The launch of a new product is a foundational step in the life of a company. It’s an opportunity to showcase your innovations and convince customers of their usefulness.
However, a successful product launch doesn’t happen by chance. It requires careful planning and a marketing strategy.
Here, we detail the essential steps of a product launch plan, why it’s necessary, how to execute it successfully, as well as the risks and precautions to take into account.
Table des matières
What is a Product Launch?
A product launch is the process by which a company introduces a new product to the market. It’s a distinct stage in a product’s lifecycle, marked by marketing and communication actions designed to draw the attention of potential (and affinity) customers to your offering. The launch “is based on a basic model that” needs to be adapted to your specific product.
However, not all product launches are the same. It depends on their form – the release of a physical product, an application, software, or even a service – as well as the market, whether local, national, or even global.
Why Prepare a Product Launch Plan?
Preparing a product launch plan is essential for several reasons:
- First, it allows the company to increase the chances of success for its new product. When preparing each stage of the launch, it ensures that all pieces are placed correctly to reach its audience in the most relevant way possible, avoiding costly mistakes;
- A product launch plan also helps to align the entire company on a common goal and project. It encourages collaboration between different departments, from R&D to marketing, production, and sales. This streamlines communication and more easily coordinates actions;
- Finally, a launch plan helps to measure results and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy. By defining clear KPIs – key indicators – from the start, a company can track progress and make adjustments if necessary.
How to Execute the Launch Plan for a New Product?
- Understanding the Market
The first step is to conduct thorough market research. It’s essential to understand your market, your competitors, and target your customers. To do this, you need to identify unmet needs, market trends, and ultimately, opportunities to exploit.
To visualize the collected data, graphical visuals such as pie charts allow for easy visualization of the information collected, giving you a better understanding of market trends and preferences.
Consumer profiles, also called “avatars”, play a central role in this analysis. These avatars represent specific consumer segments, defined by distinct demographic, behavioral, or psychographic characteristics. Understanding them allows for personalizing marketing strategies to adequately address the needs of each customer.
- Defining the Target
After mapping your vision of the market, it’s time to define your target. Who are the people most likely to buy your product? What are their needs, preferences, and purchasing behaviors? Defining the target also involves understanding the references that target consumers usually refer to for their needs. This step is of paramount importance: knowing precisely the expectations, budget constraints, and selection criteria of consumers to refine your launch idea.
🔎 Note: Thanks to Trustt, application forms submitted through ambassador campaigns allow for obtaining detailed information on their expectations, their allocated budget for a similar product, as well as the features they consider essential, for example! Keep in mind that all questions can be adapted to your sector and the consumer insights you wish to collect.
👉 An example of consumer responses obtained via Trustt forms, for a cosmetics brand.
- Positioning the Product
The positioning of a product is essential to shape its perception by your prospects and future customers. This involves precisely defining how you want your product to be perceived and what characteristics make it unique compared to the competition.
To start, identify your product’s strengths. What makes it special? Is it its functionality, superior quality, innovative design, or environmental impact? These differentiating elements will serve as the basis for your market positioning.
Once these key characteristics are determined, create a marketing universe that showcases them. Your positioning strategy must align with these strengths and be consistent across all aspects of your communication.
It is also essential to understand the current market perception of similar products. This will help you target gaps you can fill or aspects where you can differentiate yourself to attract attention.
Your marketing message should not only highlight your product’s features but also directly address the needs or desires of your audience. Effective communication must demonstrate how your product solves a problem or improves your consumers’ lives.
Every interaction with your product, whether through packaging, advertising, social media, or user experience, should reflect the values and characteristics you wish to emphasize. This strategic approach helps generate genuine and lasting interest, thus strengthening your product’s credibility and competitiveness in the market.
- Developing a Marketing Strategy
Your launch plan should include a detailed marketing strategy. This involves creating content for social media, email marketing, paid advertising (notably Google Ads), and natural SEO. In other words, all channels need to be activated.
Don’t forget to organize an event with influencers selected in advance, as Lancôme did for the launch of its new perfume with Trustt. Its vision – that of an impact on the women of tomorrow – required organizing an event to match. This led to investing in a unique two-story venue. The posts shared by the influencers invited to the evening generated more than 51,000 interactions, hundreds of Instagram stories, 8,000 likes, and over 500 comments.
🔎 Trustt’s tip: the automatic reporting of publications on companies’ dashboards allows them to quickly identify the best content, reuse it for their communication materials, and above all, have an overview of their performance (engagement rate, cumulative impressions, interactions, etc).
👉 To learn more about Trustt, book your demo with one of our experts 👈
- Setting Objectives
Define clear and measurable objectives for your product launch. What do you want to achieve? Is it a rapid increase in sales, increased awareness, or customer acquisition? Specify the nature and timeline of your objectives.
These KPIs are steering tools that allow you to evaluate the success of the launch campaign. Here are some examples of measurable objectives with their associated KPIs:
Sales increase:
- Total number of sales made in a defined period (daily, weekly, monthly).
- Revenue generated by sales of the new product.
- Conversion rate on the online product page (for online sales).
- Number of units sold in-store (if the product is available in physical stores).
Brand awareness:
- Reach of the advertising campaign (number of people reached by the campaign).
- Engagement rate on social media (likes, shares, comments).
- Number of visits to the product-dedicated website.
Customer acquisition:
- Number of new customers registered following the product launch.
- Conversion rate of leads into actual customers.
- Retention rate of customers who purchased the product for a second time.
It thus becomes possible to precisely track and evaluate the results obtained, allowing for adjustments to marketing and commercial strategies along the way if necessary.
- Planning the Stages
Organize the steps of your launch plan in a retrospective schedule. This includes the launch date, preparations, launch phase, and post-launch follow-up. It also encompasses all communication actions implemented alongside the launch: newsletter, social media posts, etc. Be ready to react to feedback and adjust your strategy if necessary.
🔎 To know: The Trustt team supports brands that want to benefit from community momentum for their product launch, particularly through a comprehensive calendar over several months and tailored recommendations to ensure the launched product’s visibility.
Book a customized Trustt demo for your product launch 🚀
- Communicate
Communication is essential for a successful launch. Create a clear and consistent message to present your product to the public. Ensure your team is trained to answer customer questions and resolve issues.
- Measure and Adjust
During and after the launch, monitor the KPIs you’ve defined. This way, measure the performance of your product and marketing strategy. Be sure to be ready to make adjustments if the results don’t meet your expectations.
Example of a Product Launch Plan
- Kookapi, a young eco-friendly dog and cat kibble brand based on insect proteins, built its reputation through an Ambassador Program and product campaigns.
Kookapi’s mission is to offer environmentally friendly recipes, replacing meat with “insect proteins. Initial challenges included defining the target audience, building an e-reputation, and raising consumer awareness about the benefits of” insect proteins.
Kookapi launched an Ambassador Program with Trustt and organized several product testing campaigns, including 3 quantitative studies.
Results for Kookapi?
More than 170 new qualified and segmented opt-ins and 75 detailed reviews.
Social media posts (UGC) allowed the brand to reach new audiences, generating 58 authentic and varied publications, while benefiting from an improved reputation. The “usage tests confirmed the relevance of products based on” insect proteins, reinforcing Kookapi’s educational approach and revealing specific consumer preferences.
Kookapi was thus able to establish its digital presence, increase its visibility, create an engaged community even before the official launch, and gather feedback on its products, a source of reassurance for future customers.
- Sentastic, a new brand from the Remanence group in an emerging sector (lithotherapy), set up an Ambassador Program on its site with the ambition to benefit from community momentum and increased visibility from its launch.
👉 The Sentastic Ambassador Program, allowing to highlight their desire to involve people interested in their approach to aromatherapy and the benefits of stones, and thus benefit from authentic feedback and an engaged community.
Outcome for Sentastic?
In just 3 months of using Trustt, Sentastic benefited from an immediate boost on social networks, and detailed reviews on the boxes sent to selected ambassadors:
- More than 100 engaged ambassadors, including 1/3 influencers
- Nearly 100 enriched reviews, directly added to the newly launched product pages
- An average rating of 4.5 / 5
- More than 1800 responses to application forms (and as much valuable information about consumers)
- 4 usage tests to benefit from proven efficiency data, to be added on packaging and various communication materials
- More than 60 social posts, accumulating more than 35,000 interactions on Instagram!
A telling example: an unboxing of the “Duo Well-Being” set with filmed feedback by one of the influencers selected by the brand ✨
👉 Benefit from a Trustt demo with one of our community engagement experts
Risks and Precautions to Consider
Launching a new product involves some risks, including lack of public interest, fierce competition, or quality issues. To reduce these, here are some precautions to take:
1. Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Before launching the product on a large scale, test it with a small group of customers. This will allow you to gather feedback and resolve potential issues before the full launch.
2. Establish a Risk Management Plan
Identify the risks associated with your product and develop a plan to mitigate them. In any case, be prepared to deal with negative feedback or unexpected problems.
- First, identify the risks associated with your product and develop an action plan to mitigate them. This will minimize negative impacts on the launch.
- Start by listing all possible product-related risks that may occur: too high a price, manufacturing defects, negative customer feedback, distribution problems, compatibility issues, delivery delays, or even unexpected market reactions.
- Once identified, rank them by severity and probability. Some risks may have a minor impact but be highly probable, while others may have a major impact but be less likely. This assessment will help you prioritize your action plan.
- For each identified risk, develop a dedicated mitigation plan. For example, to reduce risks related to product quality, rigorous testing is necessary. For negative feedback, plan a responsive communication strategy to manage these situations.
- Despite all precautions taken, it is essential to have a backup plan, up to and including product recall if necessary.
- Stay flexible and responsive. Problems can occur despite careful planning. Being ready to adjust your launch plan as events unfold is an essential quality.
3. Plan an Adequate Budget
Launching a product is expensive. Make sure you have the necessary financial resources to support your launch plan. Can you handle everything internally? Will you need to use external providers? All of this must be taken into account.
However, be aware that benefiting from the momentum of social media communities during your product launches will help you limit costs. To achieve this, it’s about finding a balance between this solution and paid advertising; the two are complementary.
By following these steps, you can increase your chances of achieving a successful product launch, in France or internationally, whether you’re a startup or an already well-established company!
