Your client has spent millions to develop an amazing new product, and has retained you to spread the word to potential customers. The first thing that you need to ask your client about their latest product offering is, “Who cares?”
Okay, you don’t have to put it quite so bluntly. But your primary objective before diving into any strategies on how to launch the product into the marketplace is to clearly understand the target audience, and determine why they may be interested in the product.
Chances are very high that your client had a specific audience in mind when the product was being developed (if not, time to reconsider whether you really want this gig). Here are some simple steps to clearly identify, understand and reach key customers & influencers.
Step 1
Determine why and for whom the product was developed in the first place. How does the product meet the needs of the customer, and how it is different/better than competitive products in the marketplace?
Step 2
Learn as much as you can about the ideal customer(s) – the target audience that you’re trying to reach. Interview them, survey them, read their blogs, follow them on Twitter. Find out what is important to them, who or what influences them, why this product will matter, and what it may replace. Then take that data and build customer profiles and segments.
Step 3
Now that you understand who you’re talking to, it’s time to develop a communication strategy in order to reach and motivate the customers that you’ve identified. Different themes will appeal to different segments. For instance, when launching a new pharmaceutical product, the patient segment will be interested in different messages than health care professionals. Patients and caregivers will be seeking information about how the product will treat their symptoms and improve their quality of life while physicians will look for content related to efficacy, clinical trials and side effects. Yet another segment, insurers, will be interested in learning about patient outcomes, formulary and reimbursement issues.
Step 4
Test it! Once your communications have been developed, it’s time to go back to customers and influencers to make sure that the themes and messages are resonating. Listen to feedback and make changes accordingly until it clicks. And don’t worry when those messages begin to evolve in the marketplace. Remember that – in this age of user generated content and social media – customers can and will share, interpret, remix and mash-up marketing messages as they see fit. Stay on top of this activity, be communicative with customers and open minded about the change.
Tags: market research, segmentation