5 content marketing rules for a new product lauch

The big day has finally arrived. You’re planning launch. You know that content marketing is a big piece of getting a successful launch off the ground, but how do you apply what you know to your business? How do you generate the kind of content that will drive engagement with your business?

Focus on how-tos and benefits

So what content should you promote early on? There are two primary categories that will drive interest in your products: content that talks about how to use it, and content that talks about the benefits of using it. Early on, you will be teaching customers about your product, and so your content can have this as a focus.

Whenever you can, encourage your customers to do much of this work for you. Consider contests where fans take videos or pictures of themselves using your product and then post them with your hashtag, for example. If a picture is worth a thousand words, customers who are truly happy with your product are worth a thousand Facebook updates from the company itself.

Engagement on multiple social channels

As part of creating your ideal customer profile, you should have listed the best social media sites for your product to find its audience. There are obvious options, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but many niches also have specific social media outlets where it can benefit a company to have an established presence.

Remember to customize your social media presence to fit the channel. Photos and short videos for Instagram, pithy comments on Twitter, and longer, more in-depth posts on blogs or Facebook pages.

It’s also important to target your social media efforts towards one main channel that you own. For most companies, this will be their webpage and email newsletter. Ultimately, you want customers to go to your primary location for the most up-to-date news about you.

Product reviews and feedback from real customers

Before the official launch, most companies have beta testers, or giveaway early versions of the product to consumers. As you build towards your full, official launch, gather real time feedback from those customers to promote the product. Focus on people who closely match your target customer profile.

If you’re looking to persuade a busy mom of young children to buy your product, then talk to customers who match that profile and find out what worked for them. Use their specific feedback to target your marketing. Ask for permission to use quotes, or ask them to start sharing their excitement about your product on their social media channels.

Talk about your product before you talk about yourself

One common mistake that entrepreneurs make in their content is focusing not on the product and the problem it solves, but focusing instead on the company itself. If your product is not good as expected, then it’s not going to attract as many buyers as possible to increase the chances of a successful sale.

Customers are interested in the people behind the computer screen, but only once they’ve already engaged with and invested in the product. Knowing more about the company and those who run it can help to close the deal, but it’s not the first statement a customer wants to hear about.

Always start with the problem your product or service solves, then move on to a discussion of how the product does its job. Finish with information about the company, along with why you chose this problem to solve.

Build the feedback loop

During product launch, you are setting expectations with your customers. If you are highly responsive during launch, your company will get a reputation for being quick to manage people’s concerns. This is fantastic, but if you stop responding after launch is underway, customers might get more frustrated than they would if you were just responding within your typical timeframe.

Your content marketing goal during product launch is to build a schedule of when customers can expect to hear from you. Are you on Twitter every morning? Do you post a new blog every day? Is there a specific day of the week they can check in for specific items? When will you send out a newsletter highlighting a new customer or application of your product?

Know these expectations going into launch so that you can maintain them during your busiest times. You want to make checking your feeds a habit for your customers. They should look forward to and be excited to hear from you.

Content marketing is an important way for customers to connect with your brand and share your information with their friends. By building a positive, productive content marketing strategy now, you are setting the groundwork for a more positive experience over time with your customers and marketing teams.

What is the most important piece of content marketing for your team during a product launch?