How do you create a marketing strategy for your newly launched service (Checklist) |

Your marketing strategy can mean the difference between a successful sales campaign and a flop launch. Make a plan of marketing for your product launch with this checklist.

A wise person once said, "By failing to prepare in advance, you're setting yourself up to fail."

If it's time to launch an innovative digital product we couldn't agree more.

For help in setting yourself up for success, we put together the six steps to create your marketing plan. Follow these steps to create your own marketing strategy that you can apply to every new product launch.

Checklist for marketing plans to launch products

You can download a PDF version of the checklist here .

First, set objectives for the launch of your new product.

It is possible to have the largest marketing budget and the fanciest equipment, but unless you have goals set the marketing strategy you have is just like a vessel without a rudder: directionless.

Marketers are known to be in the poor habit of establishing undefined objectives. We talk about things like "make greater sales" and "drive the engagement" without really digging into how achieving those goals will look as in actual practice.

Why do we do that? One reason is that it's hard to recommend specific global marketing goals, or even ways to evaluate the success of a campaign. Every artist has their own set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) according to the goals they have set for themselves.

Setting goals that are specific to your company, brand and product will help you select what metrics to keep track of prior to the launch.

For example, if you are trying to gather the sign-ups to your pre-launch for your brand new online course, you might monitor the amount of website visitors who sign up for the pre-launch emails.

However, if your goal is to gain new customers by using social media ads it is important to monitor how many people are clicking on your Facebook ads as well as how many people then buy your product.

For setting the appropriate goals for your marketing plan, we recommend the Goal framework SMART.

With the SMART goals framework, you design your goals to meet five criteria:

Specific Set detailed goals that focus on one particular area of your enterprise.

Measurable: Make sure that you are able to quantify your goals and monitor the progress you make.

Attainable:It's fun to dream big, but pie-in-the-sky goals can quickly become discouraging. Make your goals challenging, however, it is feasible.

Relevant: Check that your objective is in line with your company's values, branding, and overall business goals.

time-boundGive your self a clearly defined date to meet your goals. Deadlines hold us accountable and set a deadline to strive towards.

It could include: "By adding a pre-launch landing page on my site, I will collect 100 email sign-ups for my pre-launch before launch day next month."

By keeping specific metrics to consider and a realistic target and an action plan to get there, you can set yourself on the path to a successful launch. What your plan of action looks in the end depends on a number of factors -- including the audience you are targeting.

Step 2: Define your target audience

That question is just as valuable when planning for the release of a new item.

The reason is that you can't market your product if you don't know who you're marketing to.

The target market is the prospective clients you intend to market your products or services to. To ensure that your marketing is efficient, you need to be aware of your potential customers as people and not just their demographics.

This is where buyer personas step in.

Content marketing expert Amy Wright explains : "Buyer personas describe who you would like to be your customers, what their days are like, the challenges they have to face, as well as how they make decisions."

The buyer's persona could look like this example of one of Spotify's target customers:

Explore forums, online communities and reviews for products in your field. You can ask yourself:

Who are my customers discussing online?

What obstacles do they face?

What are their goals?

What is their value?

What languages do they speak?

Once you know the way your customer speaks and thinks, it will help you explain why your product is a great fit for the people they are.

Your audience would like to discuss their thoughts and ideas with you. 64% of consumers would like brands to communicate with them. 90percent of consumers prefer a positive perception of businesses who ask them for feedback.

In the event that you start discussions in your own brand community, you can build connections and bond over shared values. You will get to get to know your audience more intimately, which can help in creating marketing content that is appealing to them.

A great way to learn from your clients comes from Tiffany Williams, founder of Rich Girl Collective .

( makes it easy for creators like Tiffany to establish brand communities, connect to their fans, and sell digital products, all from one platform. Test it to see if you like it with a no-cost 14-day test. )

The more effectively you understand the people you want to reach The more effectively you will be able to customize your marketing strategy to meet the needs of your audience and demonstrate the ways your product will assist them in achieving their goals. You'll need that info to proceed with the next phase.

Step 3: Establish your unique selling proposition (USP)

Once you've figured out all the details of the issues of your intended audience's as well as their needs and objectives, you can define your unique selling proposition (USP).

Beginning with the outcome you want to offer your customers, then move in reverse to figure out how your product achieves that outcome. That's your USP.

Your USP, also called your value idea , answers two questions:

What issue does my product solve for my customers?

What is it that differentiates my offering from my competitors?

If you establish your USP by stating the product's ability to help users achieve their objectives or conquer an obstacle. And that's a key piece of an effective launch. 35percent of startups fail due to a lack of requirement for their product or products or.

That's why there's no fit between your product and market. The measure of your product's market fit is what you can do to ensure that your product will meet the needs of customers. Your USP pinpoints that product-market fit and explains what sets you apart from the competition and why potential customers should choose you.

If you aren't sure how your product stands out, conduct market research and learn about the competition.

Do you have any issues that which your competition doesn't solve? What do you offer differently? It could be that you have a class that is more visually-focused than other courses on similar topics Perhaps your expertise provides you with a new viewpoint from the other makers within your field.

Your USP also helps you figure out how to market your product.

Take Death Wish Coffee  as an example. Many coffee companies highlight characteristics such as smoothness, flavor or even taste but Death Wish has a distinctive approach, claiming to be "the world's strongest coffee".

Death Wish knows that their target market is looking for extra-strong and a kick in the pants coffee. Therefore, their marketing messaging highlights that differentiator. Their USP isn't likely to appeal to every coffee drinker, but it showcases what makes them unique and is tailored to the market they are targeting.

In the end, if you understand the uniqueness of your product You can emphasize that through your marketing. Utilize the same language your target audience uses when talking about their pain problems. Your message will be a hit with the right customers.

It's time to start sharing this message across the globe But first take a look to ensure you can do it without costing you a fortune.

Step 4: Determine your marketing budget

As a creator it's likely that you aren't able to employ an outbound sales team or in-house marketing personnel, and that's okay. But you need to determine the amount you could afford to spend on marketing before you begin running ads or commissioning your designs.

The good news is that you don't need the resources of a 6-figure marketing budget in order for a strategy that works. In reality, more than one-third of small-sized businesses spend less than $10,000 for advertising annually.

As you figure out your budget, you might decide to set aside money for things like

Toolkits and software that allow you to develop contents, connect to your target audience and run campaigns.

freelancers such as writers, graphic artists video editors, as well as web designers.

Paid advertising, such as sponsored content, paid search ads, and social media ads. (We'll be discussing paid social advertisements in the coming section.)

If you've got your budget now you're able to move on to step 5 and select the right marketing platforms for your product launch.

Step 5: Choose the marketing channels that you will use

Different strategies appeal to different types of audiences, and not every platform will work for every creator, budget, and product.

Plus, there are more online marketing channels that single creator could manage alone, so it's crucial to choose the most suitable ones for your needs and your customers.

Here are a few of the most popular channels to think about including in your marketing strategy.

Email marketing

Email marketing is a must-have in any digital marketing strategy. It is estimated that over 4 billion people are expected to use email this year, collectively sending about 332 billion emails each daily.

Customers and marketers alike are both awestruck by customers and marketers alike love email. 73% of customers consider email to be their top channel for advertising messages. 59 percent of marketers cited email as the top source of ROI in 2018.

Email is also a reasonable choice for small companies with an unfinancial marketing budget. With an average of $42 per one dollar invested , email has one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) in any marketing channel.

These are some helpful resources to aid you in building your email lists, pick an email platform, to make the most of your email marketing:

Marketing via social media

Social media marketing works best when you mix organic and paid initiatives. Organic social media marketing allows you to interact with the community as well as potential clients, while paid social ads help you get attention for your product.

For generating buzz around the new item, Twitter is a solid option. As an example, the marketer and designer John D Saunders used a YouTube video Twitter to promote an online course that was launched:

John's YouTube video was a way to let the audience understand what to be expecting from the class and was a huge hit that included 30+ retweets as well as nearly 200 shares.

For paid social, ultra-specific targeting tools help you reach more of those who are relevant faster than traditional methods could. In excess of 60 percent of marketers say that paid social media advertising has been in some way successful for their business.

Facebook ads can be a cost-effective choice for small businesses and solopreneurs who want to put their latest items in front of a larger public. For example, business coach Melyssa Griffin made use of this video advertisement to advertise her Pinterest workshop specifically for blogger.

If you have the proper audience-targeting in place, Facebook ads like Melyssa's translate to digital product revenue for creators.

These are additional tools to assist you in mastering the art of social media marketing

Marketing content

Content marketing cost 62% less and can generate greater than three times as many leads than traditional marketing. It's an economical means to get your message out there, establish your expertise, and build relationships with prospective clients.

Your ideal customers discover your blog's contents through search or other distribution channels.

They gain knowledge from your writings and begin to trust the expertise of your team.

Sign up to your mailing list, or they follow your social media accounts.

They are kept informed of your new product's launch.

They're eager to purchase your brand new product, be supportive of your business, and will continue to benefit from your expertise.

The trick is to write blog articles which are of real value not simply longform product advertisement copy.

Be sure to create your blog content in a way that is search engine optimized (SEO) with SEO in mind. SEO makes it easier for the people you want to reach your site when they search for keywords or phrases that are relevant to them. This is why more than 64% of marketing professionals are actively investing time into SEO.

Below are a few resources that can aid you to get started in SEO and Content Marketing:

Web site and landing pages

Imagine: You launch your campaign and the marketing goes as planned.

Visitors are flooding onto your site, eager to know more about your product and sign up to receive announcements prior to launch, and then buy. The next step is to design an effective landing page to make all the hard work result in a profit.

Testing your ideas for products.

The creation of your list of email addresses leading up to your product launch.

On your pre-launch landing page provide a quick description of the new product. Also, tell your visitors why they should sign up to learn more and get notified when you launch.

Have a look at Nicole Saidy's descriptions of products for her online training course: Becoming a UX/UI Designer .

Nicole is aware that the process of transitioning to user-experience design may seem overwhelming, but she's here to assist. She helps her audience find out if the service will be beneficial for them, through addressing the issues they face.

Here are a few more tips for designing landing and product pages that generate sales

If you've chosen your channels for marketing it's easy to think that you've finished the checklist. But there's one more vital step to make the most of your launch marketing, and to set yourself up for successtoday and in the future for numerous product launches in the future.

Step 6: Track your progress and continue to track

Sixth and last stage monitoring your progress and iterating on your marketing will be much more of a continual method than simply a check-list task.

Following the launch of your product, review the objectives you defined at the beginning of step. If you're struggling to meet your objectives, then you'll have an opportunity to learn and make changes for next time or even update your current marketing activities.

Let's take an example. For instance, suppose the email marketing campaigns you've created haven't been as successful as you expected. The click-through and open rates are lower than you'd prefer however, you have time to make changes before launch day. You may want to run some A/B tests .

A/B testing (or split testing) is the process of changing various elements of your email, one at a given time, and then watching how these changes affect your performance.

If you were A/B testing different subject lines, for instance, your subscribers would receive identical emails except for the subject line. If you can compare both opening rates you can determine which subject line is best, and use that knowledge in future email campaigns.

Remember to try new things, as well as allowing yourself to learning from your mistakes will help to develop as a creative.

Maybe you discover that one of the channels you've chosen doesn't work for your business or audience. This is valuable data to incorporate into your next product launch plan.

"Experiment! It's challenging to figure out how to market online, and every group of potential customers is a bit different. You'll need to play around to discover what's working (and what isn't). When you're doing anything, consider, measure the results, and modify the methods you employ to make them more effective. There isn't a single magic bullet there!"

"To succeed in business, you have to begin by becoming comfortable in running an unsuccessful business, as most of the times, success comes later."

Within the Startup Curve , created by Y Combinator founder Paul Graham , failure is an inevitable phase. It occurs just before your company begins to grow towards growing and scaling.

Bottom line:

Do not be afraid to play around with your marketing to find which strategy is most effective for you, your brand, and your audience. If you have your objectives set and a bit of time, you'll be on your way to successful launch strategies that you can implement for several product launches that are to come.

Develop a strategy for going-to-market to ensure launch day and its success

You've worked hard to create something that your customers will appreciate. An effective marketing strategy can assist in making all your effort pay off on time for the launch.

In case you're wondering, here's the steps needed to develop the marketing strategy you want to use to launch your new product:

Set SMART goals to help you launch your new product. Find out the meaning of a successful launch for you and the indicators you'll be tracking.

Define your target audience and learn about them as individuals rather than just demographics. Research your customer base and talk to them about what they are interested in knowing more about their challenges and aspirations.

Establish your unique selling proposition (USP). What are the factors that make your product or service most suitable for your ideal customer? How do you stand out from your competitors?

Determine your marketing budget. It's not necessary to pay an arm and a leg in order to create a marketing campaign that drives sales.

Select your channels for marketing. It is imperative to use email marketing However, there's a variety of other platforms available to select from. Find out which one is compatible with your target audience and objectives.

Monitor your performance and keep practicing your marketing plan. More you understand about your customer's needs to better understand them, the more effective the next launch of your product marketing strategy will be.

Remember, you probably won't be 100% successful initially, and it's fine. There will be some time and trial, however, once you've figured out the best way to serve you and your customers, you'll be a product marketer with launches day sales to show that.