It's not uncommon for businesses to hold off on launching marketing campaigns until their product's completely ready for market. The rationale concerning postponing campaigns until after development stems from wanting to mitigate the potential of bad impressions being left in the minds of consumers, due to issues such as release date delays.

While the decision to delay marketing campaigns is understandable, it can negatively impact the initial and long-term success of your product. 

In today's ultra-competitive climate, organizations are implementing proven tactics such as pre-launch marketing to help build momentum for when the product or service your business provides is ready.

What is Prelaunch Marketing?

Pre-launch marketing refers to a marketing tactic designed to raise brand and product awareness before the official release.

Examples of Pre-launch marketing campaigns

Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to the process of producing, publishing, and distributing an array of content for a target audience.

Examples:

• Articles
• Blogs
• Webinars
• E-books
• Videos
• Case studies
• Infographics

It is an effective pre-launch strategy that works to not only educate your audience but keep them up to date on the latest developments and position your organization as an authority in your industry.

Email Marketing

Email marketing refers to the act of using email to promote the products or services your business provides while also developing relationships with existing and potential customers. Compared to other forms of marketing (i.e., social media marketing and paid advertising), email marketing has one of the highest ROI when combined with tactics such as personalization, segmentation, and automation.

An effective way to build email databases before launch is landing pages. A landing page is a standalone page, most used in unison with marketing and advertising campaigns. Marketing professionals use landing pages to push visitors to perform specific actions, such as signing up for a free trial, buying a product or service, or subscribing to newsletters via your email.

Host Events

Hosting events is one of the oldest and most reliable ways for businesses to build hype and public awareness about official releases. Whether it be in a venue or outside, hosting events that are open to the media and public allows you to answer questions, showcase demos, and most importantly promote positive associations with your brand and its product or service.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing refers to the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a brand's product or service. There are multiple ways to use social media marketing to reach your business objectives, and they include strategic and automated posting, running ad campaigns, and working with influencers to review and talk about your product on their page.

Create PR Kits

PR kits, also known as press or media kits refer to a collection of promotional materials journalists use to write or talk about you and your new product or service. Creating and distributing PR kits to journalists serves two purposes. One, it helps educate journalists regarding everything they should know about you and your brand. Two, it makes it easier for journalists to research and accurately write about your brand.  

What does a PR kit include:

• Company background
• Top management biographies
• Product factsheets
• Product pictures
• Logos

In today's environment, brands on the verge of officially releasing their new product and service should be using the developmental stage to market to consumers. Marketing during this phase enables brands to build hype for the release, grow social media followings, and experiment with different marketing strategies to see which one's the most effective.

If you are a business owner looking for the best way to bridge your company's technical gap and product, contact the marketing professionals at Ellis And Ellis Consulting Group today.  

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