Is your business launching a new product soon?

Recently I had a conversation with someone that was launching a new product. They were already in business. They have existing products. The exciting part was they were launching a new product. It was exciting becaus there is potentially demand for the product and no other business offered the product. This would be the first introduction to the target market.

The question about the product launch was if a blog would help market the product to the target audience.

Blogging About New Products and Services

There are different situations of launching a new product. A company could be established already and look to launch a new product. A company could be brand new and the product could actually be their first product to market. There are also places in between those two sides of things.

First, in the case of the new business, starting a blog likely won’t generate any interest. The first reason is that people aren’t looking for information about a new product. They don’t know that it exists. If the new product is a Blue Widget, but nobody knows Blue Widgets exist then nobody will search for it or share it anywhere. Nobody will be there to refer someone that asks them about Blue Widgets offline either.

However, this new business could start with a content strategy aimed at the problem or problems the Blue Widget solves. People search for information all the time about their problems. Many people suffere from back pain. If the Blue Widget cures back pain the new business could create a series of blog posts about back pain issues. The posts could go into detail about the common symptoms. The posts could include the science behind the symptoms and the causes of the pain. People will search for and share the information. Exposure to the brand occurs, people opt-in for more content and eventually trust is formed. A sale is made for the new Blue Widget.

Guest Blogging

For a new business it also makes sense to consider guest blogging as part of the overall strategy. The issue for a new business is finding an audience. It takes time to build an audience. As a result, new businesses need to offer something to gain access to audiences that already exist. The most common form of this is advertising. When companies advertise on TV, Radio, and online they are paying someone for access to an established audience. This is kind of how guest posting works except money is typically not part of the equation. Blog owners are usually looking for content. They can write much of it themselves. They can hire internal writers. But even if this is the case there is still typically demand for guest authors with different perspectives and knowledge. As an expert in your field you can offer to provide a guest post that will be interesting to the audience. You don’t focus on your business. You simply ask for a byline that includes your name and business name. Maybe a link to your website is added, but it’s not necessary in most cases.

Guest posting is a great way to start a new blog. You can write content for your own website blog while gaining access to the audiences of other blogs. Those folks will visit your site and can opt-in to your updates.

Guest blogging can be great for a blog or business of any age. That leads us nicely into the established business that is launching a new product.

An established buisness likely already has an audience of customers and followers. A blog is a great way to help build interest in a new product. You can once again discuss the problems you know your current customers are having. You can address the issues in the blog posts and develop interest in the new product. You can start a guest blogging strategy that attracts new customers that might only be interested in the new products.

You can also combine strategies with your email program.

Email Marketing

Having an email list of subscribers is great for all businesses. You can use your list to market your new products. You can link to your blog posts discussing the issues the folks on the list might be having. They will research your post and learn about the situation. If trust is built they will move along to make the purchase of the new product.

To conclude the discussion, blogging can be part of a product launch strategy, but the blog won’t attract people if those people don’t know a product exists. However, if you address the problems your target audience is having you can attract their attention via referrals from friends. People will share your content with people if it’s interesting and useful content.

But what about discovery?

If you blog they won’t come. You have to tap into an existing audience. This requires paid advertising of some sort or you could look into guest blogging. You provide content to a site owner in return for exposure to their audience.

That’s kind of how blogging works with new products.

Any more questions or comments?