The starting point of an updated brand position or new product launch is your unique value proposition (UVP). A strong UVP creates a point of differentiation for your building materials brand. But it won’t serve you at all if your internal and external audiences don’t know about it.
With limited dollars to invest in launch events, you need to be smart about how you roll out your UVP. The following three steps will help you prioritize key audiences, the cadence, and tactics for introducing your UVP in a way that drives the desired impact — all while solidifying your position in the market.
1. Turn your sales team into brand ambassadors
Your sales team has a deep understanding of customer needs and their buying behaviors. That’s why gaining their support for your updated UVP is the first step to a successful campaign or product launch. During the research phase of your project, you likely tapped into the expertise of the sales team for insights. Now you should prioritize them in the launch phase.
After all, when your sales team fully endorses the positioning for your brand and product, they become strong advocates and an impactful marketing channel.
Ideally, someone from the sales team was involved as the brand or product launch marketing strategy was developed. Leverage that individual to help you fuel excitement within the full sales organization. But if a sales leader wasn’t involved in the early stage, look now to identify a champion. You’ll want someone with influence who can help communicate with the sales team and encourage them to embrace your new UVP.
Create an internal launch that embodies your brand
The goal of your internal launch is to introduce a consistent story. Your sales team will be telling the story to the market, so the way to introduce the updated UVP needs to be more than the proverbial game of telephone. You want the same story told time and time again to build trust in your brand and strengthen your position.
Help your sales team experience the journey of how you arrived at your UVP. Depending on the culture of your organization, this can take on a variety of formats.
It might be an elaborate event that personifies your brand. You can invite the sales team to join you on a job site for product demonstrations or hands-on exhibits. Or you can plan sessions with product development specialists for a “behind the scenes” look at new products or improvements.
Your internal launch doesn’t always have to be a big, stand-alone experience, though. Depending on your objectives and timing, consider aligning with already-scheduled sales meetings or events.
Whatever you do, always make sure the launch to your sales team is not a silent hand-off. Encourage conversations and make it easy for people to ask questions. You want your sales team to leave with a clear understanding of how your new UVP benefits customers and how they can articulate those benefits in their conversations.
Develop a suite of sales tools that reflect your new UVP
Once your internal team is aligned — and excited — about the strategy, it’s time to put branded materials into their hands. The momentum will be strong following your launch, so make sure the tools your sales team needs are readily available.
Post information on internal systems to make it easy to find and reference and include things like:
- A customer-facing presentation that the sales team can use when calling on prospects
- Brochures and product samples to leave behind following an initial meeting
- Sales scripts or emails for reaching out to customers or following up on individual conversations
Your website should also be considered a sales tool. Make sure it’s updated to be consistent with all the other marketing materials your sales team will be using.
2. Gain velocity with current customers through owned channels
Once you’ve launched your new UVP with internal teams, it’s time to ignite your external marketing engine. But before you focus efforts on new customer acquisition, start with what you already have. The lowest cost and highest impact will likely come from leveraging first-party data and owned channels.
Your current customers and identified prospects already have some level of familiarity with your brand. That makes it more likely that your efforts will move them further through your sales process. Getting these groups of customers excited about what’s new about your brand or its product offerings increases their propensity to convert or stay loyal to your brand.
This is also a great opportunity to cleanse and standardize your first-party data. Your marketing agency partner can help you update contact information and append data with additional firmographics. You can then use this data for targeted email campaigns and to inform paid social and programmatic campaigns. This will reinforce your message to customers and prospects already hearing the news from your sales team or other channels.
Speaking of other channels, you’ll also want to promote new content on your organic social channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). Then find new ways to continue sharing the message with this established audience.
3. Fill the sales funnel with new customers
The last step in the launch of your UVP is attracting new customers for your brand. It’s intentionally left to the end of the process to preserve the integrity of the experience. Driving new traffic via paid channels before your channels are updated creates a disconnected customer experience. But with your internal teams aligned and the messages already reaching your current contacts, you’re in the right place to broaden your reach.
Prioritization is still the name of the game. Just as you prioritized audiences for the rollout of your UVP, now you’ll prioritize your paid channels.
The first focus should be on channels where people are already interested in your product. Keyword searches indicate purchasing desires. Think of those searches as potential customers raising their hands to let you know they’re in the market. They’re actively looking for a solution that your product or service delivers. Paid search will help pull through that demand.
Next, use tools like Google Discovery Network to leverage intent-based data. This allows you to target customers who are reading content, using keywords, or engaging in other intent-based behaviors.
Your first-party data will also come in handy when targeting new customers. By using information about your current customer base, you can create look-a-like audiences to target on paid social channels. The people who profile the same as your current customer base are a prime target audience for awareness-building campaigns and building your prospect database.
Final things to keep in mind as you launch your new UVP
Regardless of which audience you are targeting, be sure to customize your UVP. Elevating specific insights by audience increases the relevancy of the UVP. When your audiences — whether internal or external — can personally relate to the benefits they will be more likely to embrace the new position. And that means they will take the actions you need them to take. Sales teams will use the UVP as a selling feature and customers will show their brand loyalty through additional purchases.
Finally, connect your UVP launch back to your measurement and learning plan. This agenda defines what you expect the campaign connected to your UVP to accomplish and answers questions of “so what” for your organization. Extend these objectives to your launch to create a rollout that is relevant to all audiences.