Seven mistakes to avoid while launching your new idea

Seven mistakes to avoid when launching your new idea

A launch is a critical time in your marketing cycle. It can literally make or break your business. Even seasoned entrepreneurs can struggle to find the balance between a mediocre and a powerful launch. After years of working successful launch campaigns for clients, we want to share these 7 common mistakes… so that you don’t have to learn the hard way :)  

Seven launching mistakes that even top brands make, and how to avoid them!

• Not defining your target market – If you’re selling something to ‘everyone’ you’re selling to no one. Define your niche, yes even if you’re in a small market to begin with, and know your customer before you even test your idea. Don’t just research who is going to buy your product but also think about who is going to love your product - and then pitch your marketing specifically to them!

• Not collecting balanced and relevant feedback – When testing your service or new idea, you want to make sure to test it with a diverse audience within your niche. Your focus group should be varied across factors like income groups, ethnicity, gender, age and location, all inside of your target market. This will ensure more accurate customer feedback.

• Not taking action on early feedback – It's not enough to just collect feedback, you also want to action it. Positive testimonials are important, but the deeper value is in the critical comments. Treasure criticism and use it to deliver more value to your audience by tailoring your service to meet the dominant needs.

• Giving up too early – The opposite to taking action is to get disheartened. It’s important to remember that no business can please everyone. There is always going to be 20% people for whom your idea is just not going to work. And that is OK! Don’t give up because of trolls and fake comments on social media. Focus on delivering value to the customers who need your solutions!  

• Not timing the launch properly – Because launching is a fairly short time in your marketing cycle, you have to make sure you time it right. You need to factor in what is going on with your competitors, world events, seasons, holidays and so on. For example, it’s probably not the best time to launch a men’s gift business on Mother’s Day!

• Not marketing enough before the launch -  You need to build brand awareness before you ask your customers to commit. You cannot expect people to show up to a last-minute party. You need to plan weeks or even months in advance. Talking about your business, collecting Likes and Followers and building up your email list are things to do before a launch – not after!

• Launching without a back up plan – It is important to plan for worst-case scenarios. For example, you don’t want your website crashing due to customer influx on D-Day. Try and think of everything that could go wrong and have a contingency, or a Plan B to keep your momentum if something goes wrong. Maybe you won’t need it, but you’ll be grateful to have it, if you do!

Learn more about launching and other brand-building strategies on the Level Up Your Marketing with Vicki & Laura Podcast available on all major podcast players!

Did you catch last week’s live free online masterclass - level-Up Your Launch Plan? Don’t worry if you missed it, add yourself to the waiting list for next time - tap here.