There’s a lot of focus on the moment when a business or product launches in retail, but getting yourself geared up with some pretail (or pre-launch) strategies can really set you up for success.
Selling your product before it has officially been launched or released is known as doing pre-sales. Businesses do this to ensure there’s a product-market fit with early adopters and helps gauge interest prior to being launched. The feedback you can get during this time can be super valuable in terms of informing marketing communications.
Here are a few questions to help you get started:
- What information do you want people to get?
- How will you create intrigue?
- What do you want them to do?
Communicate a Simple Message
Before thinking about what goes on your website, let’s think about how people will get there. Does it make sense to use your primary URL? Should you set up a specific teaser or pre-launch URL instead?
Generate Awareness & Interest
Introducing your product through trusted media outlets, editors or influencers can be a good way to get in front of an engaged audience. If you can get an endorsement, that’s also a solid way to start building trust.
Create a Value Exchange
One of the main reasons businesses want to set up a prelaunch campaign is to start to build an email database that can be used when the time comes to launch. The biggest mistake I see is people setting up a “Coming Soon” page with a simple email sign up field. Unless you’re a well known brand or person, this won’t get a lot of interest other than from your friends and family.
I challenge my clients to think of any metric like this as a value exchange. For example; “We want to get 50,000 email addresses.” Ok. What are you willing to give to get one? What are you willing to give someone who gives you ten? The more information you want from your potential customer, the more you should be willing to give.