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Properly practiced creativity must result in greater sales more economically achieved. Properly practiced creativity can lift your claims out of the swamp of sameness and make them accepted, believed, persuasive, urgent. ~ William Bernbach

Launching a new product can be a job all in itself. Entire industries have sprung up around all the steps it takes to make your product not just released to the world but exploded like a gas tank of fame on fire.

Because Product 30 was so abbreviated, we haven’t had a lot of time thusfar to do what some would call a “real” product launch (which can include a whole host of carnival-like activities and a side of freaky clowns). You may have been mentioning your project on social media (Twitter and Facebook and their ilk), or have talked about it on your blog.

If you have, you’re already ahead of the game. If you haven’t, now’s the time to start generating some excitement.

We’re going to assume a few things here:

• you already have a website, probably with a blog,
• you already have social media accounts where your customers “hang out”,
• you should already have a mailing list, even if that’s just a dedicated few.

If, for any reason, you don’t already have those things, we’re here to tell you — you need them. A website serves as your home base, where people come to learn about you and what you do.

Social media lets you connect with customers on a one-on-one basis.

An email list is probably the most important part of your online business, and if you’re not building one, you’re missing out on a HUGE opportunity to have direct access to people who are already interested enough in you and your stuff to have signed up to find out more on an ongoing basis.

You don’t need all three if it doesn’t serve your customers, but if you have them all, you’re in a much better position than folks who don’t. (Much like how, in the olden days of sales, leads from established relationships were much more lucrative than cold calls — all of these methods lead to much, much more lucrative sales for your online business.)

Our Action Task today is complex.

It’s a bit more of a plan than a single task. But since there’s only about ten days until your brilliance is put up online for the world, it’s time to start doing things NOW, rather than later.

The more lead-time you can build into your upcoming release, the better. You already know you have an awesome product; it’s time for everyone else to know it, too.

ACTION TASK:
Launching your baby on the world is, by necessity, a multi-step (and multi-day) process. We’re going to touch on some of the big points that you can do in the coming days to help facilitate a launch for the books. (Also: this is in no way a complete list.

Like we said, launching products is a huge, huge topic, and the scope is just much too big for one email. If you’re interested in learning more, consider joining Foolish University — we’ve got more on this over there.)

For an abbreviated launch, there are some steps you should start taking right now, if not sooner:

1. Contact any existing affiliates you might have already.

If you don’t have any, now’s a good time to make an affiliate page to get potential folks signed up for a list of affiliates. We’ll talk more about that in a few days in more depth.

2. Warm up your mailing list.

If you haven’t been keeping up with it regularly, it’s just that much more important to let them know that something’s coming down the pike. (And be regular with it, folks. It really can be a make-or-break-it list item.)

3. Come up with and package the freebies.

We’ll talk more about that in a few days, too. If you have a blog/social media accounts, release the related giveaways on your blog. Make double-sure that you’re getting them on your mailing list if they’re downloading one of your free things.

4. Start looking at people who are big in your industry. Do they have blogs? Mailing lists?

Offer (tactfully) a copy of your product in exchange for feedback or a review, and let them know you’re available for interviews or guest posts on your particular topic.

We’ll be looking at some more specific steps (sales pages, mailing lists, affiliates, etc.) in the coming days, as launch gets nearer. For now, just start working on the PR.

If you don’t let people know about you, nobody else will, either. It’s up to you to make sure your information gets into the hands of the people who will benefit from your expertise.

TOMORROW:
Covers, packaging, and wrappers, oh my! We’re going to talk a little about your product’s outward face, and how to make sure you’re effectively communicating with your ideal customers.