Why Do You Need a Pre-Launch Marketing Campaign For Your Crowdfunding Project?

Although this blog post by Eric Ries is quite old, the message it bears is very crucial for product manufacturers. While we spend a lot of our time in discovering methods to market or launch a product, we often forget to create that buzz from beforehand. Like Steve Jobs did for every single product launch for Apple. Think from the perspective of a common shopper and you’ll know why a pre-launch marketing plan is essential for your product. Being a general shopaholic, I come across tons of advertisements, giveaways, recommendations every day about products which are yet to make their way into production but I believe these pre-launch marketing plans do lead to purchase decisions quite a number of times. Only if you do it the right way. Always remember, your marketing launch and product launch need not be at the same time alone. You can start with your marketing as and when you wish to.

Now to begin such a process, there are certain strategies you could follow.

1. First and foremost, have a pre-launch landing page. You need something to share during all the activities you conduct online, be it on social media, email campaigns etc. You can use platforms like Launch Rock to set the landing page for your product’s pre-launch.

2. Always have an email sign-up ready on your landing page so that potential customers can drop their email to stay informed on the launch of your product. It will also give you an idea of an approximate number of people who are interested in your product.

3. Once you have your landing page ready, you can surely share it on platforms like PitchFuse to generate some buzz. Having special offers for the pre-launch sign ups is always a good way to acknowledge those who believe in your product even before it is launched.

4. Don’t forget to reach out to bloggers and press platforms that could generate more traffic and views for your kind of products. Individual bloggers are really helpful to get the word out these days. So try to look for the best ones for your product and reach out to them personally for a shout out.

5. You could always generate more buzz by using growth hacking techniques such as occasional giveaways and contests. Gleam can prove to be really helpful for serving this purpose.

6. Use social media at its best during this time. There is no hard and fast rule that says you can’t use social media unless your product is launched. So give it your best shot and get those tweets rolling.

7. Apart from Twitter and Facebook, you can try using Instagram during this time. Post production pictures, your day at the workshop and product prototypes to gather your future customer’s attention. The whole purpose of this entire pre-launch marketing plan is to bond well with your customers, remember!

8. If it’s under your budget, there’s nothing like a pre-launch marketing video.

9. Just so that you don’t miss out on the small nitty-gritties, make sure your email signature links to your product’s landing page. Add a striking one liner followed by the link and you’ll be good to go.

10. If your product is specifically targeted for a local audience, you can use interesting tactics like Uber Ice Cream parlor to generate attention and a pre-marketing buzz.

Do you have more tips in mind? Please feel free to share with us in the comments below. Happy Marketing!

P.S. For more product marketing tips, head to our special blog category here.