Archive for July, 2010

The Power of Social Media in Product Launches

Posted in PLM Files on July 26th, 2010 by Yvonne_PLM – Be the first to comment

gro 04 The Power of Social Media in Product LaunchesOne of the ways we build a buzz during a product launch is to harness the power of Social Media.

Social Media is huge and unlikely to go away in hurry but the size and diversity of the different Social Media channels means a careful strategy must be put in place if you want to be successful.

The following aspects of your strategy should be considered.

1. Social Media Channel

The right social media channel has to be selected to make sure it matches the target demographic associated with the launch or all your tweeting or friending will be in vain.  You wouldn’t for example use faceboook for up-market luxury goods such as private jet charters as that demographic just does not spend time on that channel.

2. Social Media Branding

It is extremely important during a launch to ensure that the same branding is used across all channels that are used.   Consistency in your branding provides clarity of your message, helps with familiarity and builds trust and rapport with your prospective buyer.

3. Social Media Follow Through

It is all very well starting a social media campaign to support your launch but it must be maintained to provide customer service which builds your longer term loyalty and credibility.  You still need to prove that you are more than a one hit wonder to effectively build your business

Social Media if done correctly will provide significant traffic to your website during your launch and will continue increasing your revenues long after the launch cycle has been completed.

Effective Product Pricing

Posted in PLM Files on July 20th, 2010 by Yvonne_PLM – Be the first to comment

Pricing is always tricky. 

If you want sell something online, pricing could be the single most important decision you will take during your product launch.   Competition is fierce and with many alternatives on the internet, you need to be comparable with the competition.   But do you?pricing

Conventional wisdom usually mentions Cost Plus, Discounting (loss leaders and the like), Target return pricing based on an ROI you want to acheive and Value-based pricing where your price is based on the value it creates for the customer.  The definition of Value based pricing can also include “pay for performance” pricing for services.  The important point of conventional pricing wisdom is that the amount that customers pay for your services is directly proportional to how valuable they think your product or service is. 

However many business overlook look the importance of the offer in defining the value of the product. 

In product launches we spend a lot of time evaluating the offer and working out how we can add value to the existing offer to make it more attractive and justify a higher price to fully maximise the profit when launching products to market.  Some of the ways we do this is to enhance the overall value of the offer by adding additional products,  services or information.  We also take a close look at how the branding is positioned as well as making sure there is credible proof of product performance. 

Contact us if you need help in crafting your offer for maximum profitability.