Step-by-Step Guide to Run a Pre-Launch Marketing Campaign

A new product launch is a company’s attempt to scale up, improve its market standing, and turn the hype into steady profits. But even with a revolutionary product in your assembly line, you cannot guarantee a hefty sales revenue, unless it’s backed by a dynamic marketing plan.

Marketing Research Association suggests that only 40% of all developed products go to the marketing stage, and of those 40%, a mere 60% generate revenue.

The barrier to success is quite steep but it doesn’t mean you should give up on your startup. Rather, build a solid launch plan that outlines your business milestones and clear roadmaps to accomplish them. Successful product launches go way beyond the launch date.

If you are betting your stakes on a new product, don’t wait until the last minute to introduce it but kick off your pre-launch campaign months in advance. Share teasers, and sneak peeks, and gather influencer shoutouts to round up an audience and build hype for D-day. This article illustrates a complete step-by-step guide to running a successful pre-launch marketing campaign.

An Introduction to Pre Launch Marketing

A pre-launch or pre-release marketing campaign involves a series of promotional activities and initiatives designed to build anticipation and hype among the audience before the introduction of a new product or service. It is the proverbial "first impression" of a product, and it can make or break its long-term success.

From teaser campaigns on social media to billboard banners, anything that helps a company raise awareness and enroll potential customers can be rounded off as pre-launch marketing.

For most startups, it’s the perfect time to trial and test different marketing channels to know which resonates with your niche and pull over a sizeable customer base. What you do in the months leading up to the launch event will define whether it will be a masterstroke or a knockout.

How Important is a Pre-launch Marketing Campaign?

It’s simple: a pre-launch campaign sets the stage for a successful launch. Every step you take to promote your upcoming offering builds you solid foundation - positive brand recognition, dynamic online presence, and connections in the industry. It ensures you round up enough ears so your event doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Many startups, when nearing their launch, get sloppy in meeting the deadlines. With the product development going on and campaign structuring midway, employees often have to shuffle in between jobs, losing track of the schedules. Around 45% of product launches are pushed back by at least 30 days due to ineffective scheduling.

A pre-launch campaign holds various benefits for a business, here are a few:

Raise Awareness: Before a product or service is officially released, most potential customers are unaware of its existence. A pre-launch campaign lets people know what’s coming and what to expect, invoking their interests before you hit the market.

Attracting Early Adopters: Industry experts or enthusiasts are often on the lookout for something new. Sharing early glimpses and teasers of your next release will pique their curiosity, compelling them to get their hands on it first. Catered right, early adopters can prove out to be solid customers from day one.

Mitigating Risks and Maximizing Impact: By conducting market research, collecting feedback, and adjusting your strategy based on pre-launch interactions, you can mitigate potential risks of failure. Without a launch strategy, your marketing efforts can go underappreciated.

Enacting a pre-launch strategy in place will ensure there is no delay in the anticipated release date. It’s an expressway to secure good SEO value, boost awareness, and pull out a massive following right away.

Preparing Groundwork: Things to Do Before Setting Up a Pre-launch Marketing Strategy

It’s exciting to introduce a new, seeing its popularity soar, and boost sales revenue. But launching a new product to market is always risky, doesn’t matter if you are a startup or a well-established enterprise. To minimize any potential downsides, you need to start preparing in advance. When compiling a marketing strategy, there’s something you need to cater to first.

Learn About Your Customers

Don’t attribute yourself to a distinct market segment. Even if your position in the industry is established, try to do better with each new product to keep the audience hooked. Stale promises are not enough, they need an assurance that your brand prioritizes their wishes.

To align your launch with the audience’s expectations, understand who they are. What are they expecting from your company? What are their pain points with existing products in the market? And how you can bridge the gap. Look for trends and position yourself in an area, where you can tap true potential.

Assess Your Competition

Stand apart to stand tall. Being different from your competitors is key to outperforming them with your launch. When entering a new market, it’s wise to identify top players in the niche. Studying their strengths and weaknesses is vital to forming a more effective launch strategy.

What they’re good at? What strategies have they adopted? And what steps do you need to follow to break their monopoly?

Even if you’re not a new player in the field, it’s still wise to monitor newcomers and the trends they follow to introduce themselves. Keeping track of trends and changes, and devising solutions to outgrow them is necessary to stay ahead of the curve.

Define Your USP

Once you figure out what your target audience wants and where your competitors are lacking, you can start forming your Unique Selling Point (USP). It’s a proverbial way of showcasing; what you do and how you’re good at it from the rest. It is necessary to align your business USP with the needs of your customers.

If you’re only providing what is already available in the market, you’re unlikely to gather attention or attract a sizeable customer base. Tell your audience why you should be chosen over alternatives in a concise statement

6 Steps to Execute a Successful Pre-launch Campaign

Every pre-launch campaign is implemented for more or less similar purposes - expanding outreach, multiplying conversion rates, and boosting sales revenue. But the way to accomplish that can vary.

It’s equally important to figure out the buyer’s journey to concoct ways that can help make the sales cycle shorter. Any visitor who comes on to your website or walks into your store for the first time, shouldn’t leave empty-handed. Make the entire experience smooth and buyer-friendly which locks the deal at first interaction.

If you’re gearing up for the first launch, imitate the following step-by-step pre-launch strategy for maximum impact.

Set Up a Landing Page

Before initiating your marketing plan, set up an infrastructure to capture leads that come your way - interested folk wanting to learn more about the product. While a website sure adds to your credibility as a company, until your launch enters the final stages, a solo landing page will serve the need.

A pre-launch landing page is marketers’ go-to tactic to announce their arrival and entice visitors to take the desired action before the actual launch. People can be asked to sign up for a free trial, register pre-orders, or book a sales call. Roll out exclusive benefits for these early adopters so they are more inclined to leave their email addresses and recommend their friends the same.

As a purely business professional, you don’t have to go out of your way to hire a UX designer or software coder to create your coming soon page. There are tons of software that can help design expressive landing pages based on your preferred CMS and business niche. Either way, make sure the web page carries the following features:

• Include an email sign-up form to capture leads. Ensure it's easy to fill out, asking for minimal information (e.g., email address) to maximize sign-ups.
• A countdown timer can build excitement and a sense of urgency. It conveys that the launch is imminent, motivating visitors to take action.
• Use a prominent, compelling call to action button that encourages visitors to sign up or take another desired action (e.g., "Get Early Access" or "Join the Waitlist").

Draft Out a Content Marketing Strategy

Start creating content around your upcoming product while it’s still under development. The Harvard Business Review states lack of educational content around a product or service is one of the primary reasons why most product launches fail.

People need to know what you’re cooking develop a liking and hopefully purchase it when it comes on air. By sharing insightful, and valuable content, you can establish your authority and credibility in your industry, building a positive repertoire with the audience.

Unlike other marketing tactics, you don’t need to wait until the final moments to start publishing content. If you have a functional website, well and good. But if not, leverage guest posting on mainstream publications. The sooner you start, the more time your articles will have to rank on the search engine and become viral. For this to happen, you cannot rely on generic content.

A content strategy usually discloses in-depth information about the product, its ideal use case, and how it can prove beneficial for the target audience.

If you are conducting a trial run of the product, you can share case studies from the beta users. Categorize them under different webpages, so users can easily sift through the information they need. Here’s how Launchable has marked out its pre-launch content strategy:

Leverage Guest Posting

Publishing content on other publications and blogs isn’t just meant for startups. Even if you have a dedicated website, guest posting is an impressive way to address an audience outside your immediate prospects and boost brand awareness.

During the pre-launch phase, companies often face minimal organic traffic and restricted outreach since most people are unaware of the product. However, a guest post on a high-traffic blog can send hundreds of subscribers and potential customers your way, keeping a continuous stream of traffic until the launch.

Not every guest post will go viral. The more you write and publish, the higher chance you have of creating a few that steer you to the traffic you’re looking for. Make sure to link your coming soon landing page in every article post to channel every lead that shows an interest.

Share Teasers on Social Media

Given the massive outreach and impact, the term marketing has become synonymous with social media. Around 54% of consumers regularly search for new brands and products on social media. Whether you’re looking to build up hype before the launch or harness it as part of your post-launch plan, social media plays an elemental role in the success of a product launch.

Before moving on with the release, make sure you have social profiles set up on all major channels and attract potential customers as followers. By sharing teaser trailers you can not only spark excitement for the launch but it serves as a digital archive of your campaign. The bigger your following is, the more credible and trustworthy your brand appears.

Here’s how you can use social media to boost your visibility ahead of the campaign:

• Plan a mix of content types, such as teasers, behind-the-scenes posts, interactive polls, and countdown updates that you’ll regularly post in days leading up to the launch.
• Share teasers, sneak peeks, and hints about your upcoming product or service in your social media posts. Use compelling imagery, videos, and stories to attract and engage a mass audience.
• Encourage participation from the audience. Impel them to share their side of the story, experiences with your brand, and recommendations for the launch.
• When nearing the launch event, consider running contests and giveaways to expand your reach and generate buzz.

Keep Your Audience in the Loop

Pre-launch marketing is all about getting a bunch of people interested in your launch and keeping them engaged through updates and teasers until the launch day. Promoting your product early on can be a great PR move that can catch widespread attention from your target audience.

Keeping the audience in the loop doesn’t mean you have to share every single move you make, but do share every major breakthrough you make along the journey. Let your audience in on the challenges you face during development, the ups and downs, a sneak peek behind the stage to build a deeper connection with your customers.

Host live Q&A sessions on platforms like Facebook Live, Instagram Live, or YouTube Live. Allow your audience to ask questions about your pre-launch campaign, the product development, and what they can expect from the launch

Tell a story, and make it relatable so your prospects can become a community. Leverage platforms like Twitter and Reddit to start community building. Whenever you have something new to share, share it with relevant communities and groups on these platforms. Link up with industry experts and professionals in your field and use their opinions to add credibility to your stance.

Reiterate and Improve via Consumer Feedback

A brand cannot succeed on your insights and strategies alone. Let your clients have a say in the performance and rating of the product.

Start by assessing the influence of your marketing campaign. How well have you managed to recruit clients from your audience? What’s the conversion rate? What tactics have fared better in influencing prospects to choose your product? Monitor key performance indicators to evaluate your campaign output.

The final weeks before the launch provide a well-needed window to make the final changes to the product before it hits the shelves on all major outlets. It is wise to ask for and study reviews and testimonials from your beta testers, assess their response and be open to changes if a certain recommendation is posted multiple times.

Closing Note

Product launches are more than a single-day event. From product development to marketing strategies and beta tests, introducing your new product to market demands considerable effort from every brain in your workforce and more.

During a pre-launch campaign, the response from early adopters regarding the product and the mechanisms used for its promotion holds key value. User feedback gives you an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your campaign, giving you sufficient room to reiterate before the official launch. With so much going on, join Prefinery.com to streamline your pre-launch campaign mechanics with ease.

FAQs

What is the purpose of a pre-launch campaign?

A pre-launch marketing campaign is designed to build anticipation and create awareness about an upcoming product or service before it is officially released to the audience. The purpose is to engage the target audience, create excitement and lay the foundation for a successful launch.

How do I measure the success of my pre-launch marketing campaign?

Success can be measured through various key performance indicators (KPIs) such as the number of leads generated, website traffic, engagement rates on social media, email open, and click-through rates. But don’t underestimate qualitative feedback. Look for and respond to customer reviews and testimonials about your product to learn the efficacy of your promotion strategy.