Key Takeaways
- Identify your target audience before creating the campaign.
- Choose media that can reach prospects and communicate your offer effectively.
- Give prospects a specific, compelling reason to respond.
- Make your copy and design work together to drive action.
- Define your difference, positioning and brand credibility.
- Answer objections before they stop the sale.
- Test your assumptions and measure business results.
New product launches are never easy. Getting your audience, offer and message right can help you avoid costly mistakes—and generate more sales.
Having helped more than 500 companies launch their businesses or introduce new products, I’ve identified seven keys to a successful launch.
Here’s my seven-point checklist, based on my team at CDMG’s successful campaign for The Weather Channel.
The cable television giant wanted to expand its advertising business by offering local ad spots to local businesses across the country.
This was a new offer. And the target audience—local business owners—was skeptical and working with limited budgets.
Here’s how we approached it.
Step 1: The Big Question—Know Your Target Audience
When I launch a new product, the foundation is properly identifying the target audience.
Knowing their hopes, dreams, fears and what keeps them up at night is critical to your success.
With The Weather Channel, the question was: How do you reach skeptical small business owners with a new offer that isn’t even on their radar? What media and data should you use?
To start, you must understand your audience:
● Who are they?
● What matters most to them?
● How can you best reach them?
● How should you segment them?
My team identified the target group of small business owners, then selected prospects using psychographic criteria—their attitudes and motivations—along with basic business characteristics, such as the number of employees.
Step 2: Choose the Most Accountable and Effective Media
You have many marketing options. The key is choosing the channels that reach your prospects and give you enough room to communicate your message persuasively.
For many clients, we use a targeted, integrated, multichannel approach: email, Facebook, Google, pre-roll video, direct mail and other channels coordinated to reach the same target audience.
For The Weather Channel, we chose a direct mail package, a landing page, a follow-up kit and a series of follow-up messages designed to turn leads into advertisers.
Each piece had a job to do—and led prospects toward the next step.
Step 3: Create a Powerful Direct Response Offer
The offer you choose can make or break your launch.
The offer is what the prospect gets… not what you get.
A discount?
Savings?
A premium?
A guarantee?
For The Weather Channel, we created an offer designed to appeal to small businesses with limited advertising budgets.
We built a two-step lead generation campaign. First, we encouraged interested prospects to raise their hands so we could follow up.
To do that, we offered a “no obligation” advertisers’ kit filled with valuable incentives.
Then we presented an advertising package that made trying the service appealing: For $495, a small business could receive 360 individual ads for their local area, with personalized voice-overs and graphics created at no additional charge.
That was the offer in this campaign. It gave prospects a specific, tangible reason to consider advertising.
Step 4: Use Direct Response Copy and Art
For all the marketing materials, we followed direct response copy principles.
That meant making the benefit clear, explaining the offer, answering objections and telling prospects exactly what to do next.
Then we used eye flow—the way a reader’s attention moves through a page—to guide prospects from the headline through the selling points to the response device.
Many campaigns fall short because their copy and design fail to build a persuasive case or ask clearly for action.
Your copy and art should work together to make the message easy to read, understand and act on.
Step 5: Define Your USP, Positioning and Branding
Three elements are critical:
- Your USP—Unique Selling Proposition: What makes your offer different, and why does that difference matter to your prospect?
- Your positioning: How does your product meet the prospect’s needs compared with the alternatives?
- Your branding: What recognition and credibility does your name bring to the offer?
For The Weather Channel, name recognition helped build confidence.
In fact, we tested whether to put The Weather Channel logo on the envelope.
The version with the logo generated 20% higher response.
That’s a practical example of branding supporting measurable direct response.
Step 6: Be Preemptive—Address Objections Early
What are the greatest objections to, or doubts about, your pitch?
Identify them before your prospects use them as reasons to stop reading.
For The Weather Channel, we recognized that these business owners were reluctant to spend money on an unfamiliar advertising opportunity.
We addressed those concerns early, explaining the offer and making the value clear.
Ask yourself: What would keep my prospect from saying yes? Then answer that concern with specific information and credible proof.
Step 7: Test, Test and Test
In any new launch, disciplined testing of copy and offer is critical.
For The Weather Channel, we tested a variety of creative variables to discover what generated greater response.
Use controlled comparisons so you can identify what made the difference.
Track qualified leads, sales and acquisition costs as well as initial response.
Testing gives you evidence for deciding what to improve—and where to invest more.
The results:
For The Weather Channel, this approach created a new stream of leads for its advertising department to convert into customers and help increase profitability.
Launching a new product always involves risk. These seven direct response principles can help you reduce that risk and improve your opportunities for stronger response and profitable growth.
Action:
Have a New Product to Launch?
Before you commit to your launch budget, let CDMG give you a second opinion.
Our team can help evaluate your audience, media, offer, copy and follow-up—and develop a testing plan focused on generating qualified leads and sales.
Call Michael at 615-933-4647 or email him at [email protected] to discuss your launch.
FAQs:
Q: What is the first step in a successful product launch?
A: Identify your target audience. Understand their needs, motivations, concerns and buying circumstances before choosing your media or writing your copy.
Q: What is a two-step lead generation campaign?
A: First, you offer something that encourages interested prospects to identify themselves, such as an information kit. Then you follow up to convert those leads into customers.
Q: What makes a strong direct response offer?
A: It clearly explains what the prospect receives and why it is valuable. Relevant incentives, clear terms and an easy next step give prospects reasons to respond.
Q: Can branding improve direct response?
A: Yes. In our Weather Channel envelope test, the version displaying the logo generated 20% higher response. Recognizable branding can help build confidence, but its effect should be tested.
Q: What should you test before expanding a launch campaign?
A: Test important variables such as the audience, headline, offer, creative and response process. Measure qualified leads, sales and acquisition costs to guide your decisions.
Q: Why is follow-up important?
A: An initial inquiry does not automatically become a sale. Follow-up helps answer questions, address objections and move interested prospects toward a buying decision.
About Craig Huey:
Craig Huey is President of Creative Direct Marketing Group (CDMGinc.com), a 30-year leader in direct response advertising and multi-channel marketing. Under his leadership, CDMG has:
- Tested more than 10,000 digital marketing variables.
- Mailed over 10 million pieces of direct mail in the last year alone.
- Won more than 120 awards for marketing excellence.
Craig is also the publisher of Direct Marketing Update, the trusted newsletter for company presidents and marketing directors looking to maximize ROI with cutting-edge, accountable advertising strategies.
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Contact Michael Oppenheimer at 615-933-4647 or email him at [email protected].
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