Launching new products and services can be daunting for many entrepreneurs. The fear and uncertainty of bringing new ideas to market can overwhelm most.

However, a success product, or service, launch often has underlying commonalities. So, we asked eight successful entrepreneurs and product-launch experts to share their top product launch tip, and here’s what they had to say:

1. Consider a holistic approach.

“A product launch should include a multipronged approach to sustain awareness … Think about your social media profile images: Could they include an image of your new product? Have you [created] an exclusive e-blast to your customers about the new product with a private sale? A launch is a moment in time, but you must continue to find new ways to infuse your product messaging throughout the year.”

– Kelly Mistry, Owner of MyFairyTaleBooks: @MyFairyTaleBooks

2. Launch a minimum viable product (MVP).

“Launch your minimal viable product (MVP) as soon as possible, even if it barely works. If the pain point you are solving is that big, [consumers] will use your product and provide feedback. If there is no market fit, people won’t bother using it, and you saved yourself months of investment and development costs.”

– Albert Ko, Co-Founder of DealGuppy.com: @cheapcheapcheap

3. Don’t forget about targeted PR.

“When getting press for a product launch, forget the press release and just reach out to journalists and bloggers in a personal 1-on-1 email.  Also make sure to research the writing of each writer and try and reference your own company and experience in how it relates to some past piece.”

– Jordan Warzecha, Co-Founder of Backstitch: @jwarzech

4. Launch with a co-marketing partner.

“Without a doubt, the best way to launch is to partner with as many other people, companies and organizations as possible. [New partners can] bring new channels, relationships, lines of revenue and customers. Then you can begin to leverage these partnerships into your own channels, relationships, core lines of revenue and new customers.”

– Daniel James Scott, Founder of Alorum: @sparkcatalyst

5. Organize a live event and product demonstration.

“Organize a private event, featuring a live demonstration of your product, to a select group of loyal supporters and local media. Offer guests a chance to test and purchase the product before it hits the market at a special discounted rate. Video tape the real-life interaction between your guests and the product for future use as a marketing tool to share on your website and social media sites. This will promote a buzz and heighten your social media marketing campaigns; resulting in an overall increase in sales. If local celebrities [attend] your event, use [the] opportunity to ask for a video product review in exchange for your unreleased product.”

– Rachel Green, Founder and CEO of A Brand Called U: @ABrandCalledU

6. Create your sales funnel and analytics benchmarks.

“Create a clear model of your sales funnel, then invest in top-quality analytics to see how your customers proceed through the funnel. Sales is a numbers game, so you need data to know how your is performing. This is not to say you shouldn’t trust your gut; [as it] informs the initial sales funnel design and ideas for improvements. But look to your data first, because improving conversion rates at any stage of the sales funnel is like free money.”

– Russ Wallace, EIR of RAA Ventures: @rustysf

7. Gather customer testimonials.

“User testimonials should be a core aspect of your [company website or] landing page. Make sure that you have tested your with real life users, and get their feedback. [Then] get permission to re-publish their feedback on your [company] website.”

– Ben Bakhshi, Product Manager of Coordinato: @coordinatoteam

8. Start the sales cycle prior to launch.

“Generate interest before you actually have the product ready to launch. Too many companies wait until their product is 100% ready and only then begin to market the product, meaning that it may take months to generate sales. [For example], we prepare landing pages, brochures, and other [sales] collateral materials,e-mail announcements and [direct mail] brochures … well in advance of having the product ready for sale. We often use mock-ups or simple drawings to represent the product. In this way, we start the sales cycle before launch so when we are ready, we already have customers lined up to make a purchase.”

– Arnon Rosan, President and CEO of Signature Systems Group, LLC.: @arnonrosan

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