Launching a Successful Product Online
By Phyllis Zimbler Miller,
Miller Mosaic, LLC
Launching a product successfully on the Internet requires two main
components: 1) a product that is successful and 2) an understanding
of how to connect with the product’s target markets.
Social Media
As a Product Launch Vehicle
If you are going to focus on using social media marketing campaigns to
launch your product, it’s a good idea to consider which social
networking sites are best for the product.
In other words, if you have a relatively inexpensive product that is geared
to teens, MySpace may be
a top social networking site to consider. If you have a mid-price
product appealing more to middle-class adults,
Facebook could
be a good choice on which to concentrate your efforts. And if you have
a product at any price appealing to innovators,
Twitter may be
your social networking site of choice.
Of course, in this example you could use all three social networking sites.
Yet, if you have limited time resources for running a social media
marketing campaign, you do want to focus your efforts at the most likely
places where your target markets hang out on line.
Target Your Product to Its
Audience
With a worthwhile product, which of the product’s benefits would most
appeal to your top target market?
If you’ve decided to target the teen market on MySpace, then
you might emphasize the cool factor of your product or
“be the first one at your school” to have this new product.
If you’re deciding between a Facebook target market and a
Twitter target market, think about which of your product’s
benefits would more likely appeal to which group.
While contemplating the answers to these questions, you also have to consider
that you must give people what they want, not what they need. Yes, you
may be able to sneak in what they need as part of a product they want.
But, in general, people are more likely to get out their credit card for
a product that catches their fancy or answers a problem they actually
want to solve rather than a product that’s good for them but that
they couldn’t care less about. (Castor oil, anyone?)
Timing a Product Launch
Timing of a product launch is also important. If you have a seasonal product,
launching in the wrong season is probably not a good idea. Or, if you
have a product that at first appears not to be seasonal, but can be
tweaked to be seasonal, you might be able to increase the interest in
your product. One example is a product that can be positioned as a
romantic product — with Valentine’s Day a holiday
date that could work for the launch of the product.
If you want to launch a successful product on line, start with a worthwhile
product that fills a want and then target the social media
networking sites where the target markets for that want are most likely to
be found. Engage with your target markets on their online home ground in
order for your potential customers to get to know, like and trust you.
Authored by Phyllis Zimbler Miller.
Original article published 9 November 2009.
Article Copyright
Miller Mosaic, LLC, Used with Permission.
About the Author: Phyllis Zimbler Miller
(@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton
School and is an Internet business consultant whose company website,
Miller Mosaic Power
Marketing, has lots more useful advice. Grab her free report on
“The Top 3 Internet Marketing Elements” to maximize your
Internet marketing. Claim your report now from
Successful Product Launches.
Follow links to the right to learn more about how to undertake new product marketing and perform successful product marketing online.
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