Integrating a Product Launch with Online Marketing
iVest® is a case in which RSO’s work as marketers began during the product’s infancy - and it goes to show that any product, at any stage of development, can undergo an analysis and makeover of its online marketing tools.
Gathering the Right Toolkit
To start, the iVest® is “an ergonomic, all-weather, load bearing” travel vest. The company built its online marketing arsenal while its first run of products were being manufactured. Therefore, from day one of product launch, iVest® was equipped with a website with strong product branding and positioning to frame keyword analysis and website copy, a blog, videos, social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and Pay-Per-Click ad campaigns.
Branding and Product Positioning
The iVest® is positioned as an eco-friendly, practical and stylish garment for the “green commuter.” With this branding strategy, iVest® has a foundation to begin testing keywords on its SEO website copy as well as its PPC copy. Business owners should have a solid brand proposition as the basis of their overall direction, but should avoid being attached to a particular keyword strategy. Think of it as fluid and sensitive to the larger context of online behavior and to the context of their industry. The art comes in adapting the changing online trends and data of a current campaign to increase performance in the next campaign.
Maintaining the Campaign
With a diversified toolkit, campaign managers are able to organize and collect data as sales come in (or don’t). Is traffic driven by PPC campaigns, Facebook or your blog? What is the “point-of-entry” to your product? Online marketing is driven by the existing data - i.e. how can the previous week’s or month’s performance tell us where to re-allocate the next month’s marketing budget? Starting off on the right foot, with all of these tools at its disposal, will serve iVest® well as it moves forward during the holiday season.
iVest’s process from initial brainstorming to live launch spanned a period of five to six months that included branding, web design and setup, social media setup, video production, PPC setup - with RSO taking the lead in the online elements. Moving forward from a human resource perspective, in addition to the direction provided by the entrepreneurs and marketing campaign managers, companies also need a content creator for PR and blogging. Business owners should take a look at this snapshot and organize their marketing toolkit (and people) accordingly.
