Product Launch and Business Growth Blog » new product launch

How to Finish Your Launch Plan in an Hour

Rick Braddy — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:50:23 +0000

If you have a new product or website to launch, then the first thing you need is a “launch plan”.

But how can you create a launch plan if:

1. You don’t have the time to allocate to launch planning

2. You don’t have a lot of launch experience

3. You lack certain skills or expertise to handle aspects of the launch process?

I created a video explaining how you can save time and plan a launch quickly and painlessly. In this video, you will discover how to plan your launch, whether you have experience or not – and all you need is about an hour (or less) to create a professional-quality launch plan.

Launch planning video

No list, no partners, no budget – no launch

Rick Braddy — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:01:49 +0000

Over the past few months, I have spoken with dozens of small business owners and entrepreneurs who are in the process of launching new products into new markets they have no prior presence in. And I notice a pattern emerging in every case. The conversation begins about how great their product is and how excited they are about taking it to market.

Of course, being the launch guy, I start asking my usual qualifying questions, which include:

1. What size list do you have for this market?

2. How many launch partners do you have lined up?

3. What is your advertising / PR budget for the launch?

The answer is usually the same – “none” or “I don’t know yet.” Unfortunately, that’s the wrong answer…

Without some or all of those three prerequisites, there is no launch. And if you’re entering an existing, real market with competitors, chances are excellent that those you would like to partner with who have lists of prospects and customers already have established relationships with entrenched competitors.

There are ways to address these issues, of course.

First, if you have a limited ad budget, that may be recoverable, but you must have an effective market “canvassing” route; i.e., you have to come up with a cost-effective way to bootstrap your way in front of your target market. So how can you do that?

Here are some quick ideas and suggestions for you:

1. JV Broker – find and hire a good JV broker with existing relationships in your target market (someone who has relationships with affiliates/partners with list assets in your target market). Pay your JV broker well for referring you to a few solid launch partners.

2. Bloggers – find a half-dozen or more quality bloggers who communicate with your target audience, and get them to interview you and/or review your product. Many times, these “unpaid” reviews will get you some great exposure.

3. Affiliates - get involved with affiliates who have existing lists (and products) in your target market, and pay them a healthy percentage of the sales revenue. You may want to seriously consider joining a CPA network that’s appropriate for your product type, where you’ll have access to a large stable of affiliates.

4. Bundle/OEM – consider bundling your “technology” or product along with someone else’s product as a value-add, so you can “ride” in to an existing market as a part of an existing solution that’s already flowing into your target market through an established channel.

5. Viral Campaigns – while typically a bit of a longshot, if you can find the right viral marketing strategy, you can sometimes get some broad exposure using social media, YouTube and other viral reach components.

These are just a few of the ways to work your way past the “no list, no partners, no budget” obstacles when initially entering a new market. It takes a lot of time, patience and work to find and establish the relationships necessary to bootstrap your way into a market without a launch budget, but it can be done. Of course, it assumes you have a truly high-value, differentiated product that (other) people are truly excited about and want to help you take to market.

Of course, the least riskiest, highest yield strategy is going to market to an existing base and audience who already know you, trust you (or your partners) and are willing to take a sincere look at what you’re launching. Today, people are busier than ever, constantly bombarded by spam and ads, so being introduced by a trusted party is always the best way to go if you can manage it.

Whatever combination of go-to-market components you choose, it’s important to ensure these are lined up and committed to supporting your launch well ahead of launch day, so you’ll have what it takes to reach critical mass for your launch.

Product Core Experience

Rick Braddy — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:40:30 +0000

I’ve been heads down for a few weeks working on some new products – one is an iPhone app and another is a video-based training course on testing and optimization – more on that later…

Meanwhile, my son and I have been having discussions about developing a video game. He’s a very experienced gamer and level designer, and I’m bringing my marketing and product expertise to the table. Anyway, he pointed me to an excellent article on the “design canvas” used by leading game developers.

It’s been said that “perspective is worth 50 IQ points”. Well, I have often found that by looking at best practices in an industry unrelated to our own, we can find unique and valuable insights to apply in ours.

I highly recommend anyone who’s developing a product of any kind to read this article, paying particular attention to the “Core Experience” item.

At the center of every game (and product) is the Core Experience the user gets when using it.

This is the feeling that the game is trying to evoke, the .inner emotion that the player is going through as they play. The Core is vitally important, because conveying an experience is the purpose of every game. Games that have a well defined Core Experience and are able to bring it to fruition more often enjoy critical acclaim and financial success.

Examples of solid Core Experiences can be any moment or period of time the developer chooses. It can also be an abstract notion or feeling.

- Fight as a soldier in war (Call of Duty; example below)
- Be a healthy person who is getting in shape (Wii Fit)
- Feel like a clever adventurer (Legend of Zelda)
- Be a sociable farm tender (Farmville)
- Live the life of a different person (The Sims)
- Be a vigilante or a criminal (Grand Theft Auto)

All of life is an experience. Games specialize in taking a slice of life (as narrow or wide as the developers likes) and then allowing the player to feel and exist in that slice for a period of time. Books, film, and other media attempt to do the same thing. They drop the reader into a short lived romance, or allow the viewer to observe a struggle. Games go one step further in demanding that the player take action and be a part of the experience.

Of course, non-games don’t typically include the same kind of entertaining Core Experience as their game counterparts; however, every product comes with some kind of experience – from the time it is ordered, delivered, opened and then consumed and used.

Think about Apple products for a moment. What kind of Core Experience does Apple deliver? From the time you open the packaging until the time you begin using the product, it exudes “quality” of workmanship. Then, when you begin using the product, you’re exposed to a deliberately-designed “experience” that Apple invests enormous time and energy into making certain attention is paid to every little detail.

So I ask you this? What kind of Core Experience does your company deliver? How does it compare to what your competitors provide? Stepping into our customers shoes and gaining a full appreciation for the kind of experience our products provides can be very enlightening.

While our non-game products may not include a Punishment and Rewards System like a game (at least not intentionally), there are nevertheless aspects of pain and pleasure that come with our products’ experience. Is this an experience you are proud of? Can or should it be improved?

I hope this change in perspective helps you design and delivery a Core Experience that separates you from the pack, making your company and product one of your customer’s favorites. Favored products garner more repeat business, word of mouth and higher profits, so it’s definitely a worthwhile endeavor.

Before you launch your next product, take a fresh look at the Core Experience you’ll be delivering and decide what you can do to improve it for your customers. That’s what I’m doing in 2011. We all must become more innovative to be more competitive. I hope this fresh perspective is as helpful to you as it was for me.

How to Launch a Product

Rick Braddy — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:25:31 +0000

Over the past several years, I have written a lot about launching products, websites and becoming successful at defining, developing and selling new products online.

It’s been distilled down into a launch white paper you can download here: “How to Successfully Launch Your Product or Website Online”

This 22 page, step-by-step guide contains strategies and best practices to create buzz and drive sales using the power of the Web and social networking. In it, you will learn:

The 4 Phases of a successful launch process
10 Steps you must take before your launch
5 Strategies your launch must apply
A Step-by-step process to launch your product or website successfully

Increase launch sales and profits

A properly structured launch creates increased buzz, anticipation and desire for what you have to say and what you sell. This translates to increased sales – a LOT more sales. It’s very important to know and apply best practices and techniques to boost sales results and market penetration with a properly executed launch. Let us share our fifty-five years of marketing and launch experience with you…

Register now and get instant access to this 22-page report that’s full of task-specific information you can apply today to successfully launch your product or website online!

Happy Launching!

New Product Launch Template

Rick Braddy — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:34:29 +0000

New Product Launch Template

Launching a new product or a new release of an existing one? Following a proven process will make all the difference in the results you get from your launch.

The following step-by-step launch template is an example product launch process we generate for you inside WinningWare QuickLaunch™, our flagship software tool that automates launches of products, websites, membership sites, books, seminars or most anything else you want to launch.

A Launch Guide for Your Product

You can use this step-by-step Launch Guide™ below to execute each stage of your launch.

Note: The links in the following Launch Guide normally link to detailed step-by-step instructions of exactly what to do in each step – the links in this example take you to our product page, where you can learn more.

Planning and Preparation

Start Here – Overview of the Launch Process
Launch Strategy – Review the Launch Strategy
Launch Plan – Review the Launch Plan
Big Idea and Unique Selling Proposition
Launch Settings – Finalize goals and project settings
Launch Content Plan
Launch Canvassing Plan
Launch Team Plan
Review and approval of launch plan, budget and schedule

Pre-Launch

Website Infrastructure Rollout

Canvassing Rollout

Pre-Launch Rollout

Launch

Launch

Post Launch

I hope you find the above product launch template useful for your launch. Of course, the links in the above plan take you to our WinningWare QuickLaunch product page – in the actual product, each link takes you to a set of step-by-step instructions for actually completing that step, along with automated content making it super-easy to get done fast.

If you want more details on exactly what to do in each step, you can register for the free trial to get a customized launch plan with custom-generated templates, landing pages, sales page, press releases, email sequences, etc. – basically, everything you see below is provided.

As you can see, doing a launch right involves a series of steps that are taken over a multi-week period leading up to, including and after the actual grand opening event. By printing out and following a proven set of instructions, it’s a whole lot easier to know exactly what to do, when to do it and leverage the content that’s created for you (if you try to do this manually it’s certainly possible, but it’s a LOT more work – which is why we created software that makes it faster and easier to launch it right).

Also, be sure to check out our complete product launch solutions.

If you use the above process properly for your launch, it will be very successful.

B2C Launch is LIVE! Plus Long-form Direct Response Sales Letters

Rick Braddy — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:29:30 +0000

As promised, I’m continuing coverage of the B2C launch that’s underway. Just a reminder that this particular launch is aimed at consumers (not business people), so we’re taking a traditional online selling approach that’s most effective with a consumer audience.

If you sell to a B2B audience instead of consumers, this stuff is not for you (or your B2B audience)…

In particular, we are using a long form sales letter.

Why is that? Simple. Because it works!

Unlike Business-to-Business selling, where you’re dealing with a professional who is relatively sophisticated about their business and buying and who already understand the reasons to buy, selling to consumers is completely different.

You can’t assume anything about the buyer’s level of knowledge, so you must “take them on a journey” through the sales cycle – and you often have one opportunity to sell them, so you had better take your best shot, and the long form sales letter still outperforms a product catalog page for anything that’s not a commodity item – by far.

Why is that? Because when you’re selling anything people aren’t familiar with, there’s a lot of information that must be transferred to make a sale. And you’re typically selling in a very competitive environment with consumers, so you must position your offer favorably and give people enough information to make an informed decision, along with reasons to take action now. Otherwise, people’s natural tendencies to procrastinate, delay and not make a decision will prevail.

I know. I know. You probably hate these sales letters and “bonuses”. The truth of the matter is, they’re used when selling to consumers for a reason – they work. Hey – I didn’t invent this stuff…

Long form sales letters have been around and proven themselves as direct-response advertising and selling tools for many decades. And if it was good enough for Claude Hopkins and the other direct mail / direct-response gurus, it’s certainly good enough for me.

So why do the long form sales letters work so well? They work because they take a prospect through the various stages they must experience in order to buy – awareness, interest, desire, decision and action.

When we’re selling “asynchronously” (via the Internet or direct mail), we can’t actually be there to help a prospect through the sales process. So, the direct response selling process, in the form of a long form sales letter, engages the prospect, educates them and takes them through the sales cycle – in just a few pages.

And in order to make any sale, you must answer people’s questions to two fundamental questions:

1) Why should I buy from you? (versus all my other alternatives)

2) Why should I buy today? (versus doing nothing at all and just waiting)

The sales letter must answer both of these questions convincingly.

Additionally, it must satisfy the most common Questions and Objections that a typical buyer has, or they won’t buy.

Lastly, like any good sales person would, it must “close the deal” – by asking for the order and making a convincing argument that the buyer should buy from you and do so right now – because if that prospect leaves your website, 90+% of them will never be back.

So you’d better take your best shot at closing the sale and helping your new customer enjoy the benefits of your product while they’re still on your site.

In a nutshell, that’s why long form sales letters still work and will always outperform a product catalog style site for B2C selling of items which are not commodities (jewelry, books, DVD’s, etc.)

One other thing I would like to point out about this sales page is the “Belcher Button” – that bright orange “Add To Cart” button that looks like this:

This order button makes it easy to see where to place the order, what the item costs and what methods of payment are accepted. Believe it or not, this structure has been tested over and over again and is proven to generate the highest conversions on long form sales pages with consumers.

Everything on that sales page is there for a reason. It’s a proven structure for selling information products, subscriptions, software, services and many other complex, non-commodity items on the Internet.

Network Influence IS the Launch

Rick Braddy — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:08:15 +0000

To reach any kind of scale in a brief period of time, a launch needs a way to spread. It spreads through replication. To replicate broadly, a launch requires:

Access to a broad, influential network
A receptive audience, and
A simple message that’s easy to repeat with high fidelity.

There are many kinds of networks available to us. In fact, Wikipedia tells us this about an emerging discipline known as network science:

Network science is a relatively new and emerging scientific discipline that examines the interconnections among diverse physical or engineered networks, information networks, biological networks, cognitive and semantic networks, and social networks.

The Internet is an information network, capable of creating millions of connections between people located anywhere in the world. But just because we have the potential to connect worldwide to an enormous audience, doesn’t mean that those connections will actually take place.

To scale up a launch, we must tap into both online and offline social networks – the networks of people who have both influence over and connections to other people (and other networks) who also have influence, so our “launch virus” spreads.

There are many kinds of social networks available to leverage in our launches, including:

Bloggers
Customers
Partners, Alliances, Affiliates and Resellers
Press
Analysts
Subscribers
Employees
Associations
Friends
Facebook friends
Twitter followers

Effective launch campaigns deliberately and effectively target which networks are used. The messages are carefully crafted so they are easy to convey and repeat and resonate with the buyer personas in the target market. For best results, specific buyers are targeted using buyer language instead of product language.

The level of success achieved with a launch campaign is proportional to:

1. The size of the buyer network you can reach

2. How receptive your audience is to the message

3. How easy your message is to convey and repeat, and

4. How much influence you can continue to exert throughout the launch.

This last point is critically important – the ability to sustain your influence, especially with your “Launch List” (the community of potential buyers who are most likely to buy during the launch).

Buyer language usually resonates better and is more likely to be passed on than product language, so it is important to stay on target with your messaging to the audience and steer clear of “product language” and instead focus on buyer interests and needs.

A case in point, during a Harry Potter theme park launch, seven (7) carefully chosen bloggers reached and influenced more than 350 million people – quickly and inexpensively. The important take away from this example isn’t just the enormous leverage involved – it’s the fact that choosing the right influencers who have the right network connections and influence is the key to getting your message out. It also helps to have Harry Potter, or some other celebrity or authority figure, on your team!

You probably don’t need to reach 350 million people to have a successful launch. You may only need to reach 10,000. The key is figuring out who has the influence that you need to reach those 10,000, and what message will resonate with everyone throughout that network. Having the proper network strategy will make the difference between your launch being a huge success… or just another morsel for Googlebot to file and forget.

The most important networks of all are the social networks that connect people together; not just anyone, but the people who want to buy your products or whatever you’re launching. These networks make it possible for an idea or news to spread quickly from one person to another in a variety of ways.

Email and word of mouth used to be primary ways word of something new would spread. They are still extremely important, but today there are many more available networking avenues.

Of course, word of mouth spreads anywhere people meet and talk; e.g., on the golf course, at lunch and dinner, in meetings, on the phone, via instant messages and text messaging, at church, at a bar, on an airplane, etc.

Today, there are numerous well-organized, Internet-based social networking avenues used on a daily basis by people, including the familiar ones like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, forums, along with other less well-known, niche social networking places.

There are millions of bloggers covering every imaginable niche, market and topic, who can reach large, targeted audiences quickly. And unlike many of the other venues, bloggers often serve as authorities with their readerships – and are looked upon as “trusted advisors”, who are expected to provide the latest news, best practices and tips for their audience.

Choosing the best messages and then seeding the appropriate social networks can provide your launch with the scale and reach to catapult you into rapid success – assuming you actually have something worthy of a given social network audience’s attention in the first place.

The level of network influence you are able to exert and sustain for your launch is key to how successful it will be and how many sales you will make as a result. If you do everything else right but fail to push the right network influence buttons, your launch will suffer. So pay close attention to your network influence strategy and have a great launch!

Product Launch Checklist

Rick Braddy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:32:14 +0000

Launching a product or website? If you’re thinking about how a product launch checklist could help, there’s good news.

There’s now a free product launch readiness exam you can take in a matter of two minutes to quickly pinpoint the areas where you are ready to go, and to identify the “gaps” and areas that still need some planning and work for a successful launch. You simply answer 10 questions about your launch and then you receive a launch-readiness report card. It’s fun, quick and easy.

Click here to test your product launch readiness

This took me several weeks of intense development to create. I hope you like it and get some good value and insight from it.

Enjoy!

Rick

The all-important Launch Blog – Some tips for your success

Rick Braddy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:03:05 +0000

Your “Launch Blog” serves as a publishing portal and the information hub for the launch – this is the place your prospects will go to find out the latest information. It’s also the place for discussions and information exchange.

Note that the launch blog may be dedicated to news about your product and may not necessarily be the same as your personal blog, which addresses a much wider audience and topics well beyond the launch, so let’s be careful not to get the two confused.

So what should be in your Launch Blog, and for what purpose?

Your launch blog should deliver useful information

The Launch Blog is a great place to deliver all forms of information to your launch audience.

Today, blogs make it very easy to publish all types of information, including:

Videos
Text articles
Images and Illustrations

Your launch blog should be a place for “2-way” conversation

Dispensing information is only one purpose of the Launch Blog – it’s the “starting point” for creating a conversation within your marketplace.

A more important purpose is to have 2-way conversations with people in your marketplace, as well as providing a venue for those involved in your launch to connect with each other and have meaningful conversations among themselves.

Do you agree so far? (please post comments below)

Your blog should provide transparency

Blogs also provide something else – a place for transparency.

Transparency creates trust. And trust is the foundation for building a relationship with buyers who may not know you or your company well or at all. The social proof and transparency provided via the Launch Blog can be extremely powerful. Of course, this transparency works both ways…

If your product or service isn’t quality, has flaws or doesn’t meet your market’s needs for some reason, it will become apparent. Quality issues aren’t something you can possibly hide or avoid being publicized anyway, so why not just be up front with people in the first place?

And how you respond publicly to shortcomings that are pointed out is quite telling – about you, your values and what working with you is going to be like.

So when issues do arise (they will), it’s important to remain positive and demonstrate how effective you are going to be at providing excellent support, fix the issues you can, and provide reasonable reasons for your actions (or plans to address the issues). This is all any reasonable person can expect.

Your blog is the place where people often first find out about your launch
The Launch Blog is also a great place for people to learn about your launch for the first time and then join your Launch List. The Launch List is a focused set of prospects who have expressed a specific interest in what you are launching and what you have to say about it. They are your “core” launch audience (in addition to existing customers and partners).

As you post interesting content, the search engines will index your posts. Search engines love blogs, so keep good SEO fundamentals (like keyword selection) in mind as you choose titles for your posts.

Recommendations for your launch blog

Opt-in Form – include a simple opt-in form on upper-right or left side of blog during a launch so newcomers can join your Launch List (or at least a place for them to click through to your Launch Landing Page).
Authenticity – use straight talk with people about yourself, your company, what you’re up to and why – and what’s in it for your audience
Transparency – the more you can reveal about yourself, your values and what you and your company stands for in your blog entries, the more you will be trusted and respected
Conversational – engaging in a “conversation” with your Launch Community provides many benefits, so it is important to stimulate comments (e.g., by asking for comments with an email to your Launch List or via Twitter^(TM), Facebook^(TM), etc.) and encourage conversations
Video, video, video – people will take the time to watch a video when they won’t take time to read copy. Post your videos on YouTube^(TM), then add them to your blog so you get double the exposure. Be sure to include your domain name and a copyright notice at the end of each video.
Tweet Counter – one way people can easily see social proof is by how many Tweets your blog posts get via Twitter. Be sure to use a Tweet counter and make it easy for people to Retweet your posts
Social Bookmarking – another way your blog gets noticed, brings you additional traffic and establishes more social proof is through social bookmarking sites like Digg.com, Mixx.com, Del-icio.us, StumbleUpon, FriendFeed, etc.
LinkedIn – be sure to post an update to your status on LinkedIn each time you make a blog post so your followers can track your activity
Facebook – similarly, post a link in Facebook to your blog posts to keep people abreast of your activities; e.g., on your Facebook fan page / account
Twitter – be sure to post links to your blog entries occasionally in Twitter (no more often than once per 8 to 10 tweets)

Implement these tips and make you Launch Blog “the place to be” for your launch community.

Coming soon, we’ll discuss your Launch Blog’s content sequencing – what to blog about, and when, during your launch process.

To your success,

Rick Braddy/CEO
WinningWare.com

To learn more about how to get the maximum leverage from Web-based marketing methods when launching a product, website or business, visit us and see how you can plan, organize and execute your launch faster and more profitably. Also, be sure to check out our free launch report.

P.S. If you found this post helpful, please ReTweet it.

How To Launch a New Product or Website Online

Rick Braddy — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:04:41 +0000

Over the past 18 months, I have written a lot about launching new products, websites and becoming successful at defining, developing and selling new products online.

It was high-time to distill all of this down into a “launch brief” of sorts. So that’s what we did. My partner in WinningWare.com, Jeff Sulma, and I invested several weeks of effort to boil it all down into 22 pages of best-practices, tips and practical how-to advice on how to launch new products and websites online.

So now you can download it here: “How to Successfully Launch Your Product or Website Online”.

(registration is required to download this report)

Register now to receive this 22 page, step-by-step guide containing strategies and best practices to create buzz and drive sales using the power of the Web and social networking – you will learn:

The 4 Phases of a successful launch process
10 Steps you must take before your launch
5 Strategies your launch must apply
A Step-by-step process to launch your product or website successfully

Increase launch sales and profits

Register now and get instant access to this 22-page report that’s full of task-specific information you can apply today to successfully launch your product or website online!

Happy Launching!

Product Launch and Business Growth Blog » new product launch

How to Finish Your Launch Plan in an Hour

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No list, no partners, no budget – no launch

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Product Core Experience

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How to Launch a Product

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New Product Launch Template

New Product Launch Template

A Launch Guide for Your Product

Planning and Preparation

Pre-Launch

Launch

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B2C Launch is LIVE! Plus Long-form Direct Response Sales Letters

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Network Influence IS the Launch

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Product Launch Checklist

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The all-important Launch Blog – Some tips for your success

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How To Launch a New Product or Website Online

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