6 Ways to Build Pre-Launch Buzz for Your App
A successful product launch is boosted by pre-launch buzz. Smart launch teams seek to generate interest ahead of release to drive stronger sales on...
3 min read
Written by Laura MacPherson, Apr 23, 2020
You have many choices to make when you first start marketing a product. Some of these decisions will be dictated by your resources. Others will be strategic. One of the first choices you’ll need to make will be whether to do a hard launch or a soft launch. In this post, we’ll walk you through the differences between the two and the advantages of each.
A hard launch is when you release a fully-baked product to a wide audience. Your goal is to make a splash, raising awareness and generating excitement about the new offering. Hard launches include a full marketing effort and they take a lot of time to implement. You need to have a market-ready, bug-free product, and you’ll need to plan on a significant marketing investment.
A soft launch is a release to a smaller, restricted market. Like a beta release, the product can be an MVP or a full version. But the goal of a soft launch is to get the product out to collect feedback and performance data that will inform continued development. With a soft launch, your product must include at least a core feature set that solves your target customer’s primary pain point.
Though a hard launch takes more time and financial resources, there are some real benefits of going this route.
The success of a hard launch is all about the marketing campaign, so make sure to be strategic with your up-front planning to make it as effective as possible.
There are some clear advantages to a soft launch as well. You’ll want to consider whether you could benefit from them at the stage your product is currently in.
A soft launch provides reliable user data which helps you quickly iterate your app. If preliminary data be less positive than expected, you also have the ability to pivot without impacting a significant audience.
Though soft launches are increasing in popularity, there are still reasons you may want to go with a hard launch for your app. If your product has already been thoroughly tested and you have a clearly-defined and interested market, you may not need the benefits of the soft launch. If your company has solid brand recognition and you have an adequate budget to execute on your marketing strategy, a hard launch may make more sense. And it may be beneficial to go with a hard launch as you are at a higher risk of being copied by competitors if they get wind of your product during a soft launch.
Many companies choose a soft launch when they don’t have an established client base. Soft launches help companies proceed in a more measured manner, so companies with lower budgets for marketing and development will benefit from this approach. Soft launches are also a good idea if you’re unsure of your marketing strategies or if you’re not sure what the market demand will be. This isn’t to say research shouldn’t be done before a soft launch, as you don’t want to release anything without insight, but if you want to test pricing or interest, a soft launch is a good option.
Which method you choose will depend on a number of factors, including your resources and product maturity. Keep in mind that there’s a third option as well: starting with a soft launch and using it to prepare for a hard launch — so it’s not an either/or decision.
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