Ok, so you have found a hot drop shipping niche to break into, came up with a great brand name and you have a manufacturer locked in to produce the product and fulfill your orders. That is great, but without a successful launch it could spell quick failure.
Even though you avoid having to handle the production, there are still a lot of hard costs associated with bringing a new drop shipping brand to life. Most manufacturers will have a minimum quantity you need to commit to, especially if you have custom branding and packaging. You need to sell your initial commitment fast so you get your name out there and can get more product into production. It’s a vicious cycle and without sales it will kill your business, leaving you in a serious hole.
One of the easiest ways to ensure initial traction and success is to have people lined up ready to buy your product the day you launch. While it sounds easier than it really is, there are several things you can do to help you have a successful brand launch.
You have to be willing to put in the work, and it helps if you have co-founders and a team that all have a part in the project and need it to succeed just as bad as you do. When everyone is in the same boat it creates an environment that is working towards survival.
Use these tips to help you launch your drop shipping business to an audience with their wallets open.
Offer a Pre-Sale Discount
If you happen to have a large social media following or an email list you can cross-promote to, it’s often a good idea to offer a pre-sale discount. Sure, you aren’t collecting the full amount per sale, but this allows you to collect funds that will offset (and often times cover) the initial production costs.
Any time you can eliminate financial liability it’s a good idea. It not only increases odds of surviving the initial launch, but it also help to eliminate the stress that comes along with it. Less stress and worrying about money allows you to put more energy and focus into a successful brand launch.
The amount of the discount will often relate to how big of an audience you have access to, along with your financial situation. Sometimes covering the initial production run and making enough to pay for half of the second run will allow you to sell at a steep discount and not only relieve some financial stress, but also put the product in a lot of hands and generate some reviews. You can also offer a pre-sale discount and require a review left in order to secure the special price.
Run a Headline Grabbing Contest
I have seen several new brands go viral before even hitting the market because they launched a contest that attracted a lot of media. A cash giveaway is always one way to get some headlines written about your contest, which can then drive interest and website traffic to your website.
The contest could be something as simple as requiring a social share of your pre-launch landing page or following your social media accounts. You need to make the prize desirable enough that it will cause complete strangers to want to help market and promote a brand they have never heard of.
Cash, iPhones, MacBook’s and Apple Watches are always good prizes that people will do almost anything for. Combos of multiple prizes are great as well.
Give Special Perks for Pre-Orders
Now, if you don’t want to discount your products to those that purchase before you launch, you can offer some special perks for those that buy early, and especially those that purchase multiple quantities.
Something as simple as a free t-shirt or stickers can get the pre-orders rolling in quickly, especially if they are presented as limited editions. If you show the quantities sold on each tier, as well as how many of each perk is left, it helps to create FOMO (fear of missing out), and this can really cause your pre-orders to sky rocket.
A little trick I like to use is looking at some of the most successful crowdfunding projects that are closely related to the product category you are launching. A lot of the success when it comes to crowdfunding goals is the perks offered, so this can help give you a pretty good idea of what types of kick-backs will be well received, and help you reach your pre-order goals.
Have a number figured out and use that to help create scarcity. If you don’t have a set number of each perk, then consumers won’t act fast as they don’t feel any sense of urgency.
Pre-Plan Your Launch Date in Advance (make sure it makes sense)
The type of product you are launching really determines the best date to launch, and you need to take this into consideration. For example, if you are launching a diet pill, then launching in mid-summer isn’t going to help you drive the most interest and sales. Most people that are serious about health and being fit are already deep in their workout program and have already identified the supplements and diet programs they are using.
Instead, building up hype before the major winter holidays would be the best plan of attack, as everyone tends to eat unhealthy and then vow to start working out in the beginning of the year. Whether they do or not doesn’t matter — you want to launch when that goal and objective is on their mind. Highly targeted ads on social media around Christmas would be ideal for a diet pill pre-launch offer.
Create a Viral Video
I am a big fan of videos, especially for social media marketing and this is for two main reasons. First, especially when it comes to Facebook, videos can help you get the most reach. If your content is good and receives strong engagement the Facebook algorithm rewards it and shows it to more people.
When you put out a solid video against a regular paid static image post, the video can return 10X the amount of engagement and traffic, I have a friend that runs a motocross company… he’s not an online marketer but what he can do is talk well to his target audience, his simple but entertaining videos often get 10’s of 1000s of views, it’s just him being himself talking about what he loves and letting his personality shine through.
Then on top of that, when you add in a viral element, it creates natural sharing, which then gives you valuable organic exposure for free. There have been some brands to receive millions of free views just because they created a highly shareable video.
Think of what your target audience will respond to and create something memorable.
Have a Strong Coming Soon Website
If you are going to spend the time and effort to generate buzz early on and collect pre-sales, then make sure you are sending your traffic to a website that is fully capable of capturing leads, rewarding social shares and collecting pre-sales.
I have seen so many piss poor attempts at pre-launches that feature a single page with a contact form. If you think people are going to take time to inquire about your product without giving them any incentive or detailed information for that matter, then you are severely mistaken and will be in for a rude awakening.
Have a lot of detailed images, descriptions, and try to answer any kind of questions that might come up. This is your chance to pre-educate about what you are bringing to market. If it’s a health product for example, showcase medical studies, nutritional values, etc.
Spend the money to do it right and if you really want a seamless transition to launch, have your shopping cart and backend fully built out and in place. This allows you to skin it for the pre-launch and then retain the same system moving forward. When you don’t have to transfer data or change systems it makes life easier.
Be Different and Unique
This is something you need to make sure you put some thought into before you even consider building out a product launch for a drop shipping business. If something has been done and done over again, then the odds of you surviving, let alone take off with a successful launch are slim to none.
Let’s take the tea craze that swept through social media. Every major influencer was pushing Flat Tummy Tea and Fit Tea, to the point that people started to mock the posts. If you decided to come out with a competing tea, then you would need to have a much different strategy.
If you think you can just pay some influencers to post pictures and sales will roll in you’re wrong. It’s been done and fit tea has been beaten to death. Now, if you came up with something totally unique, like a viral comedy video that mocked the competitors, that would be a different angle that could make you stand out.
Generate Media and Press Interest
If you are able to secure some major press and media exposure prior to launching it can be like throwing gas on a fire. I’ve seen a few brands do this successfully, and what they did was leverage their influencers to get their foot in the door and eventually receive major coverage and press.
So, not only can a high profile influencer help you reach your target audience, but they can also help make you more newsworthy. Let’s just pretend you have an unlimited budget and somehow you were able to get Kim Kardashian to do some posts about your new product.
Not only would this cause your website to be flooded with pre-orders, but it would make your pitch emails receive a very high response rate. “Hey, we were just wondering if you would like to do a story on [product name] — it’s the newest item to be endorsed by Kim Kardashian. Would you like us to send you one?”
An email like that will receive a reply and if you get the item into their hands they will gladly write about it because it gives them a chance to use Kim Kardashian’s name to pull views.
Cross Promote with Brands Targeting a Similar Audience
If you are able to use the social media following or email list of a brand that has a similar audience, then it can be a game changer, but getting a company to help you won’t be easy. They need to be closely related, yet not similar enough that you would be stealing customers and business from them.
It is highly unlikely that you will find someone to do this out of the kindness of their heart. This is a straight bribery or payment play. Money talks, and if you make a strong enough offer you will find some interest. This will really only be worth it if the audience is highly relevant and their reach is massive.
Build Hype on Social Media
So many drop shipping businesses that are able to master social media grow at lightning fast speeds. By focusing on social media before you launch, you are able to drum up interest, but also learn how your audience reacts to your brand.
While you want to get interest hyped so you are inundated with orders on day one, you always want to learn how to properly interact with your audience on the different social media networks. Find out what makes them tick, and how to get them to love your brand and want to share you with their friends and connections. When you find that sweet spot you can really see social pay off.
Conclusion
Thanks to the internet, you can now create your own product and not have to worry about manufacturing or even order fulfillment, giving you endless opportunity to ride the wave of trends, pop culture, and popularity.
There are endless products that you can create for a few dollars and sell for upwards of several hundred dollars, as long as your branding is on point. Look at some of the most popular products being pushed on social media using influencers. The same exact products can be found on Amazon for a fraction of the cost, but consumers love good branding that they can relate to. If a famous influencer is pushing a product people will pay 10X the price just to have that connection with them.
Will this always be the case? Probably not, but right at this moment there is a massive opportunity to create a brand, set up a drop shipping operation and bank seriously hard. The tips above can help you have a successful product launch, resulting in immediate sales. When you do this correctly and have revenue coming in on day one, you give your new brand a much higher likelihood of succeeding.
When you have revenue on day one you can scale your advertising and marketing, and maximize your return potential. I would love to hear from those of you that have currently launched a drop shipping business or are in the process of getting started. What have you found that works well for a successful launch? Is there anything that you would like to add to this list? Drop your feedback in the comments below.
