How to Market a New Product: 5 Tips for Effective Product Marketing
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 22, 2021 • 3 min read
When bringing a new product to market, you need more than high-quality merchandise to sell. To reach potential customers, you must understand how to market a product—with a robust product marketing strategy that targets an audience, reaches them via various media, and helps close the sale when those target customers engage.
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What Is Product Marketing?
Product marketing is the process by which a business communicates product information to a potential customer base. In today's business environment, a successful product launch is almost always paired with a planned marketing campaign. A product marketing campaign involves the following:
- It targets an audience. A well-run campaign tailors marketing efforts to reach a specific target audience identified via market research.
- It uses various media. This includes email marketing, social media campaigns, pairing with influencers, creating web pages with search engine optimization (SEO), affiliate marketing, and traditional "old media" ad campaigns.
- It produces content. A marketing campaign should produce media-centric marketing tools such as press releases and review opportunities.
- It taps into other brands’ audiences. One key marketing strategy is to stoke brand awareness among target customers who might already engage with similar products.
- It engages with retail stores. A holistic marketing campaign must also seek shelf space in the retail store market.
Why Is Product Marketing Important?
A product marketing strategy is important because in today's hyper-competitive market—supercharged as it is by the internet and eCommerce platforms—product awareness is just as important as product quality. In order for a small business to succeed, it needs both a high-quality product and an effective marketing strategy to reach valuable new customers. As such, even the most impressive product development process will do a company little good if it is not paired with a robust product marketing plan.
5 Tips for Marketing a New Product
Marketing a new product is an essential process for any growing business. Your specific marketing methods will vary depending upon your sales channels, but here are five key marketing tips that will help you reach your intended customer base and bolster your bottom line:
- 1. Use customer research to create a portrait of your target customer. Is your ideal customer male or female? Old or young? Urban, suburban, or rural? Tech-savvy? More likely to shop in a physical retailer or in an online store? What similar products or services do you imagine them using? Answering these questions will help you refine your content marketing and reach the right kind of customer.
- 2. Identify competing products. Understanding the competition can help you better define the niche for your own product. It can also help you learn how competitors sell products. Do they emphasize online marketing or traditional advertising? How much do they charge? What does the landing page on their website look like? Use this information to craft your own business strategies.
- 3. Link up with other professionals. The best inventors and business visionaries aren't necessarily the best product marketers. So rather than task yourself with something that you're not naturally skilled at, enlist the services of a product marketing manager. At the very least, use online tools that can help you reach your target customers. Various services can help you establish and maintain an email list. Take advantage of online targeted ad services as well.
- 4. Network with influencers. In today's eCommerce-driven market, influencers play a larger role than ever. Some demonstrate product features on social media. Others take to blogging and provide in-depth written reviews. If you can forge alliances with either professional influencers or simply influential people, you can reach audiences in ways that machine-based advertising simply cannot.
- 5. Give some product away for free. The marketing process is an investment. Product giveaways to bloggers can get your product reviewed. You can also offer incentives to get people to provide customer reviews. Get your product in the hands of people so they can start talking about it online and in their social circles. Remember your product only has value if people know about it.
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