The web opens doors to many ways businesses can launch products or services online. But how do business owners know which is best? Given it can appear a vast, confusing, and somewhat daunting arena, here are five affordable launch ideas that can often be most effective:
1) Distribute a press release
Press releases have been used for over 100 years, and for good reasons. When written and distributed well, a press release can produce great results. Here are some tips to start you off:
- Only include vital information about your launch.
- Ensure it reaches the right people, including publications, influencers, and associated stakeholders.
- Don’t forget to create a catchy headline; “X Company Launches Y Product” is boring!
- Research what’s worked in the past – examples from PR Media are great.
2) Tell your story with an infographic
Infographics are great for visually capturing how your product works, communicating a message or telling your company story.
Infographics are an excellent way to tell your product story: how it works, how it can benefit your customers or how it came to be. Here’s an infographic showing how successful infographics can really be, on Mashable.
- For some inspiration, check out the infographic design contests that have been hosted on DesignCrowd.
- It might look hard, but you can hire a graphic designer to produce one for you. Use DesignCrowd’s creative community of more than 550,000 designers for affordable work.
- An infographic needs to either have an element of surprise or tell an interesting story. Use stats, figures and info that offer valuable insight.
3) Create a social media campaign
Social media has the power to make your product viral. Create a great campaign that will spearhead your product and bring you the results you want.
- Give your social media followers and fans an incentive to endorse or share your post or buy your product; freebies, samples, discounts or a competition are all top ideas.
- Create several posts that work to support your product launch and diversify your content; shake it up with blogs, press releases, competitions, images, photos and video posts.
Take advantage of videos
Video is one of the most appealing forms of content that you can use to reach your target audience.
- Ensure your video is as professional as possible; remember, the quality of your video will reflect the quality of your product.
- Keep your video simple and short. It needs to be easy to understand and quick to watch! Hubspot has lots of marketing and advertising campaign videos you’ll actually enjoy watching and can use as inspiration.Premiere pro templates are perfect too for pre-made videos you can just easily customize.
Pay for a slice of advertising
Try Google ads, pay-per-click campaigns and social media ads to stand out online and gain new customer.
- Advertising doesn’t have to be costly and is usually supremely measurable so you can track impact and effectiveness.
- Make sure you are able to accurately track your ROI; this will allow you to measure your success and determine if your paid advertising efforts were worth it.
Be creative and utilise all that online has to offer. Best of luck with your launch.
A version of this article was originally published on smh.com.au.
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Written by DesignCrowd on Monday, June 12, 2017
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.