Product-Launch-eCommerce-Marketing-rev-Branding

Using Digital to Build a Results-Driven Product Launch Campaign

How to improve the ‘effectiveness’ of your New Product Launch and Promotional Program using digital marketing and audience brand engagement tools.

Unless you have been living under a rock in the last 5-years, you would realise that digital forms a critical role within any product launch and marketing campaign.

82% of Australian households shopped online in 2020. An average of 1 million additional households shopped online every month compared to 2019 – reaching $50.46 billion total spend at the online checkout.

Although specialist retailers have traditionally dominated the online retailing segment, eCommerce stores and online eMarketplaces are quickly becoming the most common choices for omnichannel programs regardless of their size or capability.

Online shopping trends are forecast to continue growing strongly over the next five years, fuelled by digitally savvy consumers seeking convenience and more competitive prices.

As such, thousands of businesses globally are launching new online stores and investing heavily in digital marketing and multi-channel sales programs (Social Media, eBay, Amazon, Catch, Kogan, MyDeal, Wine Selectors, Little Birdie, Coles Online, Woolworths Shop, Endeavour Drinks, Bunnings) that will open new markets and grow sales opportunities!

Building a Results Driven Digital Product Launch

Traditionally, brand marketers have included digital marketing in their new product launch campaigns.  

However, for today’s product launch to be successful AND generate measurable sales results, brand marketers need to focus less on fancy social media campaigns run on Facebook and Instagram and more on developing their longer-term eCommerce digital sales channels.

For more than 20-yearsrev™ Branding has helped some of the world’s leading consumer brands to radically change the way they market and sell their products.  

We’ve created this article to help companies reinvigorate their traditional product launch program into a modern-day omnichannel digital engagement campaign that will diversify your channel marketing to open new markets and sales opportunities.

Create an eCommerce Digital Sales Strategy:

Each year, marketing your business using digital becomes increasingly more complicated.

As technology advances and consumer online shopping trends continue to change, it’s now critical that companies adapt their marketing strategies and tactics. By doing this, they will remain ahead of their competitors and continue to reap sales rewards.

Create an eCommerce Digital Sales Strategy that looks at all the digital sales channels available and matches these with your target audience. 

Tailoring a marketing and sales strategy to how your target audience search and purchase your type of products and services will ensure that you continue to meet the purchasing needs of your customers!

Learn about creating an eCommerce Digital Sales Strategy

Update your Target Audience Profile:

It’s a great idea to revisit your target market and their purchasing profile. 

Over time, your typical buyer may change, along with the way they research and purchase. Take the time to build out a customer avatar that drills down to their purchase behaviour habits and interests.

Understanding your customer will ultimately help you to build targeted marketing campaigns that produce measurable results.

Digital platforms will inevitably play a significant part in how your target audience shops.

Determine your Digital Sales Channels: 

Research has repeatedly shown that most online shoppers research one location but end up completing their purchases on another (possibly in-store?).

Effective marketing programs incorporate an omnichannel marketing and sales approach. You’ll need to identify the various digital platforms (linking back to target profile) and digital media that are appropriate to your customers e.g.

Research and Education – Social Media tools like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat or industry-relevant online portals

Online Purchasing – eBay, Amazon, Catch, Retailer eCommerce Stores, even your company website.

Learn more about choosing the right Digital Sales Channel

Create Unforgettable Digital Brand Experiences:

Today’s shoppers are less focused on price and more oriented towards an engagement experience.

Work with your brand agency to create digital brand experiences using digital technologies such as creative Social Media Campaigns, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, 3D Walkthroughs, and Video Animation.

Even without the fancy tools mentioned above, it’s simple to create a memorable brand experience that engages the shopper, builds brand loyalty and trust.

If you are selling to retail buyers, a personalised brand engagement experience campaign specifically for them can also help build an emotional connection that will increase your ranging.

Learn more about creating Buyer Focused Category Review Presentations

Learn more about creating an Unforgettable Brand Experience

Build out your Digital Customer Journey:

There is not much worse than a disjointed marketing campaign.

How many times have you clicked a Facebook post and ended up on a website that displays nothing related to the original post?

Think about your digital customer journey.

Map out the digital touchpoints from your marketing engagement to the website landing page, and then to the shopping cart. 

Make sure that the image, content and flow match your campaign. Even more important, ensure that the flow is logical and makes sense to the shopper.

If you understand how people research and purchase your type of products, designing your campaigns and website structure/flow will increase your chances of making sales.

Learn more about creating a Digital Customer Journey

Get your Brand Message and Sales Offer RIGHT:

Trust is one of the most significant barriers to online shopping.

To reduce the chances of lost sales, it’s essential that you have a well-designed brand message and sales offer that goes far beyond just a fancy looking social media post.

Building a brand story around your product/service is a fundamental part of content marketing and can be a game-changer for a new product launch.

Storytelling in marketing has become immensely popular, and it can grab your audience’s attention and engage them in the lore of the product.

Creating a quality brand story around a product or launch can boost the positive perception around the brand and, at the same time, build trust.

Take the time to review your company profile (on all digital locations) to ensure that it still matches what your company stands for?

Do not forget your Google Business profile.  

You will be surprised at how many digital-savvy shoppers do some brand research before they commit to purchasing.

Learn more about Brand Optimisation

Update your Online Brand Profiles:

This is an important SEO tip!

Review and update your online brand profiles e.g. Facebook, Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, eMarketplaces, Retailer Portals AND your own website.

You will find that there will be many locations where your brand profile is out of date or possibly not fully populated.

Also, take some time to look internally e.g. your presentation slide deck, brochures, whitepapers, case studies and proposal boilerplates.

How to maintain your Google Business Profile

Optimise your Digital Marketing Assets:

Review your online marketing content like hashtags, slogans, search keywords, search phrases, videos, images, and any supporting documents you might be using, e.g. brochures, case studies, and whitepapers.

Remember that each digital sales channel will require a slightly different format, so it’s a great idea to think about the tools and process you will need to best manage your product information.

Learn more about Product Information Management (PIM)

Build Great Online Product Listings: 

Your online product or service listing relies on quality and current information about it.

Ensure that your product listing has everything populated e.g. descriptions, marketing messages, nutritional details, hazardous details, size, price, distribution details, and course images [Learn More].

The more information you have about your sales offer, the more confident a shopper will feel about making that purchase.

Understand each of your chosen digital platform content requirements as they will all require slightly different data formats, e.g. image size and length of fields.

Also, understand the process of publishing this type of information e.g. via the National Product Catalogue (NPC), RangeMe, SKUvantage, GS1 SmartMedia, Nielson BrandBank, or even via a direct upload.

It might be a good idea to implement a Product Information Management system and process to improve the way you review and approve changing content to be published.  

Create a GREAT Online Product Listings and Information Card

Utilise ‘Pay to Promote’ Marketing Tools:

If you are selling your products through a reseller, retail chain, or perhaps an eMarketplace, these channels often have ‘pay-to-promote’ services that allow you to boost your product’s visibility and expand its brand marketing reach.

Work with a digital agency like rev Branding who has experience managing pay-to-promote campaigns for Woolworths, Coles, eBay, Amazon, Google Ads, and Endeavour Marketplace.

Don’t let your competitors own the online search for your category.

Learn more about Paid Search Marketing

Get Blogging:

Do not underestimate the power of blogs.

Blogging on your website or partner / SEO sites is a great way to boost your organic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and a terrific way to create an educational shopping experience for online shoppers.

Blogs also are a great way to build trust and credibility – even more so when it’s a guest blogger or even a customer.

Learn more about Content Marketing

Incorporate Social Media Influencers:

Some of the most successful product launch campaigns have used social influencers to target their followers with brand endorsements.

As the popularity of YouTubers, bloggers, and social media influencers have increased, they have become the trusted source for product advice and recommendations.

Brand marketers can offer exclusive sneak peeks, VIP access, and promotional discount codes through these influencers.

Learn More About Digital Channel Marketing

Create a Product Launch Promotion Plan:

The success of ANY product launch comes down to your Promotional Plan.

A well-designed Product Launch Promotional Plan will raise awareness in the market, build excitement, build brand loyalty and, of course, generate sales.

Your promotional plan will be required as part of your retailer category range review and sales presentation. What’s changed in recent times is the inclusion of a digital marketing campaign to show the buyer how you intend to engage consumers.

When you create your promotional plan, you need to determine what strategies and advertising mechanisms to include. Inbound marketing and content marketing are the most common marketing types used, but it has also become necessary to incorporate pay-to-promote services and brand engagement programs. 

It’s important to incorporate video marketing, eMail marketing, brand advertisement, and social media engagement campaigns as part of your plan.

The trick is to start early with some teaser campaigns.

Use these campaigns to grab attention, generate excitement for the launch, and have potential customers sign up to be part of the brand community before the product is even available.

Think about introducing customer loyalty programs like VIP Groups, Exclusive Facebook Groups or memberships. These people will act as brand advocates and can influence other people within their network.

Run some promotions and competitions to build your online audience with the lure of a prize, free gift, voucher or even product samples.

Plan a launch event (physical or virtual) to create some pre-launch buzz. By personalising the attendee experience, you can make it memorable using things like; meeting a celebrity, including a photo booth, live tweet wall or Instagram frame or pop-up store.

By incorporating some paid digital marketing, you will quickly generate an audience and see precise engagement results. Invest in Facebook / Instagram campaigns and pay-to-promote ‘paid search’ tools provided by the major retail chains like Coles, Woolworths, Bunnings, and Dan Murphys.

Learn more about Pay-to-Promote Campaigns

Learn more about how to boost Brand Launch Marketing  

Conclusion

For brand marketers to be successful today, they MUST incorporate digital as a key component of their product launch.

Having a well-designed launch strategy and promotional plan that identifies your audience targets their buying behaviours and uses the various digital technologies available to create an amazing brand experience and ensure an excellent return on your marketing investment.

rev™ Branding is a specialist brand agency that, for the past 20-years, has been working with world-leading consumer brands to radically change how they market and sell products.

Our specialist digital and eCommerce teams will work with you and your retail customers to create digital brand experiences and high-performance omnichannel marketing campaigns that allow you to open new markets and rapidly increase your sales opportunities.

Getting Started

How to get the most out of your promoted products campaigns with Coles CitrusAd or Woolworths Cartology to deliver a far greater return-on-advertising-spend. Learn More >>>

Learn how to improve the results of your next retailer category range review. Learn More >>>

Learn how to create memorable brand experiences that increase customer satisfaction rates, grow customer engagement & loyalty, and increase sales. Learn More >>>

eCommerce Marketing Campaign Budget and Performance Audit. Learn More >>>

Learn to build results-driven eCommerce sales channel program. Learn More >>>

Learn how to optimise FMCG and CPG brand launches using Digital Brand Experiences, Social Media Marketing, and Omnichannel sales and marketing techniques. Learn More >>>

Start building your eCommerce plan!

FMCG eCommerce Digital Sales Channel Acceleration Whitepaper-rev-Branding

DOWNLOAD our FREE eCommerce Digital Sales Channel Acceleration Whitepaper

 

 


Need some help?

For more information or simply just a bit of advice, please make contact with us on +61 3 9863-7444 or email [email protected]