaaS Product

To launch a SaaS product, you‘ll wish to begin by researching opponents and understanding {the marketplace} at giant. There’s loads of demand for SaaS merchandise, because the trade is anticipated to grow by more than 16% by 2026. Nevertheless, the SaaS trade can also be well-saturated, so earlier than launching a SaaS product, you may wish to decide how your product differs from all of the others within the trade.

To create a profitable product launch, you may wish to conduct market analysis and focus teams to find out the true advantages and differentiators of your product.

Subsequent, you‘ll wish to make use of a powerful content material advertising and marketing technique to extend your web site’s visibility on search engines like google and to make sure your enterprise is showing in search outcomes for subjects associated to your product.

Since you are not launching a bodily product, your advertising and marketing efforts must persuade companies that your product can clear up their wants. Moreover, you may wish to provide free trials or a freemium choice for smaller companies on decrease budgets to check out your choices earlier than committing.

For a full SaaS rundown, check out HubSpot’s Ultimate Guide to Software as a Service (SaaS).

How one can Launch a Meals Product

To launch a meals product, you‘ll first want to make sure you’re ready for the prices required to take action — together with how a lot it prices to package deal and retailer the product (together with packaging, warehousing, and distribution), and the way a lot it prices to promote the product (together with branding and digital advertising and marketing).

Subsequent, you may wish to observe federal and state food regulations. For example, you might want to make sure you’re following well being division guidelines for meals preparation surfaces, refrigeration, and sanitation.

You‘ll additionally want to verify the labeling you employ in your product’s packaging is correct, which requires you to ship your meals product to a lab for evaluation and examine along with your state commerce to see what it requires relating to diet labels.

When launching a meals product, you may doubtless wish to rent a meals dealer. A meals dealer can foster relationships with nationwide or native grocery shops and can create a promotional plan to assist improve gross sales as quickly as your meals hits the cabinets.

Sometimes, a grocery store will take a look at out your product for a number of months earlier than figuring out if there’s sufficient client curiosity to maintain it stocked — which is why a meals dealer might be extremely helpful for utilizing enterprise intelligence and trade information to make sure a profitable meals product launch.

1. Calm

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Originating in 2011 as an internet site known as donothingfor2minutes.com, Calm is a cellular app that gives varied assets and instruments for meditation, sleep, rest, and mindfulness. Though Headspace was the main meditation app on the time of its launch, it didn’t take lengthy for Calm to dominate the market.

Calm discovered success largely due to its content material advertising and marketing and Web optimization technique. In accordance with Foundation’s research, Calm has attracted over 8 million backlinks and makes use of weblog content material and YouTube content material to organically entice and interact prospects.

The corporate additionally companions with celebrities to create distinctive content material and interesting advert campaigns. A few of Calm’s most well-known collaborators embody Lebron James, Harry Kinds, Matthew McConaughey, and Camila Cabello.

Calm’s superstar partnerships have given them a leg up in comparison with their opponents. Not solely their celebrity-read Sleep Tales garner thousands and thousands of views, however in addition they enhance the model’s visibility and authority.

2. Poppi

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Poppi is a “prebiotic soda,” which is a beverage that mixes the fizziness and style of a standard soda with fruit juice, prebiotics, and apple cider vinegar. It is available in flavors resembling Basic Cola, Root Beer, Orange, and Cherry Limeade.

Initially known as “Mom Beverage,” Poppi was originally created when co-founder Allison Ellsworth needed to create a drink that was each wholesome and tasted good. Not solely does Poppi stand out from different drinks due to its well being advantages, it additionally has a novel and colourful model character that pulls prospects.

In accordance with Allison, “We had this actually enjoyable and vibrant model and a product that folks may relate to. Individuals find it irresistible and it was created with elements that folks knew to be efficient and helpful to their physique.”

Poppi was initially slated for a retail launch in March of 2020. Nevertheless, these plans modified as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.

Happily, they have been in a position to pivot to launch as a DTC product, promoting on Amazon and different e-commerce platforms. Moreover, they used this chance to put money into social media advertising and marketing on Instagram and TikTok, the place they gained recognition amongst Gen Z shoppers.

3. HubSpot Operations Hub

In 2021, HubSpot launched Operations Hub as a part of its CRM platform. The product is designed to assist companies streamline their operational processes, enhance information high quality and accuracy, and allow cross-team collaboration. This permits companies to run extra easily and scale extra successfully.

One of many explanation why this launch was profitable was as a result of it solved an issue that many shoppers confronted.

In accordance with HubSpot’s research, “over 60% of operations professionals need to do duplicative work due to an absence of alignment between groups.” This occurs as a result of operations professionals get employed into separate departments and get siloed and overwhelmed with duties as their firms scale.

In response, HubSpot launched Operations Hub so operations workers may work collectively out of a shared system and take away friction from their day-to-day workflows.

4. Goodles

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Goodles is a noodle model that takes boxed mac-and-cheese to the subsequent degree. This product differentiates itself by offering extra dietary worth than the usual dry noodles, with 10g of protein and 7g of fiber with prebiotics in each serving.

“The pasta aisle is overflowing with golden, al dente pasta choices that present little or no diet. There’s additionally an ‘alt-pasta’ part with inexperienced, brown, orange, mushy, foamy noodles that supply extra diet however little ‘yum’,” co-founder and CEO Jen Zeszut mentioned in a press release. “Why ought to it’s a must to select between style and diet?”

Apart from its positioning as a scrumptious and nutritious different to boxed mac-and-cheese, Goodles additionally stands out with its vibrant and enjoyable branding. Whereas different noodle manufacturers have neutral-colored packaging, Goodles makes use of a daring colour palette, a nostalgic typeface, and cheeky product names, like Shella Good and Right here Comes Truffle, to draw shoppers within the grocery aisle.

Product Launch Ideas

To study the most effective practices for a profitable product launch, I talked to Alex Girard once more.

The HubSpot Product Advertising Supervisor mentioned he had three fundamental suggestions for a profitable product launch:

• Your product positioning ought to mirror a shift you are seeing on the earth, and the way your product helps your prospects reap the benefits of that shift.
• Create a recurring schedule for you and the core stakeholders for the launch to examine in and make sure you’re all on the identical web page.
• Ensure you preserve the product crew within the loop in your advertising and marketing plans. The product crew may have insights that inform your total advertising and marketing marketing campaign.

Nevertheless, typically, exterior components may impression your capability to launch a product. When that occurs, you may must delay your launch.

How one can Know When to Delay a Product Launch

To grasp when, and why, you may maintain off on a product launch, Girard advised me there are three key explanation why you may wish to delay a product launch, together with:

• When your product itself is not prepared and you might want to change your timeline to create the most effective buyer expertise doable.
• If a scenario happens the place your present prospects are having a less-than-optimal expertise with one in every of your present merchandise. Earlier than launching and selling a brand new product, you must be sure your present prospects are happy along with your present product providing.
• If one thing happens on a global, nationwide, state, or native degree that requires your viewers to readjust their priorities and shift focus away out of your firm and its product launch. Ensure that when the time involves launch, your target market is able to study your new product.

For those who‘re in search of templates to coordinate your crew efforts and align your organization round your new product’s messaging, obtain our free product advertising and marketing equipment under.

Editor’s notice: This publish was initially printed in November 2015 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.