How to Create an Effective Product Launch on a Budget

Launching a product is typically seen as an expensive affair. There is usually a huge press launch, celebrity parties to make the occasion or sponsorship of local or even national events to raise awareness. Clearly, if you are a smaller business, this is not possible, or if you do pursue tactics like these, it could be the last thing your business ever does.

There are other ways to get the same message across, which could provide you with exactly what you are after (especially if you have a niche product) without all of the expensive fanfare and trumpets heralding your product release. They are not exactly secret either; it’s just that you might not have considered them before.

Offer discounts and freebies to existing customers

You are likely to have a list of previous customers, however small, and if you did a good job last time, they are likely to be your best sales agents this time. You could offer them discounts to tell their friends about your launch (like an affiliate code that gets them both a special price) or instead use custom swag.

Depending on the price tag of your launch product, you could send your established customers a free item with the new product name emblazoned on it, so every time they use or wear it, they are putting the word out.

Use radio advertising

Since the advent of social media advertising, more traditional advertising methods have fallen by the wayside. This is a shame because radio advertising, in particular, can be just as effective and possibly even cheaper. Whereas many people (especially those with businesses themselves) tend to have become immune to ads on Facebook and annoyed by those on Twitter, radio advertising still has an impact.

You might not be aware of what is possible, but by visiting https://howtoadvertiseonsiriusxm.com you can see what a radio campaign can do for your launch. This will be especially enlightening if you are trying to reach business owners and execs or other people that have all but switched off to online advertising.

Social media influencer

You will, no doubt, have a social media following but not the type of budget necessary for a social media advertising campaign. The alternative here is to tap into the audience of somebody with a much larger following, preferably an authority figure in your particular niche. You can do a deal with them not for a fixed fee but instead for a percentage of the sales they generate. 

Doing this saves you paying out upfront, but it also takes influencers with fake followers out of the equation. If they have an audience that is real and they can engage with, they are likely to make more money promoting what they have than just getting a flat fee.

Final thoughts

Product launches are a pressure situation, but that can be relieved slightly by being careful about what you spend your budget on. Discounts to existing customers are always a good idea as they can become your advocates, and a good word from an influencer can reach more people in your niche too. To top things off, a radio campaign might be a better solution rather than putting all of your eggs in one social media basket, especially if you are launching a B2B product.