Promote Your Product Launch Content in 5 Easy Steps

We have sold you! You read why we want you to create content prior to your product launch, and you have read how to easily create content for your product launch. Now we will provide you the basics of promoting your content prior to your product launch, without scaring you half to death.

What do we mean by scaring you? We have read a lot of posts by plenty of inbound marketing agencies that are designed to intimidate you and make you think, "OMG, I need to hire an agency to do all this as soon as possible! But I don't have money. Therefore, I won't do anything."

NO. NO. NO WAY! This is not hard. You can get the basics going right now without spending a lot of money. And, the basics will provide the professional presence and legitimacy you will need when you start asking for seed money. 

Here are the foundational elements you need to promote your startup product launch content.

1. Website

This may seem stupid that we even brought it up. You are a tech guy (gal) and you know you need a website and you know how to set one up. But we caution you, please do it the easy way. That means SquareSpace or Wix. We know you think WordPress is the way to go, and maybe have even set up a WordPress site back in the day. Honestly, things have gotten much easier, and it isn't worth the time, and tediousness.  But that's just us. And we are hypocrites because our site is currently WordPress. Does it make you feel any better that we regret it? 

What menu items should you build? Copy the layout of any typical technology product website. An agency we admire, Nectify, provides great examples of fantastic SaaS websites. Don't stress too much ... get the basics up, and you can expand as you go:

• Products & Services
• Blog
• About
• Contact

 Eventually you will add:

• Pricing & Packages
• Events
• Press (your news releases as well as "In the News" for all your press mentiones)
• Testimonials
• Resources - White Papers & Case Studies

And, you have to pay attention to SEO and update your content regularly. Which brings us to our next topic ... your blog.

 2. Blog

On your new website, ensure you have a blog. Why? In the B2B world, blogging is a known and beloved tactic for keeping content fresh and for getting the founder's thoughts and philosophies directly to the target audience, not to mention driving traffic to your website and giving Google signals that you are keeping your content fresh. Most importantly, blogs give your business a personality and face and they expose the "why" of what you do.

There are a million, billion blog posts written about blogging: how to blog, what to blog and the like. This is because, when the internet was a child, blogs made good money by simply serving up advertising. It was the wild wild west. Now, businesses blog to sell their products and services. A good article by Matrix Marketing provides the "why" of B2B blogging.  In short, it keeps your site fresh, relevant, and provides you content to nurture your leads with. And, a video posted to your blog counts as a blog post too.

A good cadence for blogging is about weekly. Don't get us wrong, it is a pain, but make yourself do it. Figure out who your target customer is and write content directly towards their pain points and problems. Help them research these pain points and problems. Resist the urge to sell. Don't write too much. And include some pictures. Canva.com is a great tool for creating blog post illustrations. 

3. Social Media

Yep, the dreaded social media. Again, this is a must have, and not nice to have. Set up your company page on LinkedIn, create a company Twitter account, and setup a Facebook Business Page.  Since you'll be posting regularly to your blog, you can go right ahead and promote your blog post on social media. Why oh why do you have to do social media? Pure and simple it is a traffic driving device back to your website. 

And, don't be afraid to post personal things. Like the fact that you and your partner, meet every Friday, at Social, to do strategic planning.  And, make the header for the blog, website, and social media all kinda look the same. Check out our favorite tool, Canva which makes this absolutely child's play. 

4. Email

Ya gotta do it. Figure out a way to send email messages to your prospects promoting your company, your blog posts, and your content. Could be a weekly newsletter, or blog update email. Could be a news release regarding your company's upcoming appearance at a trade show or a speaking engagement. Again, technology has made this simple. Get a MailChimp account. Or a HubSpot Marketing Starter account. Have an organized way to send out email.

Email is still the workhorse of promotional marketing and it gets results. There is absolutely a very good reason why your inbox is littered with a hundred promotional emails every morning. It works. We like how Iterable tells B2B marketers to take a page from B2C and make email fun again! 

5. Syndicate Your Content

Syndicating your content simply means getting it published on other websites. In the good old days this activity was related to link building. The bottom line is you want to work towards getting content or information published on other websites, that link back to relevant content on your website. If relevant websites in your space link back to you, this is a strong signal to Google that you matter.

Here is an easy way to start ... Is there an industry or association or website relevant to your product? It is highly likely that they have a blog or a newsletter and always need content. Offer to write something for their publication,

You can also syndicate your content by posting an article directly on LinkedIn vs. posting a link to a blog post. LinkedIn claims that Google doesn't ding you for duplicate content. In fact, there is far less worry about duplicate content today. 

Other possibilities are Growth.org, Quora.com or OutBrain.com. Sign up for HARO emails, and literally Help a Reporter Out, with answers to questions, where they will frequently cite you and and link back. 

Content syndication is difficult, but worthwhile and extremely effective. If you are feeling inspired, here's a good read from Massive Kontent which demonstrates how effective content syndication can be.