Using SMS for a Product Launch

Marketing via SMS

Ideally, there are several objectives to remember when trying to conduct a successful SMS campaign for a newly launched product.  Along with maintaining current customers, a product launch is a good opportunity to start reeling in new customers from regions in which you have already established a presence or new ones.  This is undoubtedly a market where competition has already established a foothold and it’s a necessary move to set apart oneself distinctly from the rest as to what qualities are provided and what makes it unique.  Otherwise, an uninformed audience will either let the product fail unnoticed because how it doesn’t distinguish itself from the competition.  Hopefully, these pointers will help prevent that.

As for more on SMS marketing, extensive details on the topic can be found here.

Establish a Plan

Maybe this is a bit more self-explanatory in terms of marketing, but having a running list and timeline of when the launch is and what needs to be done both leading up to and following is critical to momentum.  Date margins should be established with general goals to work towards, and with a definite outlook on the audience.  Take steps to understand what customers are interested in, what phrases and messaging will best appeal to this demographic, and what the long-term goal is for the product.  There has to be some additional value that the launch provides over similar products or else customers may interpret what is new on offer is inferior to services elsewhere.

Of course, focusing on just the content of the message is not the only goal.  There is much more to optimize in the meantime, such as SEO.  Generally start with shorter messages, but shift and maintain the message as the product and audience changes over time.  Observe customer reactions as these are the biggest indication of how well the product is performing.  As the messaging is being rearranged, be sure to retain a key tagline for customers to remember, a distinct outline of a problem that the product solves, how the product solves it, and key values.

Finally, make sure the goals established are realistic and that the marketing is coordinated with the company logistics.  Have a solid understanding of the supply chain before marketing to avoid over-promising and under-delivering.  Generating hype is important, but don’t make the service out to be more than what it actually is.  If the customers have much higher expectations for what actually is released, their impressions of the service and the company as a whole will not reflect well on future prospects once their impressions get out.

Maintain Engagement

Especially if the service is a new one, be sure to make the messaging as informative as possible.  There’s no harm in providing demographics, images, and any other form of content that can contribute to customer education.  Once the launch is complete, do not think for a second that marketing can stop altogether.  Even if brought to a minimum, all engagement is still needed in order to continuously inform the audience of what is on offer across all platforms.  Take the time needed to gather data from customer interactions to change plans and restructure the approach as needed.

If the product doesn’t set records right from the start, don’t panic just yet.  Once some attention is garnered, now is the time for the product itself to do its job and perform what customers want.  Satisfaction and positive reviews will then help to continue drawing in repeated visits or new visitors entirely.  However, if the feedback is not good, it might be good to start planning out adjustments to marketing and to service design altogether.  Even bad customer feedback can help in ruling out weakest links that need to be addressed for future improvements.

Draw Some Attention

Don’t be afraid of generating at least some hype with the message.  Key buzzwords are essential in social media and emails as they are not only usually more eye-catching, but also tend to show up more in search engines and recommendation algorithms.  Even the promise of something new ‘soon’ can redirect the attention needed to get some traction.  With some customer segment analysis, it will become easier to ascertain which words will more easily reach certain target demographics.

Fear of missing out – or FOMO for short – can be a good motivator for drawing people in.  Something as basic as an offer on launch day can quickly draw customers in quickly, specifically for launch-day.  If not launch-day, then some one-time offer down the line for an additional freebee thrown in with the package can also be a motivating force for investing in the service.  It might seem negatively impactful on the bottom line to give something for nothing, but it’s about giving the impression of added value to whatever is being sold.

One more good idea is sussing out a good promoter.  Influencers, websites, and publications all have the capacity to advertise, and having a popular face to tack onto the product is a very effective method currently, especially using influencers.  It’s a friendly, somewhat disarming persona that people will have positive mental associations with.  Creativity is the best tool you have to stick out nowadays.