So, you are moving forward with your plans to release your first (or perhaps next) great product. You have endured some difficult challenges and decisions thus far; not only in developing your product, but also in discovering your target audience, in the problem your product claims to fix, and in where you envisage the product to be in time.
Now you have arrived at a crossroads in your product design timeline: how exactly to market your product. More than just that; how do you market your product and do it for free? There are myriad ways to achieve this aim, the most important and necessary will be touched upon here.
One solution to gain free marketing is in the use of ever-present social media. In this era it is imperative to use social media to launch a product design. Essentially it is free marketing for your product. Popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are almost mandatory to use. That being the case, however, it is over saturated with businesses attempting to do the same thing. Therefore, it may be to you and your product’s benefit to look for emerging social media. Those who are able to adopt platforms early usually reap greater success than those who are following others’ lead.
A second solution towards free exposure is to seek out members of the media who can write or talk about your product. This, of course, may be dependent upon your target demographic. For example, if your demographic is middle age and older you may want to pursue television personalities who may create segments based in your industry (e.g. a local television personality who has a weekly segment dedicated to technology products). If your demographic is younger and internet savvy, then you might want to go after either bloggers or vloggers. No matter what your demographic, the idea is the same. The media members you will seek out are naturally always looking for something to talk, write, or make a video about in order to get themselves out there. Just try to think small when you seek out personalities. Find local or up and coming personalities rather than celebrities. The opportunities are almost infinite for this type of free exposure for your product.
Again, these are only but two of the routes that you can take in order to gain free marketing. In either of these two cases, and in the multitude of others, it is vital to success to aim to stick out from the herd. The most effective way to do this is in good product design and in good packaging design. It is all too easy to make product and package design gaudy and garish in a cheap attempt to stick out from the crowd. It is much more difficult to be artful and to employ subtle aesthetics to achieve your intended audience, and to know how to balance that subtleness with loudness. For example, the graphic design and branding company Lien Design in San Diego, California demonstrates this ideal very well by combining understated artistic flair and definitive uniqueness. This sort of product design and package design is what usually sticks with people rather than the low hanging fruit of loud and in your face branding.
Pursuing free marketing is a worthwhile step in getting your product more exposure. Although it will take work to get in contact with the right people to preach about your company and product, and even more work to develop the proper product design and packaging design that reflects your product correctly, these steps are extraordinarily beneficial to the ultimate success of your product.