Successfully Launch Your Product: Find the Best Strategy!

Are you launching a new product soon? It's time to find the best strategy!

Every marketer or manager in the product (and service) world has likely encountered the need to go the extra mile for a product launch. A product launch is a crucial step in a company's future economic performance. But to avoid the famous saying, "when things start badly...", the need for a launch strategy prepared well in advance of Day One is paramount. No detail can be overlooked to ensure you maximize the launch's impact.

Two options are now available to you?

• Option 1: Fully in-house management
  
• Option 2: Use a communication and marketing agency to orchestrate your product launch.
  
  A difficult choice? We'll help you see things more clearly in the following paragraphs...
  
  

  Product Launch: A Little Theory

  
  
  In communication and marketing, a product launch involves introducing a new product to the market, along with all the necessary communication efforts to attract public attention.
  We won't be discussing the logistical, legal, or commercial aspects here, which are just as important to the success of your launch strategy. For example: imagine having the most impactful communication campaign but no stock available! In other words, a successful product launch is a holistic process. A well-coordinated operation will ensure a positive response to all stages of the value chain you've created.
  
  

  What are the steps for a product launch?

  
  
  These steps are essential for a product launch/
  
  

  Prerequisite: Establish your overall launch strategy, your Go-to-Market strategy

  
  Whether it's the first product of a brand, a new product in a range, or the first product in a new range, the approaches and challenges are not exactly the same. Therefore, a preliminary strategic study will have allowed you to partially or fully address the 5 Ps (product, price, place, promotion, people). A clear and detailed Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy accompanies the setup of all the elements necessary for a successful launch and will allow you to find the best possible marketing and communication strategy.
  This strategic prerequisite also involves creating your buyer personas to best identify their needs, clarify the customer promise, and highlight the value proposition. A product launch strategy should not be seen as immutable but rather as a starting point for developing your resources.
  
  After all that, the marketing and communications launch plan will be the driving force behind your overall strategy.
  
  But where to begin? We don't intend to cover all the needs, but rather to summarize the main points for your consideration.
  

  Step 1: Looking for ideas? Let's brainstorm!

  
  
  The starting point before writing your launch strategy is to gather as many ideas as possible from as many people involved in the project as possible. Indeed, whether it's the marketing department, the sales department, senior management, R&D... many internal stakeholders have valuable insights into your new product. But your ideas can also come from external sources, particularly customer feedback (collected through surveys, preliminary testing, and qualitative/quantitative studies). After all, who today would risk launching a product without consulting their target audience (directly or indirectly)? Finally, enrich your ideas with strategic advice from a product launch expert to ensure you don't make any major missteps.
  

  Step 2: Which target(s)? Which distribution channels?

  
  
  "You can't satisfy the entire market with your product (however great it may be)."

Just as you can't reach all your target audiences with the same intensity through your marketing and communication efforts. Therefore, you'll need to make choices and prioritize! A good segmentation using personas that accurately express the typical profile and expectations is essential to identifying the best channels and potential touchpoints with your different target audiences. Segmenting your target audiences and your actions is also a way to prioritize acquisition costs. Some target audiences are more or less captive, more or less loyal... Therefore, "betting" on your existing customers will be easier and less expensive than trying to reach a consumer unaware of your market presence. Consequently, this implies a different strategy depending on the target audience, whether it's a primary target, a secondary target, etc., to avoid low levels of return on investment.

This reflection will be equivalent for your distribution policy, the channels activated, and associated marketing actions (trade marketing, point-of-sale promotions, POS materials, merchandising, etc.). Indeed, depending on your history and your commercial and marketing relationships, you will have more or less ease in penetrating a shelf space or a market with a distributor.

Step 3: What is your objective?

Any strategy can only be evaluated if objectives and indicators are defined. You can't evaluate what you can't measure. Therefore, this step is essential: write down your objectives! To do this, setting objectives using the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) method is essential, unless another proven method is available.

Several categories of objectives must be established: Overall objectives: here we are not talking about company management objectives, but your overall objectives for your product launch. Priority objectives: those on which you will base your strategy. Ideally, a maximum of 3. Secondary objectives: the breakdown of your priority objectives. Target audience objectives: here we can talk about differentiated marketing or multi-segment marketing.
For each objective, specific key performance indicators (KPIs) must be established and shared with your project stakeholders for long-term monitoring.

Étape 4 : Quel timing ?

When is the best time to launch your product? Good, but difficult question!

Many factors will influence the answer. This question is key for anyone who wants to avoid commercial or marketing indifference. When it comes to product launches, there will never be a perfect time, but rather opportune periods! Yes, the market hasn't waited for you, and your competitors are already established.
So, how do you determine the right timing?

• Seasonality: a strategic question. Will you launch during the best commercial period, but also the most competitive, or will you be positioned differently?
  
• Competition: Are you alone in this market? Are you highly competitive? How are your competitors behaving? Will they be ready to counter your launch?
  
• Availability: Will you create a buzz by previewing in a few points of sale or with ultra-selective distribution, or will you launch when your product is widely available?
  
• Maturity: At what stage of finalization or development is your product in your development plan? Are you ready to test your product on the market even if further developments are planned?
  
• Distribution: When are your business partners best positioned to support your launch (orders, targeted sales campaigns, stock availability, etc.)?
  
• ...
  Ultimately, by combining all these elements, you will establish the best timing for your product launch.
  
  Ideally, a Day One launch should be identified within this target period. This concept is increasingly familiar to consumers for a number of high-profile products due to the significant commercial and marketing attention they receive. Consequently, Day One Profit will be a key indicator of your launch, both positive and negative.
  
  But the beginning of a launch also means an end. From what date should you consider this launch phase complete and that we are entering the successive phases of the product lifecycle (growth, maturity, etc.)? Now, let's get planning...
  
  

  Step 5: What budget?

  
  Just like with creative brainstorming, a budget isn't created in isolation. Even if you're the one in charge and leading it. Various roles will be crucial in defining the needs and establishing the resource strategy.
  Some examples:
  
• Your sales force will likely need point-of-sale displays to offer distributors (how many, what type, etc.)
  
• The Digital team will likely need a budget to produce content (photos, videos, SOA, etc.)
  
• The Social Media team will likely want to support the influencer marketing launch...
  
• The Press team will likely want to organize a press event, a PR activation, etc.
  
• The Events team will likely want to activate on the ground by creating a launch event, street marketing, etc.
  
  Therefore, organizing working sessions to build a budget with all representatives of the skills involved seems essential. What do you think?
  
  

  Step 6: What Actions?

  
  Here we get into the practical aspects of executing your plan by choosing and describing the actions.
  In short, describe each action by:
  
• What (Action) -
  
• When (Start - End) -
  
• How (Method - Tools - Resources) -
  
• How Much (Budget) -
  
• Who (Target Audience) -
  
• For Whom (Human Resources) -
  
• Monitoring (KPI tracking - Results)
  
  

  But Why Use an Agency for a Product Launch?

  
  
  An event communication and marketing agency masters the essential tools needed for your product launch. Indeed, we develop strategies daily and activate powerful operational levers to bring them to fruition. But beyond acquired experience, an agency's creative capacity will allow you to build a tailor-made project, different from the competition. Whether you require partial or full support, human resources are a key factor in the success of your product launch, but are they available internally?
  
  Whether you're in Paris, the Île-de-France region, or elsewhere, don't hesitate to contact Agence I.S, an event communication and experiential marketing agency, to support your product launch strategy. Our IS Brand division specializes in consulting, supporting, and managing this type of project. Whether your project is local, national, or international in scope, if you have a project or an idea, we can answer your questions and guide you toward its optimal realization.