Leaks & Teases
This all starts by giving your potential customers a little bit of information. It doesn’t have to be much, with some companies offering as little as a name, but it will be worth making sure that it will have an impact. There are two different routes to follow when you are approaching this; leaks and teases. Leaks are less honest, but will often get more screen time, and involve pretending that data has been stolen and released without your consent. In the case of a tease, this can be handled through your own social media, and will often be a simple post.
Social Media
Like in most aspects of business, social media is an incredibly powerful tool for those launching a new product. You can post on platforms like this for free and as much as you want, while also having the chance to engage with customers. The best use for this during a product announcement is as a channel to provide giveaways. People love to get their hands on something for free, especially when it is a new product. Companies like Oneplus leveraged this very well in their early days, making their entire business model based around people winning the chance to buy their devices.
The Initial Announcement
It won’t take long until the time comes to make an official announcement for your product. This is too big for social media, though, and should be saved for an event like a trade show. With the help of a supplier or two, you should be able to build a great booth at a show like this, giving yourself the chance to share the word about your new product with loads of members of the press. This option works very well because it force you to fight other companies for space. Instead, you will have the chance to work with those around you to make the event and its results better for everyone.
Following With More
When you give your initial announcement, you shouldn’t be giving away all of the information you have. Instead, you should be saving some to give at a later date, providing your customers with more and more as time goes on. This can be handled through social media, but you should also start looking to do press appearances at this stage. Working with online influencers is a great way to handle this, enabling you to get your face out there without having to work with big companies in the process. Having the freedom to choose who you work with is one of the key benefits of working for your own business.
Keeping Up
Finally, as the last area to consider, you’re going to have to make some promises throughout this process. Release dates, features, and prices are all very important to customers. If you get them wrong, it will be hard to get them to trust you in the future, and a lot of businesses fall into this trap. Even if it sounds bad in your mind, it will be worth giving yourself loads of time to handle your launch preparations. Most large companies will try to give themselves at least a couple of weeks of free time between a product being ready and it being released, as you can never tell what might come up along the way.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of announcing a product as a small business. Going through this process is easy, but getting recognised is hard, and this means that you will have to put a lot of time into making this work. If you need help to get started properly, it can be worth looking into the idea of a marketing company to work with you as your product comes out. Most people will never go through this, and it makes sense that you may not know how to do it.