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The Failsafe Way to Create Buzz for a New Product Launch

Guest post by: Stephanie Meacham

Article Overview: Buzz. First introduced as a - well - "buzzword" in about 1998, it faded from the marketing vocabulary a few years later. However, with the explosion of Web 2.0 in recent years, the catchphrase is back in full force. What better way to describe the phenomenon of everyone chattering about your new product than "buzz"?

The Failsafe Way to Create Buzz for a New Product Launch

Buzz. First introduced as a - well - "buzzword" in about 1998, it faded from the marketing vocabulary a few years later. However, with the explosion of Web 2.0 in recent years, the catchphrase is back in full force. What better way to describe the phenomenon of everyone chattering about your new product than "buzz"?

As major corporations and small businesses are finding - in the age of blogs, social networking sites and video-sharing communities - creating a viral campaign has enormous potential for buzz. In fact, it has become such a vital component for marketing a new product that even companies like Nielsen offer "buzz tracking" services.

In a recent article by Nielsen on this same topic, the company states, "After analyzing blog buzz volume, ad spending, purchase intentions and actual product sales, Nielsen found the best predictor of buzz for newly launched consumer-packaged goods (CPG) is a large advertising budget." Did you think buzz came naturally? No, my friend. You have to create buzz.

Creating Buzz that Boosts Sales

But how? What does it take to get people talking these days? How do you manage to pull off a new product launch with the full support of the public? Product distinctiveness is a definite plus, but the medium for the buzz is also important.

For instance, creating something that can be talked about and blogged about as well as captured and shared on video and in photos is the perfect scenario. But, what delivers that type of viral punch? Inflatables, for one thing.

Inflatables Create In-Person, Verbal, Print and Digital Buzz

When marketing a new product, what would turn people's heads as they were walking by? A 20-foot tall washer/dryer pair just might do it. How about a 15-foot high wine bottle or a 25-foot tall bag of dishwasher detergent? All are distinctive enough to capture attention right on the spot. These people magnets work equally well on adults and kids, so you get a broad spectrum of age groups. What's more, inflatables attract the press like flies to honey.

Taking a picture of a crowd of people is one thing. Publishing a picture of a crowd of people looking intently at a 10-foot tall shrimp wearing a hula skirt is another thing entirely!

But, the curiosity generation doesn't stop there. In addition to still photos, inflatables have a nifty habit of winding up on YouTube and other video-sharing websites. Video camera-toting individuals capture everything from Tweety Bird's rear end sticking out of a billboard in Times Square to an inflatable Hulk that appears at movie premieres. Do you hear the buzz getting louder?

Their color, size and sheer attention-grabbing capacity give any new product launch distinctiveness by association. Even if the product itself isn't something innovative or unique, marketing a new product using inflatables can lend some ingeniousness to the campaign as a whole.

Making plans now to create a little buzz for your next new product launch? Consider carefully. When you weigh the cost against the impact and the potential for buzz in its most desirable forms, inflatables get the job done every time.

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Article Tags: creative product launch ideas



Related Forum Posts
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - [quote="Trent Brownrigg":suimkaob]I'm not too big into these social sites but Buzz looks to be just as good as the next. I have started using it more and more.[/quote:suimkaob] How are you finding it Trent. I haven't got around to it yet have been very busy with offline work and so my time has been limited and have used it adding more articles etc to my website. Still have Buzz on my to do list. MichelleJ
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - [quote="MichelleJ":3u0447fv][quote="Trent Brownrigg":3u0447fv]I'm not too big into these social sites but Buzz looks to be just as good as the next. I have started using it more and more.[/quote:3u0447fv] How are you finding it Trent. I haven't got around to it yet have been very busy with offline work and so my time has been limited and have used it adding more articles etc to my website. Still have Buzz on my to do list. MichelleJ[/quote:3u0447fv] It seems to be similar to Twitter but you are not limited in length on what you write and people can directly reply to your updates kind of like on Facebook. It's sort of a cross between the two. I like it better than Twitter but not as much as Facebook so it's somewhere in between in my opinion.
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - I'm not too big into these social sites but Buzz looks to be just as good as the next. I have started using it more and more.
Re: looking for experienced affiliate feedback - Affiliates will send you traffic and maybe pre-sell your product. Your job is to ensure the traffic they send converts well, so should have well optimized sales pages, with minimal traffic leaks, and be continually testing. You should also provide tools and ideas for affiliates to promote you. I am an affiliate (I promote other people's products) and drive a lot of sales for my partners. I expect good tracking tools/reporting from the affiliate (affiliate systems like clickbank are fine), I expect a decent commission, good communication from the affiliate program, and landing pages that convert. The trick if you run your own affiliate program is to reach out to successful affiliate marketers who have a large audience that they can push products too. Just signing up with clickbank or similar won't really help you. You need to go out and advertiser your affiliate program, and approach potential partners and sell it to them. Bear in mind successful affiliates get pitched to EVERY DAY so you will need to stand out. The course, Product Launch Formula will be really helpful for you.
Re: Google Buzz - Any Thoughts? - Hi Alfanzo, Yes, I have heard that some people are looking towards Google Buzz as an alternative to Facebook because it has better privacy settings.


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