Maybe you have created a new product or service and are ready to release it to the market. Or maybe, you are looking to create something new to provide to your customers. Whatever the case may be, its not possible to put out a new product or service on the market and expect for it to immediately be successful without doing the necessary and prerequisite mountain of work. Even Apple had to innovate, research, develop and take the risk on releasing a new cell phone form factor to the consumer market.
Most likely, if you’re reading this, you’re not a company the size of an Apple (or else you’d already be a client) and as an organization on the threshold of releasing a new product or service, there are cost effective measures we can employ to catapult a launch and generate demand. So, here are 5 strategies that helps generate demand for new products or service and get more sales.
Find and conduct market research.
One of the most important things that you and your company should be doing is learning what it is your customers want and need. There are a few ways that you can go about getting this information. First, you can conduct surveys and test groups with your customers, asking them specific questions on any given product area. You can also do some market research by seeing what customers are saying on social media, and what sort of problems they need to be solved.
Now there are other ways to go about researching your market, however, if we’re working within budget, social media research is an effectively rigorous and empirically sound method, that delivers results as encompassing as larger budget research campaigns.
Highlight real customer reviews.
Seeing real honest reviews is something that usually encourages consumers to buy a product or service by creating a new level of trust. Think about it from your own perspective and how seeing reviews from past customer has increased your desire to move forward with a product or service you were considering.
In fact, according to a survey by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange, over 78 percent of Americans who shop online consulted with reviews before making their purchase. Meaning, the more positive reviews you have—and featured on your website—the more likely consumers will buy from you rather than your competition. However don’t hide bad reviews because your reviews should be authentic. If you have a lot of bad reviews then perhaps its feedback to consider, and a prompt to revisit the particular service or offering.
Create winning content.
Any business, new or old, needs to be able to promote themselves and their products or services through the content they put out. This content needs to be both educational and informative, but also interesting to your customer base. You can create blog posts relating to your niche, dig deep into various aspects of your product or service that your prospective client may not be aware of, create a podcast or amusing videos featuring the product or service that you are selling. Regularly providing your customers with quality content will keep them interested and can help to increase overall sales.
Prospective clients for your product or service are always looking for more information to push them forward, to reinforce their purchase, or for any numbers of reasons. For whatever reason, prospective customers are searching for information, its all positive. There is a mass desire for information localized within your target market, capitalize on that and provide that information, and you’ll channel that attention to your product and/or service.
Create a loyalty program.
When companies offer loyal customers special deals or perks, they are more likely to not just stick with the company, but also recommend them to friends and family. Some companies offer tiered rewards programs, while others use a points system; customers collect points with every purchase and can trade in those points for free items or discounts on future purchases.
Then angle behind this is creating the opportunity for prospective clients who’ve turned into customer to maintain an ongoing relationship with your organization. And creating loyalty program is hellishly effective in building and increase lifetime value per customer. As a B2B company, finding ways to create loyalty programs may be more difficult than a B2C company, but this is where it pays to be creative and innovative. Think critically regarding marketing and all the different points of contact with prospective clients that such a program could be effectively generated.
Offer new customers their own deal.
This follows partly from the above paragraph about creating loyalty programs. An idea for a loyalty program could be offering customers additional discounts for continued purchases / engagements. When you offer potential customers a discount or special rate on your products or services, it helps to draw people in. Especially if the deal makes you a better option than your competition. If they have a positive experience with your company and it is something they need to order regularly, then they will likely become repeat customers.
Businesses are always creating new products or services that they hope will succeed. But, unless you work on generating demand, it may not take off as quickly, or at all. So, keep these 5 strategies in mind when it comes to introducing new products to your customers. That way, you will be able to find more success.
