Using Influencer Marketing for a Successful Product Launch

in Influencer Marketing

Product launches only succeed 60% of the time, according to data published in the Journal of Product Innovation & Management. With the odds barely better than a flip of the coin, it’s crucial that marketers take advantage of all the opportunities to promote a new product before, during, and after the launch phase.

With influencer marketing on the rise, it only makes sense that brands build launch campaigns with this tool in mind. Here’s how.

Involve Your Brand Influencers in Product Creation

One way to get influencer buy-in early in the pre-launch process is to involve them in the product and marketing campaign creation. As the voice of your target audience, their input or creativity can be invaluable in reaching the right market.

If you have a food product your influencer can give input on flavors or nutrition trends. If you have an apparel product, ask for input on color choices and styles.

In the campaign creation process, ask your go-to influencers for campaign creative that fits their personal style or that they think would best resonate with their audiences. Allow them to have creative freedom over the content or videos they create about the launch like Death Wish Coffee did.

By working with influencers earlier in the process, they’ll feel a sense of ownership over the launch. Plus, it can help build relationships for more, long-term partnerships.

Work with the Influencers Your Fans Already Trust

If you have an ongoing or long-term partnership with an existing influencer, a product launch is one of the best times to stick with what you know works for your brand.

Chances are if you’ve been advertising with this influencer for a while, their followers are already familiar with your brand and open to new products you are launching.

If your brand is just starting in influencer marketing, using a tool like Sideqik can help you discover the right group of influencers to work with. The platform boasts features like robust audience demographics, a better way to understand influencer engagement and activity, and even lookalike influencers to continue to grow your network.

By having a tool that helps you boil down influencer partners to the metrics that matter most to you, you can find the perfect fit for your product launch.

Provide Pre-Launch Private Access

One way to help your influencer build hype around your product launch is to provide exclusive access. Whether you send them a sample of your new product or invite them to your headquarters to get a taste of what’s coming, allowing them to tease what’s new can help increase anticipation around a launch date.

The key to generating buzz around your product launch is not to start too soon. Make arrangements with your chosen influencers ~6 weeks in advance and send them your product to use and collect their opinions on. Ask them to start promoting it 2-3 weeks before the launch date.

Influencers can offer sneak peeks, take Q+A about the product, tell their followers how excited they are, and ask them to tune in for the product launch date. Your influencers can also give their followers information on where and when they can buy your newly launched product before the launch so you can increase initial sales.

Provide Discount Codes for Followers

If your influencer has been building buzz for your product before the launch date, the perfect way to reward their followers is with a discount or promotion code.

Your promo codes could be a small percentage off the purchase of the newly launched product, or you could add in a branded item for purchasers to get for free with their purchase. Promotions not only help increase engagement but can be one way to track individual influencer’s engagement to purchase rates.

Sideqik has tools specifically to help brands create, manage, and track promotions with their influencer marketing partners. The promotions feature allows you to create giveaways, contests, competitions, sweepstakes, and more without any additional development or code knowledge.

To learn more about how Sideqik can help you with your product launch influencer marketing campaign, schedule a time to chat with one of our experts.

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Nancy Rothman

Nancy is a passionate, results-driven marketing executive with more than a decade of experience in building robust integrated marketing programs for brands of all sizes, with specific expertise in the martech space. Prior to Sideqik, Nancy held roles at four successful martech startups, each of which received multiple series of fundraising and included two acquisitions. At CallRail, specifically, Nancy served as the director of marketing where she built the company’s brand and established it as a leader in its space. She also held roles at MeetEdgar, where she oversaw the entire sales and marketing practice, increasing the company's user base and annual recurring revenue, as well as PureCars, which was acquired by Raycom Media in 2015. As vice president of marketing for Sideqik, Nancy is responsible for developing and executing on the company's marketing strategy to drive overall business growth.