An effective pre-launch marketing strategy is the key to driving a successful product launch and generating those initial sales and revenue that you need to succeed.
Done right, this campaign will increase awareness and generate buzz and anticipation for your new product or service.
It will help you build a list of contacts; generate leads and convert those leads to paying customers.
So, how does it work, exactly, and what are the best pre-launch marketing strategies to use?
In this guide, we’re going to cover just that!
We go over what pre-launch marketing is and how it works, six simple and effective strategies, and a case study to see how it can be done.
Let’s dive right in!
Here are the top 7 tools every business needs for pre-launch marketing.
7 Best Prelaunch Tools | How to Use for Prelaunch | Pricing | Our P2P Rating |
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Jasper |
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Fiverr |
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Wishpond |
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UpViral |
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Pre-launch marketing is the marketing you do before your new product (or service) is officially available. It helps you create awareness of your product, build some anticipation and buzz around the upcoming launch and generate valuable leads.
This campaign is also a great way to test different marketing channels to see which ones will be most effective. You can also gather some feedback on your product to gauge how it is received and fine-tune both your product and your marketing.
Done right, pre-launch marketing lets you hit the ground running, with the following already in place:
As you can see, an effective pre-launch campaign is hugely beneficial and will set you up for success in your post-launch campaign!
DEFINITION: PRE-LAUNCH MARKETING
Pre-launch marketing refers to the promotion of a new product or service before is officially available. It raises awareness, builds anticipation/buzz and generates leads in advance. It also allows for different marketing channels to be tested, and the gathering of feedback fine-tune both your product development and your future marketing.
To get a brief idea of what’s involved and how it works, take a look at this video by Ashlyn Writes:
Here are six proven pre-launch marketing strategies to use:
These strategies are designed to generate buzz in the build-up to your launch, provide valuable insights and generate leads:
Your website and landing page are the first port of call on your pre-launch marketing journey.
A great website and a landing page that is optimized for leads and conversions are critical to any business, but even more so during the build-up to your launch.
Whether you have your design and copy all perfectly prepared, or you’re live with just ‘coming soon’ on your page, you can use your landing page to your advantage.
You can provide value to your customers and gather contacts and leads. Here are the most important ways to do this:
The secret to success here is to provide the information they need, as well as added value.
If you’re asking for contact information and email addresses, make sure that you’re offering them something worthwhile in exchange. Highlight what they will get out of signing up, such as first access or exclusive deals.
PRO TIP:
Your landing page is also a great place to build buzz and anticipation. You can use countdown timers to create a sense of urgency and encourage sign-ups or place a raffle entry form to win a prize or exclusive deal when your product launches.
Running a raffle with entries for referrals is a great way to capture leads, build your email list and generate buzz in the build-up to your product launch.
You can gamify the process or build tiers, with prizes of increasing value, to get people to ‘play’ to win. The more referrals they make the more entries they get and the higher the value of the prize.
Prizes can be products, coupons for discounts, branded swag, or anything else you can imagine.
Raffles like this are especially useful for gathering leads and contact information. You can also use them to re-target the referrals that didn’t win anything in your raffle by offering them a personalized deal or coupon code down the line.
Tools like UpViral help you set up and run a raffle that you can integrate into your website, your social media accounts, and your email marketing programs.
Raffles of this nature mesh very well with social media and you can use them hand-in-hand to create a lot of interest, engagement, and buzz within your pre-launch marking campaign.
Referrals made by someone the referee knows are also more likely to convert to sales. The referral leads generated from a raffle are highly valuable for your post-launch campaign and sales.
Your social media strategy is critical. Here, you can build anticipation and get your audience hyped up about your new products!
Here are some easy pre-launch campaign ideas to use on social media:
The more active, engaging, and quirky or personal your social media is, the better. You want your social media to help you really connect with your audience and build a relationship with them.
Social media (and influencers) is a great way to build trust and credibility.
Adding influencers to your pre-launch campaign is a great way to increase awareness and generate some hype and anticipation in your audience.
Influencers are, well, influential and their endorsement of a new product goes a long way!
People trust people, much more than they trust marketing messages from brands or businesses. Additionally, 74% of consumers’ purchases are informed by social media.
An influencer can get the word out about your upcoming launch, while also educating your audience about the product, and generating hype.
The key is to find the right influencers to work with. This depends on your niche, product type, and budget.
There are many ways to find and vet influencers before you reach out to them but look for people who are active in your space and have a following that consists of your ideal customers.
If they’re seen as something of an expert or authority, even better!
Don’t limit yourself to one platform or channel either. Influencers are not just on social media, they’re also blogs, podcasts, forums, and message boards.
Influencer product reviews, product comparisons are great for getting your product known. Send them samples to try and get their feedback.
Get them to ask their followers for feedback too – asking questions on Instagram stories is a great way for the influencer to get some valuable engagement and for you to get some valuable feedback on the product!
Creating a Press kit or PR kit makes it really easy for reporters and publishers to find all the information they need to share your story.
Whether they’re journalists, content writers, bloggers, podcast hosts, or social media influencers, make it easy and they’re more likely to share your story!
A good press kit is concise and easy to understand, and it should contain:
Make sure that your press kit is easy to find. You can have a page for it on your website or store it online with a link download it.
You can also put it on a branded USB stick and give it to them as corporate gift. This will help you get the word out, and deliver your press kit in the process!
Traditionally, openings and launches often involved an in-person event or celebration of some kind. In the digital age, especially since Covid-19, virtual events have become more popular.
If you’re launching in a new physical space, an opening event in your new space is a great idea.
Giving people the opportunity to attend a celebration, interact with and physically touch your offering has a profound effect on your relationship with them, and your sales.
But if you’re in e-commerce or you otherwise do not have premises, a virtual event is the way to go!
You can use events, virtual or in-person, to:
Events, big and small, are important for establishing and maintaining relationships and communication with your audience.
They can also help you gather some valuable feedback from your target audience. This will help you fine-tune your approach and improve your product offering.
In this case study from UpViral, Karl Schuckert and Chase Bowers created a lead-generating pre-launch marketing campaign that garnered $38,458 in sales, before launching a new Shopify dropshipping app, called ShopifiedApp,
They used UpViral and their campaign exceeded all their objectives. Here’s how it worked:
The objective of the ShopifiedApp pre-launch campaign was to generate buzz before the app’s launch, populate a list of solid leads, and convert those leads to paying customers.
They needed to do this in as little time as possible while spending as little as possible.
They used UpViral to create a three-phase campaign:
Let’s look at how they ran each phase of their pre-launch marketing campaign:
To build the waiting list, they made a simple opt-in page for people to join the list, with the promise of being the first to know when the new app was available.
People who signed up were then offered the opportunity to gain early beta access before anyone else. This offer was sent only to those who had already signed up and shown that they were serious about wanting access to the app.
To qualify for beta access, they had to refer three friends and get them to sign up for the waiting list, using a unique and trackable invite link.
To get early access, they would need to get 3 of their friends to sign up as well – using a unique invite link, which could also be shared on social media.
The offer targeted those who had already shown they wanted early access by signing up, so offering them access even sooner was guaranteed to be an enticing offer.
They made the threshold low, with only three referrals, ensuring it was easy to do, and there would be minimal resistance.
Within just 15 days they had 231 shares on social media, resulting in 605 subscribers, which equates to almost 40 leads a day with zero acquisition cost!
The best part? Those leads were all very interested in the product, and highly likely to convert to paying customers when it launched.
Once they had gathered a list of leads from the waiting list and the beta access list, Karl and Chase nurtured those leads with a sequence of emails using Upviral.
They offered leads a discount coupon for a small ($10) discount on the lifetime pricing option for the app.
The email campaign targeting leads from the first phase of their pre-launch campaign resulted in 67 additional sales worth almost $20,000.
Of the 605 leads, 67 were converted via the email campaign, which amounts to more than 10% of their conversions.
Phase three of their strategy was to run a campaign during and after the launch of the app.
This campaign was to retarget people, via a Facebook ad, who had visited their sales page without making a purchase.
The aim was to nudge the interested but hesitant leads and draw them into the Upviral campaign so they could convert them to paying customers.
Using a Facebook ad carousel and video ads, they channeled people who clicked on the ads back to the campaign and were offered the opportunity to get the app for free.
Once they entered an email address, signaling that they were serious (just like those who signed up for the waiting list), they were given free access to a Chrome extension.
They were also given the option to get a $10 discount code for the app, as long as they got three of their friends to sign-up.
From there, they repeated the email campaign idea and sent a series of follow-up emails, along with a $10 discount coupon.
The third phase campaign resulted in an additional 62 sales and another $18,500 in revenue!
The invite links provided for subscribers were unique and trackable, which allowed Karl and Chase to see exactly where their sales were coming from.
They could also see the number of shares on social media and see how those lead to new subscribers.
Their three-phased approach to pre-launch marketing earned them an impressive $38,458, with very low acquisition costs and minimal effort.
Overall, the campaign met and exceeded all the objectives: generating buzz on social media, populating a waiting list, and converting subscribers to paying customers. All over a short period, without high costs!
Their strategy also set them up for future retargeting campaigns and post-launch marketing.
Pre-lunch marketing is the best way to hit the ground running when you launch your next product, service, or business!
Today, we’ve covered some of the easiest and most effective pre-launch marketing strategies you can use to prepare for your product launch.
We’ve also examined a case study to see how effective a simple and inexpensive this campaign can be.
Pre-launch marketing is the marketing you do before your new product launches. It helps you create awareness of your product, generate buzz around the upcoming launch and generate valuable leads. It also helps you test various marketing channels and gather feedback from your audience. Check the full guide for how to pre-launch marketing right.
Social media is great for pre-launch marketing. You can use influencers to promote your product and spread awareness, run giveaways and raffles, host events and Live Q&As, use polls and quizzes - the options are endless! Check the full guide for more on pre-launch marketing with influencers and social media to generate buzz.
A pre-launch marketing campaign refers to the campaign you run in the weeks preceding the launch. A pre-launch marketing campaign is usually quite short and consists of a combination of various pre-launch marketing strategies. An effective campaign will generate buzz, capture leads and generate sales. Check the full guide for effective strategies to use in your pre-launch marketing campaign.
HubSpot: The Ultimate Raffle Planning Guide (PDF)
HootSuite: How to Host a Successful Virtual Event: 10 Tips
Shopify: Time to Shine: How to Create a Press Kit That Gets Publicity