Top Tips for a Successful Product or Book Launch

Isn’t it a tremendous feeling when you write a new book or develop a new product or service and are ready to hit the market with it? All those years of hard work finally come together and you are ready to reap the rewards. (Cue the doves.) However, before you officially put your product or book up for sale, there are several things that need to be done first. (Bring back the doves.)

It takes a lot of pre-planning to make your entire launch a success. But there is good news. Once these steps are done, they can be used throughout the campaign. So even though there is a lot of pre-work involved, it’s work you won’t have to do again later, so it’s well worth the investment up front. (Release the doves again.)

Here are the top methods for success for any product launch:

Market Before the Event – One mistake many make in launching a product or book is getting started too late in the game. Launch time is not the time to start your marketing campaign. This one mistake can lead to a less-than-successful launch, or even total failure of the launch. It’s important to note that the selling begins months in advance. That’s when you need to build the relationships; announcing to your established lists, social media connections, and basically anyone who will listen that you have a new product in the works. You’ll discover that people will tend to be excited for you and want to help you with the launch. So begin early by talking about it.

In addition to just talking about it, you also need to start setting up your marketing plan. You need a media kit, press release, pitches, web copy, databases to pitch to, and so forth. And more importantly, you need these to be well-prepared and enticing. Get started early on creating this content or find an online support specialist who can help. Even with the greatest books or products, if your marketing materials aren’t well-prepared, no one will hit the buy button. And that’s what you want; people to buy.

Have a Consistent Message – Another key to success is to make sure your message is consistent. Similar to how you work your branding, you want the look and feel of all the media you prepare to be in tune. Another mistake many make is discussing EVERYTHING about their book or product at the beginning, which spreads the message too thin. Decide on the general theme for your marketing, the best parts of your book or product and start there. You will have plenty of time down the road to talk about other topics of interest.

Keep it Social – Take Advantage of your Social Media Efforts - It’s important to get your social media efforts in line. You need to work on your Facebook page, Twitter account, blog, and more and have these up and running prior to the launch date. You don’t want someone coming to your site when you launch and see only two “Likes.” Yes, it takes time to establish, but it’s so worth the effort.

Also, decide on a social media plan for all the media you create. Add all media coverage to your blog, site, and newsletter. And then add a share button so you can share it all.

Humble Beginnings – Make Sure You Know Where You Started – Not knowing where you started can hurt your success. That’s why in order to be successful; it helps to know where you began. Do a report on your website stats. If your book is on Amazon, check the Amazon rankings. Jot this down so you have a baseline to go by. Also, do a Google search and determine where you are as far as your keywords.

This helps to show progress; what’s working and what’s not. When you start seeing your articles and press releases show up on the front pages of Google for your keywords, you know your marketing is working, so you can do more of it. It’s important to do more of the right things that are bringing results, rather than those things you just feel you should be doing.

A product or book launch can be such an exciting time. Hopefully these tips will show you how you can maximize your success. And remember, you don’t have to do it alone. The time to hire an online support specialist is before the launch so they can be with you all along the way. Success is achieved when you have all the right tools in place right from the beginning.