Hey you! Yeah, you. The mildly terrified human reading this right now. So you’ve been challenged to make your next product launch hit the stratosphere. Yeah, it’s a big responsibility. As marketers, we all know that going viral isn’t easy or we’d already be doing it. And there’s an awful lot of noise. Customers are being bombarded by a wave of advertising messages. And It’s no wonder we’re getting weary after seeing up to 5000 ads each day.
Ok, so we can’t control everything in life… but the inbox is still somewhere we can make some headway. The truth is it’s a privilege to be invited into the inbox. But with fierce competition from the 296 billion emails sent each day, how can you possibly cut through the clutter and reach the greatness you were destined for?
The good news is that your boss believes in you and so do we. If you’re ready to hit a home run, we can help. What you need is a top-notch plan that’s going to inspire readers and maybe even get them jumping for joy like they’re Tom Cruise and it’s 2005!
Before we dive in, let’s put your skills to the test with a quick quiz. If you’re planning your next product launch right now, do you:
- crawl back under the covers and hope it’ll just go away;
- make as much noise as possible on launch day by taking over their social media feeds and inbox;
- use a teaser campaign to start spilling secrets early and build buzz for the big launch?
If you went with option 1… well it’s time to go back to bed. If you picked option 2, you’re definitely on the right track, but you’re taking the scenic route to the pot of gold and you might lose some customers with your all-or-nothing approach. If you’re camped out with option 3, it’s time to pack your bags because you, my friend, have picked a winner. And here are a few tips to get you started.
Know your end game.
Wild goose chases are for chumps. Know what you want to achieve when it’s all said and done. With so much to choose from, it can be overwhelming. The challenge is actually in just picking one measure of success. Do you want to grow awareness? Get new trials? Drive pre-orders or sales? Once you’ve picked your yardstick figure out how you’ll measure your success. Then blow your targets out of the water and go get that raise! If you’re looking for a good place to start, check out our email statistics.
Unleash the movie trailer.
The lead-up is where the magic either happens or it falls flat. Use the pre-launch to arouse interest with some slightly mysterious messaging to pique their curiosity. Once you’ve got them on the edge of their seats, they won’t be able to wait for more. Slowly reveal your story piece by piece and get them hooked. Try setting up an automated email series at least a week in advance to reveal a few secrets without all the heavy lifting.
Don’t be a tree in the forest.
Nobody puts baby in the corner. Being alone sucks. The same goes for your launch emails. Why not send them out in style with some friends? In this case 2 + 2 definitely equals 5. Consider a friendly boost with a social media push or up the ante with the power of SMS. Don’t be that tree in the forest that we’re not really sure if it actually fell since no one heard it. Amplify your message with a multi-channel approach so people can’t accidentally miss out.
I’ve got 99 problems and my budget isn’t one.
Taking advice from Kanye can be questionable at times. But sometimes it’s the right move. If your office isn’t exactly growing its own money trees, it’s ok. Creating hype for your launch doesn’t need to blow your budget. Plus maybe you can convince your boss to give you a cut of the savings when she sees just how big your impact is compared to your spend.
Between automated email campaigns, targeted social media amplification, and SMS power, they’ll change the dictionary to feature a picture of your face next to the word frugal. And since we’re on dubious advice, as Charlie Sheen once said #winning.
