How can a company bringing out a brand new product line win your trust, familiarity, and even onboard into your life? For example, most of us who like the taste of Coca-Cola probably found out we enjoyed the beverage in childhood, and it was our parents who onboarded us into that brand approval without even realising it.
So, could it be that your own business will be able to use similar techniques to help your brand not only become popular but trusted, especially for first-time buyers? In this post, we’ll discuss 7 measures for achieving that appropriate outcome.
By Team Savant
Image: Francesca Grima
As consumers, we tend to think relatively little about purchasing certain products each week. You may be more than comfortable purchasing a set of sugar-free soda cans for use throughout the week, for example, or you might have a regular brand of disinfectant you use to clean your home surfaces when needed.
Yet it’s true to say that while we might not think twice about making that purchase right now, at one point you had to make a decision to do so. In some cases, you may not even pay attention to the brand unless it presents a fault — for example, you probably don’t mind which tube of tomato paste you purchase as long as it contributes to a great ragu sauce and is priced capably. Or, you might not know if the company uses dma privacy to protect your data. If things fail, then you’ll make a mental note not to purchase them next time.
Collaborate With Influencers
Sure, the idea of selling products through influencers might not seem so cool these days, but the truth is that no one would bat an eye at a celebrity endorsing a brand. While not all influencers are celebrities, you can imagine that they may be more specialized and actually more relevant than a general celebrity can be.
Let’s say you’re selling sports supplements to an audience of young men who enjoy working out with weights. Should you use conventional celebrities, or could you use an influencer with a mid-sized YouTube channel? They may be happy to review your product totally impartially and perhaps even run a clearly-marked advertisement in other videos as you sponsor them.
Most often, an influencer’s word can mean more to a general audience than yours can. After all, an influencer can have an opinion on your product, whereas you’re unlikely to say anything negative about it. Even if they mention properties your business could improve next time, there’s a degree of authenticity and favorability achieved by this method.
Host A Launch Event
A launch event doesn’t have to involve a packed auditorium, you can simply do this online, making sure that you have the volume for enough orders.
You could even rent out a pop-up store in a local space and offer discounted items for passers-by looking with interest at your product.
When you create a sense of occasion and interest in what you have to sell, you’re more able to generate interest if only for the novelty of the idea. Your product line is only brand new once of course, and so investing in this event can’t hurt.
You can also have a platform for such a showcase at a local business convention, festival, or speaker’s event. Just make sure you rent out the space and have the appropriate permission to give your demonstrations or offer samples. Onto that next.
Give Free Samples
It’s always nice to let the strength of your product speak, and when you offer out free samples of your product you provide that impression through and through. Giving free samples is not only a way to show you stand behind your product, but you can allow others a no-obligation chance to try what you have to show.
This might even work through offering an introductory sample free through the right vendors. Let’s say you have a small sports supplement you hope to sell, as per our previous example above. You could approach free retailers to offer their customers a free sample if they spend a certain amount on other supplements. This can help you better spread your product and potentially secure some larger supplements as a result.
Break Down Your Concept & Goals
It’s not the quality of the product that might be preventing people from trying what you have to offer, but how they understand it. If your product is sufficiently different than others, then they may have a hard time understanding why they need it or what difference it could make.
For example, in the UK, biscuit flavored tea has been causing something of a stir. Many people felt that it was unnecessary, but others found that actually, having the flavor of both helped dieters or those who may not be able to eat conventional biscuits for dietary reasons found this to be a wonderful middle ground.
By emphasising the health and lifestyle effects of satiating cravings with this new tea type, it’s not hard to see why so many people have now warmed to those products. But of course, sometimes consumers won’t think in a certain direction unless you prompt them to do so.
In effect, breaking down the essential concepts surrounding your brand and being your best advocate can help people make the intellectual jump toward understanding why your new product line is not only relevant but necessary.
Guarantee Schemes
With so much competition online, more and more companies are looking to offer a completely no-risk approach to new customers trying their products.
In some cases, they run schemes such as those that allow you to send back the product, no questions asked, for a full refund when prompted. Some also offer a refund if you don’t like the product, no questions asked.
Of course, not all businesses will be happy to partake in that process. But the truth is that doing so can be very worthwhile for a plethora of reasons. To begin with, it allows customers to try you and if they’re not impressed, they don’t feel as though you’ve cheated them with smart marketing.
In addition, it shows real confidence in your product to be able to offer it and reimburse people if they’re not a fan. The chances of some people abusing this promotional offer may be much less than those who are happy to have paid for it and to buy the next product.
You can even offer schemes to inspire repeated and loyal products from there, such as returning discounts where available for revisiting buyers. Again, projecting confidence in your products to this level will always help you get noticed.
Great Packaging
If you sell physical products, it’s very possible that people will walk past your item on the shelf without knowing of your brand or having the benefit of all the above marketing efforts to guide them.
That’s where your packaging should speak for itself. This is important for every product, but especially those that are expected to have a sensitive or significant effect. For example, a toilet brush is likely a toilet brush and may offer more coverage or convenience than another, but ultimately, its purpose is known.
However, using nutraceutical packaging companies that help express the exact benefits of taking your supplement product, including its benefits, its composition, and its virtues over the competition is key. It needs to be packaged appropriately, to look inviting and to be notable on the shelf.
This may take a little time to get right, but with the right consultation, you’re sure to find something that works spectacularly. This can also relate to the branding measures of your own company, extending that visual motif while also ensuring the product holds its own character.
It’s also important to remember that packaging isn’t just about the outside label, but how the functional experience of opening it is managed.
When you open a brand new shiny iPhone, the packaging is oriented in such a way that the phone is cleanly present to you as you open the box. Considering the first impressions offered by your product can help you allow for that WOW factor, which may help build that trust immediately. Thoughtfulness and details in packaging and promotion really do go a long way.
Allow For Public Reviews
It can be good to allow honest reviews on your website, or through your general product pages. When people can see a general honest accounting of your product and its use, even a three out of five-star review may not deter people from purchasing your product.
This is especially true if you engage with the reviews, apologizing for not meeting the mark on the rarer poor review, and thanking customers for the excellent reviews.
Allowing for public reviews shows you’re not afraid of public scrutiny. When companies often have “review pages” or “testimonials” that have clearly been curated or even written by the service, this can sometimes come across as inauthentic.
As such, humanising your brand and asking for feedback can allow people to think that no matter what, at least they can voice their opinion and you’ll listen to it. That’s a healthy step forward in any context.
With this advice, you’re sure to inspire better first-time trust in your new and exciting product line.