According to Neil Patel’s Blog, more and more brands are comprehending the power of stories to transform their presence and identity. Stories are a powerful tool in human communication. Research indicates that the human brain responds to the descriptive power of stories in deeply affecting ways, influencing both the sensory and motor cortex. To read a story is to feel an experience and to synchronize our minds with the subject of the story. The net effect of comprehension, understanding, anticipation, and receptivity is trust. By telling a story and connecting with the reader, a storyteller can generate trust in the reader.
The story must be driven through personality.Personality drives the story. But the story isn’t a biography of an individual. It’s the evolution of an entity told with personality. People trust other people. The core reason why your story should be personality-driven is so that it will provide someone real for customers to trust.
Simple stories are better. Science says so, and experience affirms it. While we may love the complexity of a Harry Potter plot, we can’t import that same complex model into the brand story. We need simplicity. Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Simple stories are more trustworthy. As some of the world’s most famous brands have shown, the complexity of the story can erode trust.
The story shapes your reason for existence. The answer to that question requires that you tell a story. A brand like TOMS shoes uses their story as a bedrock for their existence. The tagline, “One for one,” means that for every purchased pair TOMS gives a pair of shoes to someone in need. TOMS exist to improve lives.
The story must connect with your customers. At its essence, a story isn’t really about your company. Your company is the construct, but the goal of the story is to create a connection with your customers. Tell your story in such a way that it tells your customers we relate to you, we understand you, we are like you. Few things can communicate that level of engagement like a story can. When your story connects with the target customer, you build trust. You win.
Customers should buy a part of the story, not just a product. Why? Because a customer is not only participating in the story itself, but they are participating in a monetary way. They engage the story by purchasing from the business that is telling the story. When a customer purchases your product, they must feel as if they are buying part of the story.
According to wordstream.com, coming up with a new product or service is a lot of work, which unfortunately does not stop once it’s ready—launching and promoting it is the other half of the equation. You could be offering the best new product or service around, but if you don’t promote it properly, you’re likely to miss out on opportunities or even end up losing money down the line.
When it comes to promoting a new product or service for your business, it can seem like there are endless options. It can be difficult to figure out where to get started and which methods of promotion will give you the best results. The truth is, there are many low-cost ways to promote your business, and what works may depend on your industry, offerings, and audience.
Offer loyal customers an exclusive preview: Your loyal customers are a key part of how to promote your product, because they are most likely to not only buy it, but also promote it to their networks. This can take the form of a private, in-person or virtual pre-launch party: an online tour, preview, or demo. Or, it could even be a special invitation to test it out and give feedback.
Use a special introductory offer: Rather than just announcing your new product or service, you can make it available as a part of a special introductory deal. This deal can take many forms, including: discounted pricing, reduced-rate bundle or package, joint promotion with a complementary business, voucher or coupon with purchase, buy one get one free deal, double the points if you have a loyalty program, and a free gift for every referral. Whatever your promotion, be sure to emphasize that it won’t last forever. Customers whose purchase power is limited, either by time or inventory, will feel a more pressing sense of urgency to buy.
Make use of Google My Business: There are several ways you can promote your new product or service using your Google Business Profile, provided you have a Google My Business account. The first is via Google My Business posts.
Run a social media contest: Social media contests are a fun, easy way of connecting with customers and bringing in more fans/followers and prospects for your business. Facebook contests garner an average of 34% new customers per campaign. In addition to generating more excitement and buyers for your new offering, the increased engagement with your social media account will likely drive more traffic to your website, put your business in front of new customers, and create a fun means of connecting with your audience.
Spread the word via email: Email is a fantastic channel for getting the word out about your new product/service. Plus, it makes a great incentive to get subscriber signups in the first place. You can run an email campaign specifically about this new offering—perhaps even as a series of emails building up to the day of launch. Or you may want to announce it as the focus piece of your next email newsletter.
Write a blog post: Having a blog post written on the newly launched item is a great way to go into depth on all of the details, features, and benefits you would otherwise include on a landing page, and you can share the link to the blog post via your emails or social media channels.
Host an event: Events not only get customers excited about your new product or service but can also get new prospects personally engaging with you or other employees of your business—a great way to win them over as customers. During the pandemic, virtual events still serve as an effective promotion tool.
Offer a complimentary upgrade: If your business is more service-based than product-based, like a salon, spa, fitness center, or consulting business, you can offer an upgrade for customers to try out your new service. Another option would be to offer free shipping of your new product, for a limited time.
Allow trade-ins: If your new product is, in fact, an upgrade of an older one, consider a trade-in program. Trade-in promotions are effective because consumers are more likely to buy a new product using a token or credit they already have (in this case, the product they own). You can also resell the old trade-in products (provided they are in good enough condition) or use them for future giveaways.
Share customer reviews: One of the best ways to promote a new product or service is to let your customers promote it for you. You can ask customers to write an online review of the new service or provide material for a testimonial. Reviews and testimonials will be invaluable when rolling the product out to your more general audience. After all, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
The best way to promote your new product or service will depend on what channels your audience frequents and what their online behaviors are. Regardless, you should use multiple channels and cross-promote. The more cohesive and consistent your messaging is, and the more your audience learns about it, the more engagement you can expect.
WorkShop Challenge
For this week, I elaborated more on the packaging and promoting the product digitally.
The product shall be displayed as a deck box encompassing the three new collections. The traditional version is sold separately but is not part of the collection. The D-Tricks collection will release new collections every six months. In addition to that, by buying any collection you can donate the money to a cause. Currently, all proceeds shall call to Beirut for the first editions. For future versions, there shall be Go Green editions, where the collections are made from recyclable paper and materials.
To ensure reaching the youth segment and online visibility, an IG account shall be created. This account shall display the various collections available. Also, it shall be sharing and creating content related to playing cards. The new content shall include information and tips about various playing card games in the Arab culture that have been played for many years. It will also be a platform to order online via WhatsApp.
During the pre-launch phase, a social media contest shall be running. Social media contests are a fun, easy way of connecting with customers and bringing in more fans/followers. The contest shall include questions about famous playing card games. The winners of the contest will gain the opportunity to be the first to get their hands-on the new D-Tricks collection before its launch.
Omar Mal
August 17, 2020
Omar Mal 