Reach Your Targeted Markets with a Virtual Product Launch
Whether you’re starting a new business from scratch or adding a new product line, having a successful product launching event is critical for your company’s long-term goals and future.
It is estimated that 70-90 percent of new products fail, meaning they do not sell at the scale and frequency required to be profitable. Poor product launches are often the root cause of product failure.
So, how do you ensure a successful product launch in order to build a profitable business model?
A product launch necessitates extensive planning, decision-making, and an excellent marketing strategy designed to generate significant buzz around your new products. Failure to define your goals, understand your audience, or even select the best marketing strategy can be costly.
Alternatively, many business owners now choose a virtual launch over a traditional one in order to reach a larger target audience at a lower cost. In this post, we’ll go over everything you need to know about virtual product launches and the proper steps to take before introducing a new product to the market.
What is a Virtual Product Launch?
Following the digitalisation era, and on top of the Covid-19 pandemic that strikes the world in 2019, more and more social events, such as meetings and conferences, have now become virtual events. This explains why, at the same time, there is a surge in virtual product launches, which have been shown to be a more efficient way of introducing a new product to the market.
Aside from being a more cost-effective product launch strategy, virtual launching allows business owners to reach a larger number of target audiences while also allowing consumers to enjoy the product launch from the comfort of their own homes. Furthermore, with today’s ever-advancing technology, these virtual product launches can be as engaging and entertaining as you want.
Planning Your Own Product Launch
A great product launch must be strategic in its testing and marketing, which is a long and engaging process; simply listing it online and preparing it is not enough. While the product must be strong on its own, marketing and everything that drives it will determine whether or not the product launching event is successful. Let us walk you through the critical steps of planning your own product launch.
Understand Your Product’s Unique Selling Points (USPs)
Understanding your product’s unique selling point, also known as USP, is the first step in planning a launch. The USP will describe what makes your product unique and valuable, and why someone should buy it instead of a competitor’s. They will influence the orders you use and how you market the product, both of which will be critical in developing your strategy.
Understanding potential USPs is a good place to start, and they should be identified early in the strategy development process.
Identify Your Target Audience
Once you’ve determined what makes your product unique, you can start determining who your target audience is. In many cases, your product will be of interest to a variety of audience niches.
You must tailor your strategy to your audience segment, so divide your audience into buyer personnel niches. These people should be monitored until you understand their basic demographics, motivations, and pain points.
Conducting Market Research
This will always be at the top of any product launch checklist. You should investigate what your competitors already have, how they are marketed, and how well they perform.
What kinds of advertising campaigns do your competitors run? Which features are highlighted, and how well is the product received? Determine your top competitors and how you can differentiate yourself.
This can be used to reinforce or change your USP, particularly if you are considering new ways to present your product.
Make Sure Everything Is Ready
Make sure everything is in order before the launch. Do you have enough inventory for the anticipated first wave of sales? Are they accessible, and how long will it take to get a refill?
Is your delivery process in good working order? Are your sales, customer service, and technical support teams properly trained for new products, understanding how they work, why they benefit customers, and how to use them?
Now that you have ensured that everything is ready, let us walk you through the strategies for virtual product launch in Malaysia once you have ensured that everything is on track.
Strategies for Virtual Product Launches in Malaysia
Drop Teasers
Announce the launch of a new product at least a week in advance.
Declare that the product may be limited once it is released. This will help to reduce shortages and accelerate sales. Use social media, email, and Facebook Ads campaigns to generate interest right away.
Build Anticipation of the Event
Once everything is in order, the level of excitement you generate prior to the event will determine the success of your virtual product launch. You may want to use social media platforms and other interactive digital marketing strategies to help build anticipation among your target audience.
Plan Engaging Entertainment
Regardless of whether the event is a virtual launch, remember to keep things fun and engaging for the audience. This will increase the audience’s desire to participate and allow them to capitalise on the hype surrounding the event.
Tips on Having A Successful Product Launch
Know Your Goals
Defining your goals early in the product launch planning process is important, but keeping track of your goals is even more critical. To avoid getting sidetracked, plan your new product launch event around your goals.
Choose the Right Event Platform
Knowing which platforms to use when planning a virtual event is essential. You want the event to go smoothly, so keep in mind that the small details will compensate for the larger outcome. Check with your platform provider about the interface, waiting time, and other technical preferences so that your audience can enjoy the event without interruption.
Keep it Simple Yet Entertaining
You now have one goal: make the launch memorable for those you invite that attend your big day. The focus of this product launch event may be on your new offering, but the only people who matter are those who attend. Keep the event simple but entertaining to create memorable moments. Overdoing it has a higher chance of turning it upside down, so keep it to a minimum.
Choose Strategic Timing
You should launch your online product at the appropriate time of year. Investigate times when the industry is at its busiest or when there is an industry-specific holiday. Once the date is set, make sure to release a teaser several days before the event. When your product is released, you want the anticipation to be at its peak so remember to choose a strategic timing.
Get Active on Social Media
Because your event will be held online, make sure to reach out to your audience and actively engage with them on social media and other online platforms. Consider holding a social media contest to encourage attendees to use the event hashtag. Alternatively, consider holding a referral contest in which the person who refers the most contacts wins a free event ticket.
Follow Up
Last but not least, follow up with your audiences. Just because your product launch has concluded does not mean you can stop promoting it. You can spend the next few days focusing on social media engagement and other marketing strategies, such as surveys, thank you emails to those who participated, and newsletters, to keep the momentum of the event going and ensure it remains fresh in everyone’s minds for as long as possible.
How to Promote Your Virtual Product Launch
The whole point of launching a new product is to hook your target audience from the moment they hear about it. As a result, it is critical that you set the tone from the start. A comprehensive list of your target audience is essential before promoting your virtual product launch; you will need this for customised social media marketing that caters to their various needs.
Next, remember to build anticipation and momentum for the event several days ahead of time by creating a countdown using an interesting hashtag, dropping some serious sneak peeks, and even behind-the-scenes videos.
Why Should You Host an Online Product Launch?
Bigger Reach and Visibility
Due to scheduling conflicts and limited space available at the venue, physical events can sometimes limit you to a small audience. Virtual events, on the other hand, provide you with a larger, even global audience because anyone with a device and internet access can now participate. A larger audience also means more awareness and promotion for your event, resulting in a greater reach and visibility.
Cost-Effective
Traditional or physical events necessitate large sums of money for staffing and space rental. A virtual launch, on the other hand, can be held at a significantly lower cost because there is no need to pay for space or a large amount of manpower to assist with it. This will have the same effect on your audience as they will not be physically present, enabling them to save money on transportation and lodging.
Data Trackability
It is difficult to obtain credible data from a physical event, but a virtual event aids in data tracking. Because everything is managed online, it is much easier to obtain useful information about the event.
Using tools to analyse your virtual events can also provide you with more valuable insights into the behaviour of your event’s audience. Keeping track of how the audience interacted with the event can help you understand what you might need to change about it, giving you the knowledge you need for future event launches.
How To Start Planning for an Online Product Launch?
When done correctly, a virtual product launch can provide your audience with a memorable immersive experience. We hope that after reading this article, you have a better understanding of what a virtual launch event is and how to make it a success.
Additionally, a successful launch necessitates extensive market research to ensure that everything is in order. If you want to put on the best product launch event possible for your latest product, consider partnering with an event production company that can handle all aspects of your launching event, saving you from having to go through every exhausting step of planning one.
Evenesis was created to help clients with our customised event solutions. Our team is designed to not only assist you in running your event but also to handle all technical aspects that you may have overlooked while planning it, from database management to integrated email blasts and event analytics.
Ready to plan your own successful launching event today? Reach out to Evenesis to learn more.