Developing a Digital Launch Plan

First, you will need a mission statement that clearly states what your new product will do. A mission statement is important in order to keep your entire organization on the same page. Everyone involved needs to understands what's important to your consumer and how your new product improves your consumer's experience. The things included in your mission statement should be the common threads that run through all of the marketing work that you do including packaging, merchandising (in-store and digital) and, of course, your marketing message. Generally, your mission statement can be derived through direct consumer interviews and interviewing key stakeholders internally. These interviews will help you understand what is important to them and how they feel about the current options available in the market. In the example below, the mission statement tells the reader what the category is, how the consumer feels about the current options available, and how the new solution will help resolve their anxiety.

Next, do a SWOT analysis. This should be a deep, honest, introspection of your product, your company, and your competitors. Your SWOT will guide you on the things that you will need to maximize - "strengths", what you need to capitalize on - "opportunities", what you need to work on - "weaknesses" and what you should be prepared to address once you launch your products - "threats". You should consider your SWOT as a "living document" that you update as things change. If you improve upon a weakness, for example, you should document the change and any potential impacts of that change.

Once your SWOT is complete it's time to start defining who your target consumer is. Now, unless you are selling air, don't define your consumer as "everyone". Regardless of how great your product is, no product appeals to everyone. Tightly defining your consumer will allow you to craft a message that will truly resonate with that consumer. If you try to craft a message that appeals to everyone you will end up with a message that appeals to no one.

Pulling demographics into your consumer profile will help you further refine your message. Just think about household income for a moment. The message that you craft for a consumer with a household income of $50,000 annually might focus on value and durability, while your message for a consumer with a household income of $150,000 might focus on style or customization. Your product might provide solutions to all of these things, but a value message might not resonate with a consumer with a lot of disposable income, and conversely, style might not be very important to a more frugal consumer. Additionally, consumer preferences often vary by region and age. The more information that you can gather about your consumer the better your message will be. You want your consumer to feel as though you are speaking directly to them.

Now, you're in a position to build a full consumer profile. You might actually end up with a couple of consumer profiles if you have very different consumers that you are targeting. Your consumer profile will gather together all of the information that you have collected about your consumer. You can then build a narrative around each of your consumer profiles that will help with your voice of message, message placement, and even the words that you use in your messaging. A word like "accumulate" might work if your message is targeting college graduates, while "gather" might be a more appropriate word for people who may not have gone to college. Your consumer profile will guide all of your marketing efforts moving forward.

Now, let's get to know your product. It's time to list all of your features and benefits. These are the new product improvements that you've made that will alleviate consumer pain points. These can be used to craft unique messaging for your various consumer types as they travel through the purchase funnel.

Finally, it's time to actually build your digital marketing plan. The goal here is to guide your consumer through the purchase funnel, encouraging your consumer to take action along the way. Once your consumer makes a purchase you want them to then advocate on behalf of your products. Your consumer experience needs to be outstanding in order to encourage that type of consumer advocacy. In today's day and age, it is really easy to test your messaging online with a quick A-B test. You can refine your message down to the individual words very quickly, so don't be afraid to try multiple messages to see what works best.

During the research phase the consumer has just started their shopping journey. This phase often starts with a simple Google search or image search just to get a basic understanding of what options are available.

During the attract phase you are working to pull the consumer in more closely to your product and your brand. Your content needs to focus on answering questions that your consumers might have. Social media is a great place to engage and attract your consumers.

The evaluate phase is when your potential consumers are doing their refined research, comparing your product against other similar products in the market, and reading a lot of ratings and reviews. Ratings and reviews are so important to the shopping cycle that you have to always put your best foot forward in order to drive positive reviews. Be sure to manage your reviews closely. If a consumer had a bad experience, reach out to them and fix it. Often times consumers will go back and edit a bad review once they have been satisfied by the company selling the product. Don't be afraid to bend over backwards for an unhappy consumer. The positive ratings and reviews are well worth it. When it comes to advocacy you can turn a negative into a positive. A consumer that had a bad experience that was rectified by the company might leave a review that says, "While the product that I received was broken, company X took care of it right away and I received a new one in two days". For a potential consumer reading that, it means that it's safe to buy that product because it's clear that company X stands behind its products.

Now that your potential consumer has narrowed down their choices to two or three options it's time for you to nurture them along the purchase journey. This is where you need to be sure that you are extolling the virtues of your products on your website as well as your retailers' websites. Consumers need to understand why your product is better than the other options available. You want to be sure that if there's a tie, you are able to break the tie in your favor.

The convert phase is when the consumer will finally make their purchase. Make sure that the path to purchase is as easy as possible. Knock down any barriers that could slow down the purchase. If you're asking consumers to fill out forms or read a bunch of terms and conditions prior to purchase, get rid of them, there will be plenty of time for that later. Right now the goal is getting the consumer to buy your product.

Creating consumer advocates is invaluable. Consumers believe what other consumers are saying about your products more than they believe what companies and retailers say about your products. This is where positive user generated content (UGC) comes from. If you find someone that seems to be a consumer influencer, engage them by sending them some free products to try. Encourage them to post their reviews. If you don't have any consumer advocates you can always engage a professional influencer, for a price.