Do you have an idea for a new product or service? Here at Aspen and Fort Lauderdale-based public relations agency Durée & Company, we know what it takes to get publicity for your new product. The Dynamos have over 20 years of experience in launching products and services for clients in various industries ― from Miami to Aspen and everywhere in between.
Whether you’re introducing a new product or relaunching a current offering, launching a product or service takes time and strategic planning.
Here are 7 tips to make your product launch go smoothly:
- Define and understand the target audience for your product. Knowing who will buy your product or service is a crucial part of creating a successful business. It’s important to learn about what drives your customer and their purchasing habits. This also helps you to identify the effective channels to communicate with your demographic. Once you define your target market, you can properly develop a marketing strategy, create consistent messaging and connect with your audience authentically.
- Develop branding. Creating a name is just one step in crafting an identity for your brand. A brand identity doesn’t just make your product more recognizable; it makes your brand more trustworthy in the market. It also ensures that you stand out from the competition!
-
- Start by creating a mission statement for your company. It helps to define what you do and why you do it.
- Create your brand’s story – this is the key messaging you want to communicate about your brand.
- Draft a tagline – a memorable, concise statement that depicts the essence of your brand.
- Determine the voice and tone of your brand. Utilizing the tone of the brand is how you will communicate with your consumers and should reflect your brand. Your voice is dependent on your mission, industry and audience. The brand should be integrated into every aspect of your business.
- Create unique brand guidelines and a visual identity that is consistent. Branding is the way to make your company stand out from competitors and identify what makes your brand a better choice. A logo is much more than just an image – it is the face of a brand, the foundation of a company and the point of recognition for consumers. Ensure that the logo properly identifies what you are trying to convey and grabs consumers’ attention. Once the logo is created, build brand guidelines for packaging, graphics and marketing materials that have the same typeface and color scheme to maintain consistency. Don’t forget to trademark your logo!
- Develop communication channels. Create social media channels with identical handles and a website designed within your brand guidelines. Ensure that you use a consistent voice throughout all of your communication channels. It is imperative to have these channels in place prior to your launch date so you can send customers to them to learn more about your product or service and to make a purchase. Consumers always like to research a product before they make a purchase. Social media and a website help establish you as a credible business. Utilizing a custom hashtag with your social media posts also helps to categorize content for your audience and allows users to find posts that are relevant to their interests.
- Create a launch timeline – timing is everything! Plan out all deliverables for the launch on a timeline. Launch campaigns have a lot of moving parts and being organized is crucial. Rollout planning should begin at the very early stages of the process so there is enough time to strategize and execute the launch properly. Also, many components of public relations require significant lead time. This plan should include multiple tactics such as evaluation of the marketplace and competition, a SWOT analysis, determining price points and ROI, branding and marketing the product – it should even include how you want to measure success.
- Host a launch event with buyers, media and influencers. Think outside of the box to create an experience your guests will never forget and so that they can get to become familiar with you and your product. At the event, create a fun “Instagrammable” moment (plus a custom hashtag!) that will encourage guests to post about it on their own social media channels. It’s also great to have a tangible, interactive component to the event allowing guests in attendance to experience the products or services first-hand. At the event, ensure that there is a key brand spokesperson who can formally educate guests about the product and offerings. Don’t forget to follow up with attendees after the event as this is the first step in solidifying a lasting relationship
The Dynamos recently celebrated the launch of Veritas Beauty, with an intimate launch dinner at the 1 Hotel Central Park in New York City in collaboration with Foundermade. The exclusive event featured a carefully curated guest list of industry leaders, media, influencers and buyers for an immersive experience showcasing Veritas Farms’ new beauty line of full spectrum hemp oil products. Guests were welcomed to the event with hand-crafted CBD cocktails and experiential activations including skin consultations and hand massages using Veritas Farms’ products. The cocktail reception was followed by a gourmet dinner and a presentation about the products with key messaging about the brand. There were even Veritas Beauty products on the table for guests to try throughout the dinner. From the menu to the guest list, to the products being showcased on the table and the activations, each moment of the event was strategically planned, fully immersing the guests in the Veritas Farms experience. Each guest even got to take home a swag bag with the entire collection of full-sized Veritas Beauty products to try at home.
Get products in the hands of your target audience, buyers and media so that they can experience the product first-hand. By trying the product or service themselves, these individuals can provide a true review. Press coverage is often secured by sending media and influencers products to test out or inviting them to experience a service first-hand. Along with the products, a media shipment usually consists of a custom letter, press release or a fact sheet. Don’t forget to ask media for approval before sending them products. Getting involved with events and expos to sample products can also prove to be an effective strategy to promote a product.
Do you need help launching a product? Check out our Dynamo Diary or Instagram for more insight and #behindthescenes on #PRlife!
About Durée & Company
Durée & Company, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service public relations, marketing and special events firm founded in 1999. The firm has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Aspen, Colorado. Durée & Company serves the corporate, agency and nonprofit arenas for local, national and international clients. Services include public relations, social media, marketing, content development, advertising, special events, branding, radio promotions and more. Durée & Company clients include well-known names in business, fashion, hospitality, travel, wellness and CBD, marine & yacht, art and culture, nonprofit organizations, legal and professional services and real estate. Durée & Company is a member of PR Boutiques International™ (PRBI), an international network of boutique PR firms. To learn more, go to https://dureeandcompany.com/, visit Durée & Company on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DureeCoPR/, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/dureecopr Twitter at https://twitter.com/dureecopr or YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/DureeAndCompany, or call 954-723-9350.
