Happy Sunday!

If you’re reading this, I hope you’re sitting down in an air-conditioned room, sinking into a couch, with your feet up and a beverage in your hand. Today’s newsletter is going to be a quick but informative read… just give me 4 minutes of your Sunday evening!

Before we dive into the thick of it, here are a couple of quick announcements:

  • A new episode of Limited Supply went live where I interviewed Danny (co-founder) and Jason (President) of HexClad, a cookware brand worth $1 billion. We talked about everything from how to build and launch products to setting up talent deals like they have with Gordon Ramsay. Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
  • Paid Media Account Coordinator — apply here!
  • Junior Video Editor — apply here!
  • If no one has told you today, let me be the first to remind you that you’re an incredible human!
  • Ok… let’s get into it!

For today’s email, I want to discuss Product Launches. It’s always amazed me that when a brand releases a new product, they don’t treat it like a massive moment for the brand! When done right, it’s not a lot of extra work to make a product launch a big deal, but it goes so far from a marketing, hype, and awareness standpoint.

A brand that has been crushing product launches since its brand launch is Lemme, a vitamin brand by Kourtney Kardashian and Simon Huck. When I worked with Simon on launching JUDY, I remember thinking, “Simon knows how to launch products better than anyone.” We would launch a generator or a travel-sized emergency kit, and Simon could get the whole world talking about it. Influencers, press outlets, CNN’s main channel, VOGUE, etc, would all rave about anything JUDY launched. Simon knows how to get attention, and the way that he’s continued to launch products at Lemme is an inspiration for today’s email (as I wear my Lemme hoodie).

Even with the clients at Sharma Brands, a part of what we do is make sure we have successful product launches. When The Skinny Confidential’s mouth tape sold out in 2 hours, and then again within hours... that wasn’t by accident. We strategically build product launches, and GTM plans for any new product that we can treat like a big brand moment. It’s an omni-channel play and it’s a non-invasive way to make noise, get attention, and let more people know who you are.

In today’s email, I want to break down how I recommend you think about product launches to make a bigger impact. It’s no small deal to launch something that has taken weeks, months or even years to develop. Whether it’s a new product entirely or even just a new variant (additional flavor, color, scent, size, etc.). If you don’t believe me that launching additional variants can be as big of a deal, then you need to subscribe to Cadence’s email list and follow them on social — they let the whole world know when there’s a new color and it’s a huge revenue driver.

For a successful product launch, you should be prepared across:

  • Website
  • Ad creative
  • Email & SMS
  • Organic social

And you want to make sure you have a strategy for pre-launch and a plan in place if you sell-out of your product, too. You have to keep in mind that as soon as someone hears about your product and comes to find it, you need to be prepared on all channels. Every channel, whether it’s your website or your Instagram profile, is now a high-intent funnel. Here is what I would recommend you do for each:

On your website.

With your website, think of this as your retail storefront. You wouldn’t launch a new product at a store in Soho or on Rodeo Drive and not make it a big deal, right? So why would you do the same for your website? It needs to be loud and everywhere, from your homepage to your cart up-sells.

  • Make sure you update your above-the-fold site experience or website banner to show the new product.
  • On your collections pages, it should be the first product that shows up, with a NEW badge on the product image.
  • Update your slide-out cart and Shopify checkout extensions to prioritize showing the new product as the first upsell.
  • Update the on-site pop-up to include messaging around the new product whether or not you offer a discount.
  • If needed, build additional modules on the PDP itself that help explain the product better — what it does, how it works, what comes in the box, how to use the product, how to set it up, common FAQs, etc. Think of the PDP as a landing page.
  • If you decide to run a pre-launch sale for your best customers, you should direct that traffic to a dedicated landing page where you can speak to those customers slightly differently. Then, kill that URL before you officially launch the product (without a discount).

In your ad campaigns.

For new products, you want to have ad creative that’s ready to be shown to past purchasers, site engagers, and also your  bread & butter prospecting campaigns. Adding creative for a new product into a learned campaign will reinvigorate its performance.

With product launches, you want to make sure the ad creative specifically calls out a new product, shows the product in-use, and directly addresses the benefits. You just have to earn the click to the site, not fully sell the product — let the product page or landing page do that.

Lastly, if you can, you should try to compile video reviews from your VIP customers or content creators, in advance, to include in your ad creative at launch. If you’re selling something in beauty, apparel, or with novel application (like mouth tape), then having creator content helps people see how to use or wear the product.

With Email and SMS.

Your lists are your first opportunity to generate awareness and revenue with a product launch. My recommendation is prior to launch, you entice your best customers to purchase early (maybe top 5% or 10%) and for the rest, send them a teaser. Maybe it’s a blurry product image over email or text that entices people to sign up for a notification of when the product launches.

Once the product goes live, I prefer to send 1 email per day, for the first 3 days, and exclude purchasers before each send. For your best customers, you can add a VIP discount or early-bird special. On SMS, I would send the launch day message, and only sub-sequent texts if there’s engagement (link clicks, email opens, etc.).

In case your product sells out, you want to also have a SOLD OUT! email and SMS ready to fire off. That should lead to a PDP with a email sign up or phone number sign up to be notified when it’s back in stock. As soon as the product is back, use email and SMS to notify people you’re back and to hurry before the product sells out again!

On organic social.

Regardless of how large or small your brand is, if you have a new product launch, the first place most people will go is to check your social channels. Website? It can be hard to remember the exact domain, so naturally, people search Instagram or TikTok — that’s why you need to think of these platforms as funnels. 

When you have a new launch, be loud with the post—maybe take over the top 3 posts with a new set of pinned posts. You can add a highlight on the profile that specifically talks through the product, unboxing it, what makes it different, why it’s such a big deal, etc. It should feel like you’re walking someone through a QVC-style shopping experience.

The product tease.

As you’re leading up to the launch, people need to get excited about the new product. This video was a great way to tease the new Lemme Wake Up (caffeinated gummy) and got people in the comments going crazy, too. 

The sell out.

You should expect your product to sell out, and if necessary, you can manufacture it. Apple does it all the time—why can’t you? 

To prep for the sell-out, you should have a version of the PDP ready to go up to collect emails & numbers to notify those who want it. You can collect email first, since it’s low friction, and then offer to collect SMS with a discount. As soon as it’s back in stock, notify the people, open the floodgates, and collect that sweet revenue!

Keep your tech top-tier.

When you launch a product, you need to ensure all your tech is working properly. Subscriptions, reviews, back-in-stock notifiers, your email pop-up, your slide-out cart, your upsells and all your pixels are firing with the right events.

We’ve also been tracking incrementally much more closely with Haus. Honestly, my friend Cody at Jones Road Beauty tries new tech on a weekly basis and tells me which we should explore for our scaling clients. One of those has been Haus.io. We’ve done attribution, MMM, and now, with Haus, we can understand each channel or product's incremental lift on revenue and overall MER. Ad platforms are great at finding customers who were going to convert anyway and inaccurately taking credit for the sale, which is why Haus exists.

I spoke with them about a “Sharma Special” for our clients. For the newsletter, they would love to offer anyone an incremental audit — it’s free; sign up here.

Once you’ve got everything set and ready for launch, I recommend running through a full QA process, including watching all your pixel event fires. You don’t want to get through launch day and realize that you missed out on capturing certain elements of data.

Ok... that’s it for today. What would you add to this? Let me know! On to some fun stuff...

Vendor of the Week:

Insense - The end-to-end UGC and influencer marketing platform for small and large eCommerce brands! 

Through Insense, marketers can find both UGC creators for just $100 per video, and micro-influencers with an engaged audience to build an affiliate partnership.

Like us, you probably know that the worst part about UGC and influencer campaigns is sourcing, briefing, and management. Insense is making marketer’s lives easier all year round - but especially for Q4 - for the following reasons:

  • No manual outreach; creators that match your requirements apply directly to your campaigns in minutes.
  • You can start collaborations immediately and get UGC within 10 days.
  • You can run all types of collaborations with influencers to amplify your brand across the entire marketing funnel, including Affiliate, TikTok Shop, and Meta Whitelisted Ads, on top of UGC assets.
  • Enjoy automated influencer contracts, automate payments, and receive content in perpetuity. 

If you’re looking to easily scale your UGC and influencer campaigns across your organic and paid social channels to win Q4, I highly recommend checking out Insense.

Based on your needs, they provide both a self-service platform and/or a fully managed service to help you optimize your UGC and influencer operations or take the workload off your plate completely so you can focus on running your business.

Book a free personalized strategy call with Insense today!

That's all for this week

Today’s newsletter was slightly shorter and that’s because I’m planning to enjoy the day with my mom celebrating her 60th birthday! What a legend she is and I’m so grateful for her and everything she has done for me!

While we are all celebrating my mom’s birthday today, it is still Sunday, which means we need to get those 9 hours of sleep tonight! Get a nice sweat in this week and I’ll see you next Sunday, same time, same place.

Have a great week!