How important is the launch of your business? How can and should entrepreneurs and business owners be leveraging this moment?
The opening launch of a business is an incredibly important time. You’ve only got one chance to do it. A good launch can make all the difference in success, and the traction a new venture gets. So, how can you maximize this opportunity? What if you’ve already started your business?
Why This Moment is so Important?
This is a one time deal. You only ever launch your business once. Your launch can set the trajectory for your venture. It can be one of the easiest moments to make new connections and get attention. New things interest people and this can be a significant factor, which draws them, versus repealing them with the typical sales approach which normally follows. Plus, it is far easier to sell customers, ambassadors, and investors on the idea, versus the actual product or service. This is your chance to create buzz and hit the ground running with money coming in. Don’t miss out on it.
What’s Important in Your Business Launch?
Three key factors in your business launch are:
- Speed to market
- Visibility
- Making a good first impression
Each of these factors can seem to be somewhat contradictory, and demand balance, but are equally important. It is important to make a good first impression. If you don’t, you may never get another chance to prove your value. This demands attention to visuals and text, and the experience. This first interaction will make up people’s minds about your company and product, and will determine what they tell others about it. For those operating on a tight startup budget this may also demand you begin with a simple offering, and focus on quality of service and connections, rather than mass. You want to wow each person that comes into contact with your brand. Quality over quantity. That is what will propel your business forward and earn you the right and ability to grow sales. At the same time it is essential to gain all the visibility you can, and get live fast. The biggest threat to new businesses is not that they fail to be perfect or fail to protect their ‘secrets’, but that they don’t get into the market and live fast enough. If someone beats you to the market with the same idea first, it is going to be a lot harder.
Plan Well in Advance
The time to be working on an official launch isn’t two weeks before you open your store. It is months in advance. You want to be able to keep up the momentum between the time you begin telling people about your business and going live, but also to have enough time and space to really make the most of the opportunity and to be organized and do it well.
Two weeks out isn’t enough time to create and launch materials. It is normally too short notice for busy people who already have busy schedules. Considering the typical sale or conversion takes seven touches, it is going to be hard to achieve that without spam during that period of time.
Tools to Launch Your Business
The best way to launch your business can depend on your model, product, and service. Those with a physical office or store location can benefit greatly from hosting an opening day event. Those operating virtually can also capitalize on this concept with a virtual event, a popup shop, or a launch party at a third party venue.
Social media will certainly play a big role in any launch today. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat can all be leveraged for both free and paid visibility. Press releases should be used and distributed locally and to targeted publications who connect with your niche clients. Don’t overlook the ability to conduct outreach to local bloggers, social media influencers, and business organizations either.
Basic staples of launching any new career, venture, or business like handing out business cards, telling all of your contacts, local offline guerrilla marketing, and pushing for pre-sales should all be incorporated too. It is these things which identify those that make it versus those who commonly burn out before they make it.
What if You Missed it?
What if you have already opened your business and missed this opportunity, or are just days away from opening? While you can’t turn back the clock, there will be other opportunities to replicate this type of launch buzz and action. Look at upcoming milestones such as anniversaries, customer or follower milestones, expansions into new products or areas, new website designs, and more. Pick one to make a big deal out of, and apply the above to rocket your business to the next level.
