Has your company designed the perfect new gadget that every home needs? Have you updated a product and made it twice as handy? Maybe your company is brand new, opening your doors and offering a line of items that are irresistible. These products will sell themselves.
In this day and age, competition can be fierce. With the advent of crowdfunding, inventors are bringing products to the market that might never have seen the light of day in the past. Social media offers cheap or free ways to let the public know about new items. Getting people to part with their hard-earned cash is always a challenge.
Coming up with the products is just a step in the process of making sales. You need to get the word out about your brilliant invention, update, or product line. This will take concerted efforts on your part to sell what you are offering. Here are some successful advertising strategies for those fantastic new products.
Know your item
You cannot advertise your item unless you really know it, and that means knowing who will buy it. Will your product appeal to soccer moms, business lawyers, ten-year-olds, or frequent fliers? You need to define your customer so that your advertising will be targeted to their wants and needs.
Knowing also means understanding what other companies are offering in competition to your product. Take a look at your competitors’ products, and define how yours is different and better. You will want to use that knowledge in your advertising.
Traditional advertising
In the age of the internet, you might think traditional advertising consists of having a website. However, a successful advertising campaign will make use of methods such as brochures, mailers, and business cards. All these formats will include your website, email, Facebook, Twitter, along with your contact information, but they can be incredibly effective, especially if you are marketing to populations that don’t have internet access or skills – you cannot hand out Instagrams at a baseball game!
Social media
Using social media is one of the cheapest and most direct ways of reaching new customers. Make your social media accounts work for you by not only posting about your new product, but also by posting items that will keep your company’s name and its products in the minds of your customers.
Social media will also help you build a customer base as you mine those likes and retweets for sales. Offer discounts to people who like your posts or make referrals to your page. Send follow-up emails to build a subscription list to be sure that those loyal customers are the first in line for your new product.
Make some videos that target your customer base, and post them. The gold standard for this type of video advertising is As Seen on TV. No longer limited to television, this company has placed product videos on YouTube, and they successfully preview how indispensable their merchandise is.
Other online strategies
A pay-per-click advertisement gives you the chance to offer your product to customers who are looking for that item specifically. It’s a low-cost way to appeal to customers. Since they already know what they want to buy, you have a good chance of them looking at your item.
Email is still an incredibly effective means of advertising your new product. You can send announcements of the product release, discount offers, and incentives for referrals.
Make sure that your website is up and running for the big rush of customers who’ll be buying your product. It should be easy to navigate, and have follow-up strategies in place, such as sending emails to visitors, and reminding potential customers who leave items in a sales cart.
Influencers and beta customers
If you have never used an influencer, now is the time! An influencer is someone who will try your product before its release, and then talk it up to potential customers. It can be a blogger with lots of followers, or a local celebrity, but the point is to create a positive buzz about your product because a known and respected figure loves it.
Beta customers are people who try your product before it is released and offer suggestions about improvements. These customers can help you target your advertising market and spread the word about how great your product is.
You have put the hours in to create a fantastic new product. Now be sure to create an advertising strategy that reaches out to every possible customer, and then watch the sales roll in!