A Powerful Integrated Marketing Approach for New Product Launches

by Lori Colman

The race is on to develop new products and bring them to market. After a couple of relatively quiet years courtesy of a slow economy, both manufacturers and ingredient suppliers have their fingers on the launch button.

Throughout the economic downturn, many products entering the market were line extensions (manufacturers) or ingredient reformulations (suppliers); not many true breakthroughs appeared. Meanwhile, consumer behavior and attitude evolved. Less sodium, please. No HFCS. Sugar, why not? And bring on the fiber, while youre at it. The concept of sustainability has now entered the mainstream conscience.

Companies that have kept on top of consumer trends are ready to beat competitive products out of the gate. Hopefully, the R&D and marketing teams have collaborated from the beginning and ironed out the brand positioning. Management is sure this product is a proven performer. Focus groups love the idea. Sales objectives are defined, and the sales team is prepared. What could go wrong?

A lot, actually. Its well known upwards of 90 percent of new product launches go south. Its astonishing how often a company will spare no expense to develop a product and then go soft on talking about it. Unfortunately, this is especially true in B2B.

Build Awareness, Drive Leads

Any size budget can be used strategically and wisely. A lesson learned from being involved through the years in many brand launches and product introductions is that the most successful launches are the ones that harness the power of a truly integrated marketing approach. This means both introducing the brand and driving leads.

The old formulaa few ads in the trade books, a splash around a show, a couple of press releases and maybe some direct mailis limiting at best, and probably a recipe for disaster. Sure, all those media should be part of the mix. But are they strategically connected to support the sales and business goals? And, what is the online component? How will social media be utilized? What about a dedicated micro-site? Is your company positioned as a PR partner with editors or one that simply submits a new product release?

All the creative resourcesinternal and/or agency partnershould be involved early on to provide ideas on how a given concept will work across selected multiple media platforms. Incentives to trial (i.e., offers, contests, etc.) can help drive leads. Keywords, Adwords, a channel on YouTube, advertising within groups on LinkedIn, a dedicated Facebook page (yes, even in B2B) are just a few of the ways to elevate search performance as well as engage multiple audience segments where they live online. Short-term Twitter programs will bring more visitors to your trade show booth.

A New View of PR

A bit about public relations: In todays environment, PR is much broader than getting press coverage. Its Thought Leadership, with a capital T and a capital L. Speaking engagements, special events, social-media monitoring and engagement, sponsorships and introducing/ positioning company execs as industry experts is all part of todays PR. Content is king and subject matter expertise is essential. During a new product launch, youve got that in spades!

Remember, editors are enthused to have a content resource. Yes, getting a feature story is work, but one great article is sure to be viewed hundreds and hundreds of times. Just be sure those PR folks are search savvy.

Yes, it Works!

Earlier this year, our firm helped an ingredients company launch a line of gluten-free breadings, coatings and baked goods mixes. This particular client has a culture that is science-rich and marketing-poor. Because their heritage is commodity ingredient, there wasnt even mention of this new line on the companys website. Yet, getting to market quickly was essentialwitness the proliferation of gluten-free formulations in the past year.

The strategy, of course, was an integrated one. The companys rather conservative budget didnt allow for presence at trade shows or the use of wide-spread media, so we selected those that would deliver the greatest exposure in a condensed timeframe. The campaign was concepted and executed to encompass online advertising; direct mail; the purchase of search terms/Adwords; and comprehensive, aggressive PR. Because retooling the website in time was not an option, a dedicated micro-site was created. Further, we developed a system of sales support materials including collateral, presentation decks and fulfillment pieces. The high volume of traffic to the micro-site (with people staying to view multiple pages and provide information) resulted in high-value meetings and ultimately contributed to a 20-percent increase in overall sales for this organization for their fiscal ending in July.

Consider it proof again that the best campaign is an integrated campaign.

Lori Colman is the founding partner and co-CEO of Colman Brohan Davis , a strategic branding and integrated marketing firm in Chicago serving national and global companies in the natural food and ingredients sectors.