Product Launch Manager Online

I recently participated in a discussion about whether LinkedIn was useful for getting business, meaning real hard sales.

Here is what I said.

for me it is very clear…

1. Start the conversation
2. Build the relationship
3. Make the sale.

This is what we do when we are doing online product launches and integrated Internet marketing.

1. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, offline networking etc all start the conversation.

2. Sometimes you also carry on the conversation with social media but you really start to build the relationship in your blog, on the phone, in email and face to face.

3. Only then are you in a position to sell. If you miss the relationship building, whether online or offline, you are back to the bad old days of hard selling whatever medium you use.

LinkedIn is just another funnel of opportunities and prospects with a specific demographic that just happens to be the demographic for my business. Facebook doesn’t work for me. Twitter opens up a few prospects occasionally.

I think there is another important point when talking about LinkedIn in that you need to set it up so you “attract” business. Does your profile work for you? There is no doubt that I attract business on LinkedIn. I was approached, as recently as yesterday, by someone with an attractive business proposition who found me on LinkedIn.

I consider LinkedIn extremely useful if you see it in the context of the 3 points above.

In relation to online marketing you may have heard that the money is in the list.  Well as Jeff Walker says, the money is in the relationship with your list.

We make sure we work VERY hard on creating the relationship with you existing and potential customers when doing an online product launch. 

Yvonne

Iridescent Green Sweat Bee

Recently Darrell O’Dea, Chief Detonator at Explode Marketing , challenged us to create our own 5 word ePitch.  He needed examples to include in his latest e-book.  Darrell’s ePitch is, “we ghostwrite your e-book” and it is pretty effective in my view!  My own effort however, leaves a little to be desired “making a buzz creates sales” or “an online buzz creates sales”.  

I can kid myself and say, hey, my business is complicated I can’t possibly say what I do in 5 measly words. I mean a product launch manager covers the whole gamut of internet marketing, investigating your product, possibly tweaking it, creating the offer, bundling products, talking to joint venture partners, analysing your website, looking at your assets, managing social media, writing articles and blogs, emailing your clients and ultimately selling loads of your product or service.  That’s 42 words, whew!  But, in our increasingly ADD world, if you can’t say it in as few as words as possible (like 140 on twitter) then you lose people. 

 So I contacted Darrell and said Help! What do you think – how can I improve my 5 word pitch – here’s what he came up with. 

 ‘We Buzz, You Sell’ 

‘We Buzz, You Profit’ 

or 

‘We’ve Caught Your Viral Market’ 

Great stuff I thought, but it was his last idea that really struck a chord with me.  It is so good that I am NOT going to tell you because I want to develop a branding theme around it. 

Try it out yourself – it does wonders on focussing on what your company REALLY does!

We have a guest post today from Rory Ramsden, one of my fellow product launch managers.  Rory answers…

Who or what is a product launch manager?

You may never even heard of such a specialist job description. And if you have, do you know what a product launch manager really does?

Let me explain.

You know how every time Apple launch a new mobile or laptop or some such there’s a queue of raving fans on launch day that seems to go round the block all wanting to buy it and buy it now?

Well, that’s no accident. It all came about because a product launch manager executed a well thought out product launch plan.

Grab a coffee and I’ll tell you the story…

It all started some months ago with a few hints made by un-attributable sources. These hints were dropped in places where people talk. The rumour mill began to work leading to company denials. The rumors persisted.

Finally someone inside Apple came right out and said that they were working on this new game-changing product but he was not at liberty to say any more.

The market pressed for answers to their questions. The rumours became more detailed. Just detailed enough to whet the appetite. And tease even more speculation from Apple’s super well-defined market.

The clamour for more information grew to a crescendo. What will it do? How will it do it? When will it be available? How much will it cost? The community of now raving fans twittered, blogged and updated their Facebook pages.

Apple leaked more details. Steve Jobs spoke to a few key people. The anticipation ramped up even more. Apple’s competitors got frightened. Apple was dominating the agenda. No-one who was anyone talked about anything else. The buzz built and built.

The new product launch was being expertly managed.

At the 11^th hour, a video went viral. It revealed just about all you wanted to know.  This was a sneak preview of this never-before-seen sexy looking new object of desire. There was still no mention of the actual price. Apple reassured everyone that they could afford it.

Now all your friends were talking about it. They seemed to talk about nothing else. You didn’t want to be left out. You did some research for yourself. Got yourself onto a ‘jump to the front of the queue’ list. Now you would get one hours advance notice of the doors opening. Now, you were a raving fan.

After all, you could not be seen NOT to be. All your friends were.

Then came the launch day announcement. Everyone was super excited. The bad news was that not everyone could buy one. The factory was on overtime but there was no way they could fill the demand.

Et Voila… raving fans sleeping on the street all night. They just had to. There was no other way of being sure of buying one. They had to be one of the first through the doors

What do you think? Are they simply buying a new mobile phone or laptop?

Or

Are they buying an icon? …a status symbol? …a physical affirmation to their friends that they are just the coolest thing on two legs?

Well, of course they are buying a well designed product packed full of remarkable features and incredible benefits. A game-changing device. You have never seen such a smooth, clean design before. You have never seen such a wafer thin laptop before.

It stands out from all those other perfectly serviceable products in the market place. It is not bland.  It is remarkable.

No-one can accuse Apple of me too marketing

That is because Apple use the same product launch techniques that we could put into action for you. They built a conversation with their prospects. They created buzz and anticipation. Everyone was caught up in the excitement of the launch. The market was engaged and wanted the launch to be big.

Then came the ‘scarcity’ trigger. This amped up demand. When the product finally went on sale, there were so many buyers that the idea of actually have to ‘sell’ the product was redundant.

The Product launch plan is packed with psychological triggers, a sequence of actions using different modalities and different tools. It has a well-crafted story. It identifies and answers objections early.  It responds to frequently asked questions.  There is a conversation with the community.

A product launch manager develops and executes a disciplined well worked out sequence that turns a product launch into an event with a capital E.

If Apple can do this then you can too … with our help. We are specialists. We can help you transform your business with your next product launch. We can help you take your business to the next level… in more ways than one.

Straight out of the gate, you have to decide what you want to achieve with your launch… Do you want to grow your list of paying customers?  Do you want to become the go-to guy in your market?  Or do you just want to make oodles of moolah, money or indeed cash?

These are some of the questions only you can answer. 

You know the old adage that goes something like this [I’m paraphrasing here] …

If you set out without a route map and without a destination, you will arrive somewhere but it certainly won’t be where you expected.

So start now. Decide what your one launch goal will be. Then take the first step to achieving that goal.  Fill out this quick questionnaire and tell us something about your business…

We’ll get back to you real soon.

A successful product launch is made up of a number of related actions in a very defined sequence.  Take a look at these 6 main components of a product launch.

 1.  Pre-launch setup (timing, team and tools)

2.  Marketing collateral development

3.  Creating the Offer

4.  Developing the launch conversation

5.  Project managing the launch

6.  Post-launch review

 Most launches will go through this sequence and a sophisticated product launch may have up to 150 tasks under these main components.  All of these tasks need to be managed and executed at the right time, with the right tools, to the right audience to ensure a successful launch.

 The post- launch review is critical to ensure that the next launch can be improved and also to examine whether there are any opportunities or ideas for further launches.

A product launch manager aims to significantly increase your online sales using an array of tools and events to reach your customers.  A product launch can be used not only for new products but also for services and existing products.

Your organisation can also benefit from other short and long term effects of the product launch such as building your customer base, getting feedback from your customers, increasing brand awareness or obtaining input into new product development.