Releasing a physical product to an existing platform of buyers increases the chances of having a successful product launch.
This strategy can help predict initial sales figures for a new product. It also ensures that a brand generates revenue as soon as it goes on the market.
Early sales can then be used to speed up the growth of the business through additional product development and marketing.
But how exactly does one go about creating an audience of interested buyers from scratch?
That’s the question that Maruxa Murphy had to answer as she developed her line of roasted coffee. Her daily interactions with entrepreneurs building their brands actually inspired her to start a coffee brand, Perky Perky.
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With the strategic use of social media, Murphy succeeded at building interest in her products before they had officially launched.
Here are four tactics that she used to build interest in her product before it launched.
#1 — Determine Your Exact Target Market
Without clearly identifying your ideal customer, building a passionate and large audience of buyers will be hard to achieve. Businesses that have defined their target demographic typically have more effective branding and more focused marketing campaigns.
While developing her product, Murphy, a mother of three, realized that the market was missing a coffee brand for women. She noted that the coffee products available in the store were marketed in a very dark and masculine way, even though women were the primary purchasers of coffee. Consequently, Murphy decided to create a brand that specifically targeted women.
The narrow niche that Murphy carved out made determining how to market her product a lot easier. Her packaging is brightly colored and includes messaging that would catch the eye of a female. In other words, Murphy's products stand out because they are marketed to a specific group of people.
#2 — Share Your Journey from Concept
Murphy documented her entire product development journey on her social media. This move got a lot of people interested in her coffee brand long before it was even available for purchase.
Before she had even secured a manufacturer, Murphy uploaded a video to Facebook about her vision for a coffee brand. To her surprise, the video was met with an out pour of support. It actually received more than 3,500 views. The positive response gave Murphy additional confidence that she was on to something.
She continued documenting her journey through a series of progress updates on Facebook. As a result, she slowly grew an audience that was genuinely interested in the success of her new business venture.
#3 — Get and Use Feedback from Your Community
Actively soliciting feedback for her product was another thing that helped Murphy grow her audience. She often turned to her followers for their insights whenever it was time to make a major project development decision.
For example, her followers got the chance to vote on the final coffee flavors for the initial product run. Her audience also contributed ideas for the packaging of the coffee, and saw their ideas become a reality.
Murphy was able to further tailor her product to her niche because she listened to what her audience wanted. Her willingness to implement their advice made her audience feel that they too were apart of the brand.
#4 — Create Social Pages to Build Audience
As she got closer to launch, Murphy created a social media presence for her brand that was separate from her account. Up until that point, she built her community of followers on her personal Facebook account. The move allowed people who weren't directly connected to her on Facebook to still follow the brand. It made reaching a larger audience a lot easier.
In addition to using the new social presence to market her products, Murphy shared content that her target market would appreciate. This strategy indirectly encouraged her following to share the brand's posts, and ultimately grow the following.
What tactics have you used to build an audience for your product? Share your experience (and resources we should check out) in the comments below.
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