Five Steps to Nailing Your Product Launch in the Covid Age

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on businesses, especially with regard to their marketing strategy. Yet, as we look forward to vaccine rollouts and some measure of normalcy, we can anticipate that new-product releases will continue to roll forward.

While some companies have been able to position and launch their products during the pandemic, others need to assess how a product will be received in the market during this time before launching it. Moreover, even with the best intentions, only a fraction of new products survive their launch.

I have launched multiple products ranging from software and mobile apps to physical products throughout my career, contributing over $600 million in revenue. Through these experiences, I found five keys to launch success, which resonate regardless of the times.

1. Market Knowledge: Initiating a product launch without understanding your customer is like piloting an airplane without a flight plan. To develop your product, you should have researched the market needs, buyer personas, user journeys, and competition BEFORE you launch. 

2. Value Proposition: What problem does your product solve for your customer? What are the competitive differentiators?  The value proposition must demonstrate that your new product can readily deliver tangible value to the customer and make the product a “must have” rather than a “nice to have.” It’s the linchpin that binds internal communications (in the form of sales, partner, and service training), as well as external communications (customers, prospects, PR, bloggers, social and the like).

3. Go-to-Market: It’s never too early to discuss the essential details of your go-to-market strategy. These include pricing, availability, relationship to current products i.e., whether it is a replacement of an existing product, complementary to it, or offered as a bundle, and the sales channel/approach. Consider also the type and timing of communications and marketing campaigns, both internal and external.

4. Tell a Story: How do customers use your product, and how does it solve their problems? A story will resonate far more than a feature list while laying the foundation for highly effective multimedia launch assets. When we launched a new mobile product at a previous company, we made sure to articulate our solution through a story, which enabled us to talk about the customer experience and how we uniquely met our customers’ needs.

5. Get Digital: In the COVID environment and beyond, companies have had to launch products on virtual platforms without physical events. New product video presentations and social media play an important role. Focus on platforms where your prospects will be and engage the audience long before the launch.  Monitor traffic, but more importantly, focus on engagement and conversion immediately after launch. Additionally, consider leveraging the influencer network; one way would be to post a tech product on Product Hunt.

To truly leverage the power of these five keys, create a project timeline as a means of managing stakeholders, deadlines, and accountabilities. If, after following all these tips, you believe the response to your product is not exactly tracking as desired, always be open to tweaking the offering and positioning based on the early market response. Product launches are the culmination of significant time, effort, and resources. Make sure you are empowered with the right knowledge and strategy to ensure they go as smoothly as possible.

Note: A version of this article was published earlier on Medium.

Ameeta Soni focuses on driving revenues and profits for technology and digital health companies as Chief Marketing Officer and consultant, often serving as an interim or fractional CMO. Her expertise includes strategy, new product development and launch, demand generation, thought leadership, and business development.