How to Reduce Costs and Accelerate Timelines through Launch Marketing

Now that the internet has connected us all together, we’ve witnessed a widespread need for – and a growing use of – “launch marketing.”

Launch marketing is a methodology that helps entrepreneurs swiftly and affordably prove an idea has the merit and potential to become a profitable business, generate early success for that business, and create a solid foundation for the business to grow.

The concept behind launch marketing isn’t simply applying general marketing strategies for a launch, as many “experts” might suggest. It’s a specific type of marketing within the broader marketing spectrum. Just like people differentiate between search engine optimization, public relations and digital advertising as distinct types of marketing, the same can be done with launch marketing. While the platforms and tactics used when launching are similar to those that existing businesses use in their day-to-day brand marketing or e-commerce marketing, the underlying strategy will be more nuanced, precise and unique.

A lot of this is due to timing. Other types of marketing approaches tend to prioritize a lot of small improvements over a long period, but launch marketing doesn’t have the privilege of time. Things happen quickly. Very quickly. Launch marketing usually consists of a four- to eight-month campaign, split into distinct phases.

Also, other forms of general marketing are usually split into several phases, and only in the final phase is revenue generated. Following the immediate revenue-generation period of the “launch,” entrepreneurs will slow down, re-focus, and start to transition their strategies with a nod to long-term planning. However, when you’re launching, you can’t afford to make a number of incremental improvements and take months to get a marketing message where you need it to land. You don’t have that long to get something fine-tuned. In reality, you have days (or sometimes only hours).

You also don’t have time for mistakes. One simple error, such as publishing the wrong piece of content at the wrong time or answering a prospective customer question incorrectly, can bring an entire launch – months or years of tireless work – down like a house of cards.

This is where my “Five­-Step High­-Profit Launch System” comes in. It’s a recipe for the fast and affordable implementation of launch marketing methodologies to maximize your chances of success when launching a new product, service, or idea. The system consists of five core steps:

1. Validation, research, and strategy
2. Audience acquisition
3. Audience engagement
4. Audience conversion
5. Scale and optimize

This system has been put to use by successful companies like WeatherFlow, who raised $2.1 million for the launch of their revolutionary personal weather system, and helped OneClock generate $1.1 million for the launch of their minimalist analog timepiece. It helped entrepreneurs like Cat Adalay, founder of Shine, and Omar Abu‐Shaaban, founder of EDASI, sell out of their first production runs before their products even hit the market.

These steps are bucketed into three key phases.

Phase #1: Validation, Research and Strategy

This phase involves proving there is an actual market for your idea. Recognizing that most new business ideas will fail, you need to know sooner than later whether or not people will actually pay money for your product or service so that you can either move forward along a successful path or shut your idea down and move on to another one — saving yourself blood, sweat, money, and tears. Validation, research, and strategy guides you through the process of proving your idea has potential for success. You’ll define and validate your target audience, your unique value proposition to customers, your messaging, and your brand tone. You’ll get a clearer understanding of your go‑to market strategy. Ultimately, you’ll come out the other side with valuable data that confirms whether the idea can become a profit-generating business well before actually investing much time or money.

Phase #2: Audience Acquisition and Audience Engagement

A launch marketing strategy is like an iceberg: To the public, visible success at launch is the tip of the iceberg, but it’s all of the pre­launch work that remains unseen below the surface that makes the business a success. These efforts involve finding, acquiring, and engaging your prospective customers. It’s vital to truly understand who your future customers will be, what it is about your solution that makes it better for them than any other solution available, and why they will (or won’t) make the decision to buy.

Phase #3: Audience Conversion and Scale and Optimize

This third phase is when you launch your idea to the world. When proceeding into this final phase, entrepreneurs will be faced with new challenges. What sort of launch trajectory will they pursue? Why might someone express interest in an idea but then opt out? How can launch hurdles be predicted and prevented or solved once they arise? And, most importantly, where do you go from here? After all, a launch is only the beginning.

In utilizing the 5-Step High-Profit Launch System, anyone who has an idea that solves a problem, a passion to make that idea a reality, and a willingness to utilize and learn from data each step of the way can succeed as an entrepreneur.

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