Upon designing a new product, it takes more than the product itself for a successful launch. Establishing brand credibility and targeted media coverage are crucial aspects to be considered when planning this launch.
Simply put, you need a comprehensive PR product launch strategy.
So, what does this look like?
Let’s dive deep into what a successful product launch looks like and how to leverage digital PR to maximize the impact.
Table Of Content
- Create buzz around your product in the right places
- Keep your announcements regular and engaging
- Leverage Social Media
- Measure the ROI of PR
- The Bottom Line
Create buzz around your product in the right places
Getting media coverage for your soon-to-be-launched product is key to engaging with your target audience.
Firstly, build your buyer persona. It’s important to understand where their pain points lie to communicate how your product solves these.
After identifying who your target consumer is, pinpoint where you need your coverage. It’s all well and good being featured in Forbes, but if the target audience reads outlets with a more specific industry focus, then you’re approaching earned media the wrong way. Winning media coverage for a product launch should never be solely about gaining the most amount of reach. It should focus on who will care the most about your launch and who’s most likely to adopt your new piece of tech.
Speaking of media, the way you go about pitching to journalists can be the difference between product launch success or failure. It’s imperative to begin by fostering relationships with journalists who interact most with your target consumer, so opening up a dialogue around the value you can add to their content is key. Likewise, personalizing pitches to them will increase your chances of winning media coverage.
Keep your announcements regular and engaging
Often, companies get confused between a product launch marketing strategy and the announcement of the product. Maintaining excitement around your new product with a drip campaign, for instance, builds expectation and keeps early adopters intent to purchase up until the launch date.
It’s not about one announcement, one article, or one event; a PR strategy is about multiple pieces and the relationship you build with allies. Sometimes, there are other companies related to your product or your audience, at the same time, journalists, editors, influencers, or different channels you can leverage.
Leverage Social Media
So, you’ve successfully launched your product and built up significant buzz within the industry.
Time to relax, right?
Wrong.
Now’s the moment to begin amplifying your earned media coverage through your social media channels.
Social media PR is ideal for building brand awareness, industry credibility, and social proof. These are achieved through strategies such as personal interactions which allow users to connect with the product, experts who validate its quality, and the trustworthiness that other people or brands bring to it.
Measure the ROI of PR
Understanding the impact of your PR efforts informs the success of your product launch.
There are plenty of vanity metrics when it comes to digital PR campaigns, like total reach or share of voice when assessing its effectiveness. While these can indicate the limits of your potential impact, their relevance to the story of your product launch can be unclear.
What you should be most interested in are the following KPIs:
- Referral traffic from your media coverage to your website
- Website authority gained from editorial backlinks from your earned media
- Leads generated from calls to action on your media coverage, be they product sign-ups or sales calls
KPIs such as these are the true measurement of the ROI of PR in terms of your product launch.
The Bottom Line
Just remember, when the information is clear and you have a good PR campaign for a product launch, the results can be stoning.
PR campaigns aim to strengthen public relationships between the company and the customer to further brand positioning and business growth. You have professionals who will be passionate about guiding you through all the processes.
