Find your new product launch strategy: Building hype and loyalty across platforms

A new product launch strategy brings a well-developed offering to the market. The most successful strategies engage directly with the consumers most likely to adopt that product and stick with it. 

When it’s time to start telling consumers about a new product, a brand needs to combine a variety of approaches. A well-integrated marketing plan is key to maximizing a new product’s reach and impact.

Omnichannel and full-funnel platforms like Fetch can help brands effectively launch new products through incentives that build customer loyalty and engagement.

What is a new product launch strategy?

A new product launch strategy is the series of steps a brand takes to bring a new product to market. This process encompasses everything from developing the product and conducting market research to testing and rolling it out. 

The marketing piece of a new product launch requires a robust strategy unto itself. A brand launching a new product should plan for a marketing campaign that spans an array of digital tools, in-store experiences and media outreach. 

How to launch a new product with a digital-first approach

By integrating a variety of channels into a marketing campaign from the start, a brand can ensure consistent messaging about its new product or product line. A holistic strategy also creates a smoother experience for customers as they engage with a product through online or offline purchases, field marketing communications, post about the product on social media and reach out with feedback or questions.

A direct-to-consumer brand might emphasize creating an engaging experience across its email newsletters, SMS messaging and online store to market a new product. By contrast, a fast-food restaurant might focus more on its social media rollout and in-store messaging. 

In addition to messaging, it is crucial for a digital-first marketing strategy to gather detailed data about sales and engagement. This helps a brand track its return on the investment of launching a new product. It also provides valuable insights that can help marketers better tailor the launch to different kinds of consumers.

Marketers launching will want to identify the best tools to facilitate a new product launch. This is essential to accurately manage and measure a campaign across different channels. It’s important for a new product launch strategy to reach shoppers on the platforms they’re already using, as well as to help consumers connect with the product in the ways they prefer.

How much does it cost to launch a new product?

A company can invest anywhere from $10,000 dollars to several millions of dollars into a new product launch strategy, depending on its industry and size. Each brand will have different needs, but a new product launch always requires a significant investment.

The marketing investment for a new product is often measured as a percentage of the projected sales revenue from that product. Again, different companies and industries will have different rules of thumb as to how much that is.

How to build hype for a new product launch

To build excitement for a new product, brands have to understand which consumers they want to reach and how those consumers behave. Brands that already have extensive data about their current and prospective customers will be at an advantage.

A new product launch strategy will tell consumers what’s special about the product and, most importantly, how it meets their specific needs. Campaigns can use a variety of methods for building hype: Offering advance trials for influencers and local customers who will help spread the word, innovative social-media messaging, events and loyalty programs, to name a few.

Whatever the specifics, different consumers tend to engage with a given brand on a variety of channels, mixing and matching those channels in different ways.

Launching new food products

Brands launching new food products have a variety of creative approaches at their fingertips. These will often play on the overall experience around a given food product — the sorts of settings where consumers might enjoy it, or other products they might typically combine with it. This is just one tack a company might take in planning a new product launch strategy, but it illustrates why brands need to start with a wealth of insights into consumer behavior.

For instance, when Hellmann’s leveraged Fetch to launch a new garlic aioli product, the company came up with targeted incentives around different recipes that include the aioli as a key ingredient. Additionally, understanding mobile buyers’ snap decisions has helped brands like Dunkin’ Donuts launch new products with loyal and higher-spending subsets of consumers. 

How new product launches can drive loyalty

Strong consumer retention strategies give brands a solid base of customers who will be eager to try new products. These consumers can in turn offer valuable feedback on new products and help build hype for a new product launch by telling people in their networks about it. 

A solid new product launch strategy also gives a brand opportunities to engage with existing customers about their wants and needs. This not only keeps these customers interested in the brand, but helps them to develop a deeper and longer-lasting relationship with it. 

Brands with a highly engaged customer base can also harness consumer data to better understand which customers are most likely to try out a given product. 

When a brand is considering how to launch an entire new product line, as opposed to an individual item, it will benefit from having high-quality engagement with repeat customers. People who feel an authentic connection with a brand can play a crucial role in informing a new product launch strategy.

How Fetch can help brands launch new products

Fetch draws on its large, highly active user base and wealth of real-time consumer data to help brands successfully launch new products. The Fetch app leverages Fetch points, the platform’s currency, as an incentive for consumers to try and repeatedly purchase specific products and brands. 

Brands including Topo Chico, Unilever and PepsiCo have built successful new product launch strategies with in-app Fetch campaigns. The app uses timely, targeted offers to reward consumers to try out a given product. 

Fetch users snap their printed and digital receipts to earn points. This in turn gives brands a wealth of data with which to measure the success of their Fetch campaigns.