When it comes to a new business launch, my motto has always been go big or go home. Whether it’s a client’s new brand and website or the launch of a new Elle & Company e-course, the time and effort behind big projects is worth celebrating. Not only are new launches a great opportunity to get your audience excited about your business, but they can also expand your reach and help you draw in a larger audience. And even more importantly, big launches can result in big profits.
It’s always a good idea to create excitement around your business, so today I’m sharing 11 practical ways to generate hype around a new launch.
1 | Start a countdown
Countdowns serve two purposes: they act as a reminder for your audience and they build anticipation. I can think of several brands and businesses whose countdown for their new website, product, or business venture kept me on the edge of my seat and encouraged me to tune in on the day and hour of the launch.
You can start a countdown within your blog posts, in your blog sidebar, on your homepage, and/or across your social media accounts.
2 | Create a relevant giveaway
Giveaways are a great way to get your audience involved with your launch through shares and feedback. By giving away items that are relevant to your business and appealing to your audience, you have the ability to expand your reach by requiring them to share the launch with their audience on social media. Depending on the timing of your giveaway, it might be beneficial to start the giveaway a week or two ahead of time to grow your audience before you launch a new service or product.
You can easily set up a giveaway through Rafflecopter and add it into a blog post or you can create a giveaway on a social media account.
3 | Put up a cover page on your website
If you’re launching a new shop, website, or brand, cover pages can be helpful for building anticipation while you’re making final adjustments and getting things all set up. They can also give your audience a sneak peek of what’s to come and point them to your social media accounts and newsletter sign-up. This could also be another great place to showcase a countdown for your launch...
And for those of you on Squarespace, they just came out with more cover page options for Squarespace sites! More information can be found here.
4 | Share sneak peeks and teasers on social media
We all love behind-the-scenes images and sneak peeks. Invite your audience inside your new launch by sharing photos and ‘teasers’ on your blog and social media accounts. Not only does this create anticipation, but it creates more engagement and makes your business more personable.
Before registration opened for the second round of the Adobe Illustrator e-course, I shared behind-the-scenes photos and sneak peeks of Round 1 to generate more excitement and create hype. Not only did it help me gauge interest in the course, but it helped me spread the word and create engagement with my audience.
5 | Encourage others in your industry to share about your launch
Networking has numerous benefits, especially for new launches. If you’re getting ready to launch a new brand, consider putting together a dozen gift packages with your new business cards and other thoughtful items that reflect your new look and mail them to influencers within your industry. Be bold and ask them to share about your launch on social media on a certain date; you might be surprised at how willing they are to participate. If you’re launching a new e-book, send some free copies to industry leaders and ask them to share about it. If you’re launching an e-course, offer free access to colleagues with a similar audience in return for a mention. There are plenty of opportunities to get creative with this one, but don’t overlook the great opportunities that come from networking and pulling together a community around your launch.
6 | Blog about it
Take advantage of your blog to generate excitement before, during, and after a launch. Share about the process, explain the benefits of your new brand/service/product/offering, and plant seeds about the launch long before you release more details. You could even create a blog series centered around it all by inviting your readers behind the scenes of what you’ve been working on to prepare for the launch. You can get creative on this one, but don’t overlook the large role that blogging can play in a new business launch.
Before we launched the Elle & Company Adobe Illustrator e-course, we thought through ways that we could incorporate more Illustrator-focused blog posts. I shared a post on 40 Ways to Use Adobe Illustrator to Improve Your Blog and Business during the week of the launch and published a post about the details and benefits of the course on launch day.
7 | Launch mid-week
By launching on a Wednesday or Thursday, you have plenty of time to remind your audience about your new addition/offering/brand/service earlier in the week while still having a few days to keep the excitement going at the end of the week. This could vary based on your industry and your audience, but this is a fairly good rule of thumb for most creative entrepreneurs and bloggers.
8 | Don’t give away all the details
Instead of giving away all of the details before launch day, build anticipation by creating some suspense around your new product or offering. If you’re launching a brand, you might consider holding off the reveal of your logo and website until the day of the launch. If you’re launching a new service, give away hints at what it might be without giving away the announcement. Think through ways that you can create hype by holding out until launch day.
9 | Create a video
Unexpected types of media like videos are a great way to make your launch appear professional and legitimate. This could be a stop-motion video announcing the new launch, it could be a high quality video explaining your new offering in further detail, or it could be another behind-the-scenes reel. Whatever it is, you have the opportunity to get creative and get your audience excited through creating a unique video.
10 | Limit your product quantities
If you’re launching a new product, consider offering a limited quantity to create a sense of urgency among your audience and create more of a demand. Not only does this make your product more valuable, but if you sell out you’ll create even more hype for your product the next go round.
By sharing only 40 seats to the Adobe Illustrator e-course and limiting the quantity, we were able to create more hype around the registration day and we attribute that factor to being able to sell out within the first 15 minutes.
11 | Brand the launch
Branding your launch is almost like creating a campaign; it becomes recognizable for your audience and displays intention and professionalism. It makes your brand seem more legitimate, and chances are that your audience will take your launch more seriously if it appears cohesive and well thought-through.
For the Illustrator e-course, I used the same images, colors, and fonts to create consistency between the class page on the website, the marketing images for social media, and the course materials.
Whether you take away one idea from this post or try to implement them all, you'll be able to create a little more excitement around your new business launch. And the more excitement you can generate around your business, the greater chance you have of expanding your audience, engaging with your followers, and increasing your sales.
How have you created excitement over launches for your business?
