How to Write a Marketing Plan for a New Product (Free template)

If you want to learn to write a great marketing plan for a new product, you have come to the right place!

That’s because in this article we will explain how to do it, and then give you a simple framework for you to model so you can make it as your own.

How do you write a marketing plan for a new product?
Write a marketing plan for a new product by following these 9 steps:
1. Clearly define your target audience
2. Clearly define your target date(s)
3. Ensure the product is/will be ready to ship
4. Write out every benefit the product provides (aim for 100)
5. Develop your pricing schedule
6. Define your advertising plan (see free tool below)
7. Launch
8. Focus on gaining testimonials and product feedback
9. Make adjustments and develop plan for ongoing marketing

One of the most important aspects of launching a new product is writing a marketing plan for its release and ongoing marketing strategy. 

As you develop and execute your plan, be sure to work with your team. This of course means your marketing writers, social media, PPC members, etc. But it also means your warehouse team, product developers, sales team, customer support, quality control, legal team (yes, even the lawyers need to review the sales copy), and operations team. Everyone needs to know you are on it, you have a plan, and you communicate what is happening. 

Marketing is the key to gaining and keeping customers, which keeps everyone listed above employed! (Yes, even the lawyers need the marketing team to keep them employed :-) ).

If you are a one-person team, you are in luck -- you get to simply make it happen!

Ok, here is a guide on how to write a marketing plan for a new product.

8 No-Cost Marketing Rules for Writing a Marketing Plan for a New Product Announcement

Now that you have your new product ready to sell, how can you ensure you launch it successfully into the market? 

Here are eight marketing tactics to include in your new marketing plan.

1.      Write out all the possible benefits your new product delivers to the customer

This is a big deal and it will separate the marketing hacks (as in a bad golfer not a marketing growth hacker) from the great marketers of the world. And 99.9% of your competitors don’t do this. Why? Because it's hard word. And most companies are lazy in their approach to marketing, let alone seriously analyzing every possible way the product benefits the customer’s life; B2B or B2C (DTC) does not matter.

This step alone will give you a competitive advantage.

Simply sit in a quiet room with your product, no distractions and no phone. Now get out an old school yellow pad of paper and a pen and focus 100% on producing a list of all the possible reasons this product will benefit the life of the person who bought it. No mind-numbing, meaningless facts (such as # of RPM’s of the 2 horsepower engine). 

• Aim for 100 benefits.
• The first 7-10 should be easy.
• The next 10-20 will be hard.
• 30-50 will start to flow and you will start to seriously stretch yourself at 50+. But guess what?
• The money-makers are often in the last 20.

2. Get your pricing right and include a special introductory offer to boost conversion rates

Instead of simply saying you are introducing a new product, give your customers an incentive to purchase.

Whether you provide a discounted price off the retail price or an added bonus for fast action, or both, this will boost your sales conversion rates.

You can use a voucher or coupon, or a discount on the price to help you track your results and gain more responses. While some people might be hesitant to try out a new product, many will buy if they are getting the perception of a great deal. Plus, when you put a time limit on an offer, it creates an urgency to buy.

For a helpful guide on optimizing your prices, go here:

5 Powerful Strategies to Increase Prices Without Losing Customers

3. Study competing products and explain why yours is better

When launching a new product, market research and competitive analysis can give you an advantage over your competitors.

Yeah, the basics are always good here to regurgitate as it relates to a competitive analysis such as trying to find out competitive market share, the product’s strengths and weaknesses.

But use this information to be a better marketer of your product.

And frankly, your competition shouldn’t matter too much if you are 100% focused on delivering maximum customer value and a great experience, backed by solid customer support. Go here for ideas on how to improve your situation in this area:

Unique Selling Proposition vs. Value Proposition (with examples)

4.  Avoid technical terms and use simple words when marketing your new product

This is basic marketing 101 and relates to items #!, #2, and #3 above, but it's worth repeating even for veteran marketers.  You want your customers to grasp what your product is all about quickly.

Use simple words to highlight the benefits of your product. Your prospective customers simply want to know why they should get the product. Too much jargon is boring to them.

Here’s a good rule of thumb that will turn you into a far better marketer: 

if a word in your sales and marketing message has multiple syllables,
see if you can replace it with a simpler word.

5.  Target the right customers for your new product

Again, this is a valuable reminder. Everyone cannot be your ideal customer. Even the most successful companies have a target audience in mind when launching a product. Focus on the people you believe will buy from you. These could be people who have been enjoying a similar product as they already understand why it is useful.

Here’s a pro tip and a great way to start a product launch: 

announce the new product to a small test segment in your database
with the intent to get testimonials and product feedback. 

Use the information you gained to do a bigger, more formal product launch to your entire customer list and then build your ongoing marketing plan integrating multiple sales channels.

6.  Make your new product launch an event

Create some excitement about the new product by turning the launch into an event. Budget restrictions may not allow you to have a huge press event, but you can make it an online event. Make some noise or create a buzz around the launch. If you make it a big deal, your customers will feel like it's something huge and will not want to miss out.

This is an excellent strategy for local marketing campaigns, and for building community.

Heck, this is a great guerrilla marketing strategy and will also help build your referral business. Combine this with a live stream and you have an excellent digital marketing and ‘boots on the ground’ hybrid that can create tons of video for you to use in a variety of ways.

7.  Your packaging says a lot about your new product

Once again, this is basic marketing 101, but it's always a good reminder.  Have a pro help you here if needed. Whether your product is food or not, study the best food companies as they are masters in the product packaging arena. 

An excellent package makes a great first impression. The appearance is what will pique the interest of the buyer. If it is attractive, it will increase a customer's willingness to buy it. Create packaging that will stand out on the website and shelves and improve your sales. You can also use the packaging to communicate your brand's value and the product's benefits.

8.  Use suspense to create excitement for your new product 

An excellent email sequence can help you develop some serious excitement. If using email, start about 7-10 days out and send an email every 2-3 days.

Get creative, have fun and engage your customer into the process. They will enjoy it and will be eager to see what the actual product is once you announce it.

The fun part here is there are no marketing rules to follow meaning that no one has all the answers (except you always need to follow the FTC and regional regulations 100% of the time), you are limited by your imagination and what your list is willing to participate in (watch customer feedback and the unsubscribe rates closely).

This is a great opportunity to watch out for the reaction of potential customers. Posting interesting images online will create some curiosity and keep people guessing. This is one way to excite customers before launching the product and avoid boring your customers.

How Do You Successfully Launch a Product?

Now that you have created an amazing product, your job is to sell it. 

This means introducing it to a well-defined target market. 

However, launching new products takes a lot of work. How you launch it will determine whether people will notice it, or if it will become another product on the market without traction. Start by involving the right people. Launching a new product is not just about including the product manager only. Include the salespeople, a production team, and a marketing team in the plan. Everything goes smoothly when everyone is involved.

At the same time, you should find the right tools to launch the product. You can do this through paid advertisements, social media marketing, and press releases. 

Your marketing budget matters for new product marketing

Money will determine the number of resources directed to the product launch. Start by noting down your important ratios and expected expenses. What expenses will be included in the launch? Will you need money for a facility for the launch or your company hall will do? How about advertising expenses? Aside from the real budget, have a contingency budget in mind. Extra expenses tend to arise, and with a contingency budget, you will have a way to cover them. 

Fill out the form in the upper right corner and you can get our free budget template to help you focus your resources. 

Below is an Example Template for you to use to plan your new product marketing. 

Normally we would give you access to a google doc or PDF, but in this case, just use this model and create your own document. You have to do that anyway, but now here is the exact framework we use for all our new product marketing. Keep it simple. 

If you need to add in more moving parts, you might upgrade this model to a Gantt Chart which will help you create a better marketing timeline.

For this particular framework, we have a customer base and are testing this new product with a segment of buyers that have not purchased in 1 year or more. If you do not have a custoemr list and this is your first product -- congratulations! seriously, you have done a great job. Let's now get some customers. Study these two articles first you build your new product launch:

How is “Free” used in marketing? (5 clever strategies)

How Do You Target New Customers? (6 simple steps)

Ok, here's the free simple framework you can use to write your marketing plan for a new product:

Most product launches fail due to a lack of preparation.

With the tips mentioned above, you can increase your company's chances of a successful product launch.

And as always, if you need assistance, we are happy to help!

References

https://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs-organizations/launching-new-product

https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/market-research-competitive-analysis