Eight Ways to Improve New Product Launches
Eight key launch practices that will improve your next new product introduction.
How successful was your last new product launch? Did it get your new product off to a great start? If not, what could you do next time to produce better results?
As a public relations consultant, I've dedicated my life to helping clients create and implement effective launches. After discovering that launch was an under-investigated area of new product development, my firm funded the first-of-its-kind joint academic research study with the Communications Research Center at Boston University. The study uncovered a number of launch success factors including the importance of treating launch as a separate phase of the new product development process.
We have built on that research with three annual consumer surveys that identified the most memorable new products of each year. By studying the campaigns behind those products, we've learned valuable lessons about what makes or breaks a new product launch.
Here are eight key launch practices that will improve your next new product introduction.
- When breaking new ground with a product, build time into your launch schedule to persuade retailers to create a new category for it in the store.
A key learning from the Schneider/Boston University Launch Report was that breakthrough products with a high degree of "newness" have significantly higher success rates than line extensions. At the same time, products that create new categories can be challenging to launch. With retail space at a premium, retailers are reluctant to add categories, except for new high-dollar products.
Retailers may need to be educated about why they should create a new section for your product. This takes time, but will pay off if you can avoid having your product stuffed into a section where its key differentiators aren't immediately obvious to shoppers.
- Match your launch plan to your distribution plan.
If you're initially planning regional distribution, hold off on doing a national launch campaign. Instead, focus your attention regionally where you can build traction and establish a track record. This may seem obvious, but even giant consumer packaged goods companies have violated this principle. Why launch nationally when consumers can't get your product in their hometown?
- You may need to educate consumers about your product if someone else hasn't already created the category and done the education.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) demonstrated it understood this success factor in the strategy it used to launch FebrezeŽ, its water-based fabric deodorizer spray in 1998. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company shifted spending away from traditional forms of marketing and advertising to consumer-education efforts such as large-scale demonstrations at places like car shows and pet shows. Demonstrating the product is what sold consumers on its advantages. Such consumer-education efforts are especially important if your product carries a premium price.
- Know when to use a third-party spokesperson.
Not every product needs a third party "voice", but many do. Retaining an independent expert who is often quoted about your product category can be very beneficial in generating media coverage that you'd never generate by just using a company spokesperson.
For instance, in helping launch Colgate® Orabase® Soothe-N-Seal™, a first-of-its-kind over-the-counter product for mouth sores, we used a dentist as the third-party spokesperson. She brought an independent authority's voice to our description of why this new product was different from anything else on the market. This approach opened up media avenues that weren't available to a company spokesperson. However, in today's media environment, it is important to reveal if the spokesperson is paid or unpaid. The issue of "transparency" is one that is now in the news and consumers need to understand if the spokesperson is an objective third party or being paid by the company.
- Leverage the amazing power of word-of-mouth marketing.
Do creative sampling and make sure your new product gets into the hands of "influencers" who generate powerful word of mouth buzz.
Celebrities still remain an important target for buzz-building campaigns, but marketers are broadening their focus beyond the A-list crowd, based partly on the convincing data Ed Keller and Jon Berry of RoperASW shared in their book, "The Influentials". "Influentials" are defined as the one 1-in-10 Americans who influence our thinking on a wide range of topics, including which new products to buy. These people are at the center of social networks and have an intrinsic need to share their knowledge about new products.
How do you reach out to influentials? Match your tactic closely to your target demographic. For example, if you have a product for teenagers, send samples to the top scholars or athletes at selected high schools. But make sure the students are over l6. Some states are cracking down on marketers who target younger kids with buzz campaigns.
- Update your media strategy and your media list.
With consumers facing so much media-overload these days, you may need a new approach to attract shoppers to your product. Consider everything, including shared satellite media tours, infomercials, radio media tours and the Internet.
The number of potential media outlets that can feature your new product grows daily. There are 6,200 magazines available today; 1,006 were introduced just last year. Get up-to-the-minute information on each media outlet to make sure their audience is your audience and tailor your pitch to their readership. Take advantage of the 240 cable channels available in the average American home; the outlets are always looking for programming and product ideas.
- Develop a multi-layered roll-out strategy so your launch is not dependent on any single day for its success.
Now more than ever, you need to hedge your bet so all is not lost if a major news story breaks on launch day. A launch media tour that introduces the product in different locales on different days is one way to avoid having your launch torpedoed by late breaking news.
Another way to extend a launch's newsworthiness is by relating your story to a major trend. Tie your product in with a current trend and provide facts so reporters can write about how your product fits within the context of a bigger trend.
- Educate employees about the product and the launch campaign prior to the news breaking in the trade media.
Make sure employees know all about new products so they become buzz agents among their family and friends. There's nothing worse than having your employees learn about your new product through reading the newspaper or viewing it on television when the general public does. Employees are your "passionistas;" educate them about your new product and about your marketing and launch efforts.
As these tips demonstrate, launching a product is like putting together a complex puzzle; many pieces need to be assembled to create a winning picture. That's why treating launch as a separate phase (or stage gate) in the new product development process is of critical importance. This approach allows more time for analysis, planning and assessment while giving you the flexibility to make modifications to your plan along the way.
To ensure each of your launches meets or exceeds expectations, I encourage you to learn from your mistakes and take risks – innovative products and creative launch campaigns are what intrigues consumers and the media. The old adage, "You can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different result," is clearly one of the cornerstones of new product launch!
Joan Schneider, APR, is president of Schneider Associates, a Boston strategic communications agency specializing in new product launch that is celebrating its 25th year in business. Her new book, New Product Launch: 10 Proven Strategies, is available on Amazon.com. For more information, visit http://www.launchpr.com.
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