If you’re getting ready to launch a website, marketing funnel, or online store, then you probably have a product or service that you feel pretty confident about.
You’ve spent a ton of time thinking through every possible detail of what you’re selling – you know the ins, outs, ups, and downs.
You believe in your product or service, and you’re ready to share it with the world.
But, it can be easy to forget that buyers don’t have the same intimate familiarity with what you’re selling. And if you’re not guiding your prospect through the right steps, your launch can quickly go off the rails.
So, here are 5 questions to ask to ensure you’re ready to launch your product!
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1. What are your goals and how will you measure them?
You’ve probably heard the saying, “You need to know where you’re going if you’re going to get there!”
You must set goals if you want to build a successful plan to get to your final destination.
But if your goals aren’t S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound), then they’re not worth setting.
When launching a product or service, the goal is usually to generate revenue. You need to be able to know your ultimate revenue goal, and why you chose this number.
You should also know the 5 key performance indicators that will drive this revenue.
What you can do to make up for performance if something goes wrong?
Once you have these goals set, you can begin thinking about how you want to start sharing your message with the world.
2. Who are you – and who are you speaking to?
It may seem like an obvious question – but it’s very often under-addressed, or overlooked entirely.
In short, you must have your branding and avatar in order before you ever try to generate any revenue.
Make sure you have the following items in order before starting to plan out your launch…
Mission Statement
A mission statement is the internal purpose of your company. When thinking of your mission, consider what drives you to do what you do.
Positioning Statement
This is a description of the main way you want to communicate what you do. This can be used externally, for website headlines, or for other collateral.
Brand Promise
A brand promise is what you want to assure your customers they’re getting when they purchase from you.
Brand Tone
The brand tone is the way in which you’ll communicate.
In other words, if your brand were a person, what are their human characteristics and how can you apply that?
Your Avatar
Your customers are real people, so you need to be sure you’re talking to them like they are!
Essential questions to ask include: What are their goals, values, occupation, education level, challenges, and pain points?
3. What is your product – and why do your customers need it?
You know your product/service is amazing, but you need to be able to clearly articulate the why if you’re ever going to influence buyers.
Some essential questions to ask are: Why are you offering this product/service? What need does it address?
Does it fit into your brand theme and message?
How much will it cost, and why? Will it feel like you’re offering more value than they’re paying for it?
What is the return policy if applicable?
Additionally, using a before and after grid will provide you with a pretty kickin’ list of tangible benefits.
The Before and After Grid helps you articulate how your product or service directly impacts your buyers.
It asks you to think before they purchase my product or service, what do they have? How do they feel? What is their average day like? What is their status?
And, to help increase the stakes a bit, how could you describe their challenges in terms of a battle between good and evil?
Then you answer the same questions, but this time you describe the transformation that has happened after they’ve made a purchase.
By completing a before and after grid, you’ll be able to describe how your product changes the everyday life of your buyer across multiple aspects of their life – and that’s a powerful message to share!
Brandetize uses this on nearly every project we work on, and I strongly recommend checking it out!
4. How will you engage with your customers?
Selling your products or services is so much more than just building a sales page.
You need to take your potential customers on a journey from being aware, to being interested, to buying, and then becoming an advocate!
We call these steps the customer value journey.
In other words, how will you deliver value to your customers every step of the way? How will you attract, nurture, excite, and eventually convert your leads into buyers?
5. What is the sales process?
By completing the previous four steps, you’ve answered 2 of the “4 P’s” of Marketing already…
Product
You know what are you offering, what makes it unique, and why someone should buy it.
Price
You know how your product compares to your competition, the perceived value of your product, and why people should buy it at the price you’ve set.
Now it’s time to answer…
Place
How will people buy your product/service? What is the user experience when buying? Do they need to try your product/service in person?
Keep in mind the buyer experience can be very different online vs in-store.
Try to address and overcome any shortcomings of the online shopping experience if you do not have a physical storefront such as…
Is it easy to return? Is shipping reasonable? Does your checkout process appear secure?
And the final of the “4 P’s”…
Promotion
Now that you know the what you’re selling, how much you’re selling for, and where you’re selling, how do you let people know about it?
After answering these 5 questions you can start putting together your marketing strategy.
