Launching a tech startup is like embarking on a thrilling adventure filled with potential and promise. As an entrepreneur, you have invested countless hours into developing a groundbreaking product or service poised to disrupt the industry.

Unfortunately, 90% of startups fail, leaving aspiring entrepreneurs to grapple with the daunting challenge of ensuring their success. The secret to a triumphant launch lies in something often overlooked—building buzz and anticipation well before your product hits the market. The sooner you can start validating and acquiring users, the better your chance to be in the 10%.

The importance of pre-launch marketing

You might have an incredible product, but your chances of success are slim if people aren't aware of it. Engaging with the target audience pre-launch allows you to lay the foundation for a successful start and establish a solid customer base from the very beginning. The benefits of building buzz before launch include:

• Creating anticipation: Pre-launch marketing builds excitement among potential customers, creating a sense of curiosity and eagerness to experience your product.
• Validating the product idea: Engaging with your target audience before launch allows you to gather valuable feedback and insights, validating your product idea and ensuring it resonates with your intended market.
• Attracting early adopters: Generating buzz before launch allows you to attract early adopters enthusiastic about trying new products. These early adopters can provide valuable feedback, become brand advocates, and help drive further adoption among their networks.

The product adoption curve illustrates the journey of customers embracing a new product. By generating buzz before launch, you aim to capture the attention of innovators and early adopters. They pave the way for the majority to follow suit, resulting in a successful product launch and sustained growth.

Developing your pre-launch marketing strategy

Developing a pre-launch marketing strategy involves several key steps to ensure a successful launch. These steps include:

• Understanding your target audience: Conduct thorough market research to identify your ideal customer profile, demographics, preferences, and pain points. This understanding helps tailor your marketing messages effectively.
• Defining your Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Determine what sets your product or service apart from competitors. Highlight the unique benefits or features that resonate with your target audience and create a compelling value proposition.
• Setting SMART marketing goals: Establish Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. For instance, your goal could be generating 500 pre-launch sign-ups in two weeks. SMART goals provide clarity and direction.

Developing a comprehensive pre-launch marketing strategy sets the stage for a successful journey. Having a solid strategy in place gives you the foundation to start building out your pre-launch marketing campaign.

Building a pre-launch landing page

A pre-launch landing page is crucial in capturing interest and gathering email addresses when launching a tech startup. The landing page serves as a preview of the product or service to generate excitement and build an initial customer base. Here are tips for creating an effective landing page:

• Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): The landing page should have a prominent and compelling CTA that clearly states what action visitors should take, such as "Sign up for early access" or "Join our waitlist." This helps convert visitors into leads by encouraging them to provide their email addresses.
• Showcasing benefits: Highlight the unique features and benefits of the product or service. Explain how it solves a problem or improves the lives of potential customers. Communicate the value proposition to make visitors understand why they should be interested.
• Engaging visuals: Use eye-catching visuals like images, videos, or graphics to create an appealing and captivating landing page. Visuals convey the message more effectively, evoke emotions, and make the page memorable. Squarespace and Webflow are popular website builders that can help you create visually appealing landing pages.

Incorporating these tips into your pre-launch landing page allows you to build a valuable subscriber list for your tech startup, establishing a strong foundation for future marketing and communication efforts.

Leveraging social media

Virtually everyone's on social media these days. So, tapping into these platforms is an absolute must-do if you want to build some serious buzz about your tech startup before the big launch. Start by identifying the platforms where your target audience is most active. Develop a cohesive branding strategy that reflects your startup's values, mission, and unique selling points.

Consistent branding and messaging across platforms are crucial for building brand recognition and establishing trust. Use engaging content, such as teaser videos, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and sneak peeks, to generate curiosity and anticipation. Canva is a great tool for easily creating well-designed and on-brand social media assets.

Creating a teaser campaign

A teaser campaign can be a phased series of social posts, a low-budget PPC campaign on TikTok or Facebook, an email marketing campaign or even some kind of guerilla marketing campaign. Whatever it is, use the following tips to create an effective campaign:

• Using mystery: Create curiosity by keeping certain aspects of your startup's product or service mysterious. Tease your audience with intriguing hints and clues that leave them wanting to know more. You can do this through cryptic messages, puzzles, or riddles that engage and challenge your audience.
• Revealing information gradually: Instead of divulging everything at once, release small pieces of information over some time. For example, share sneak peeks, feature highlights, or snippets of user testimonials to unveil the value and uniqueness of your offering gradually.
• Incorporating visuals: Use compelling graphics, videos, or animations that capture attention and convey the essence of your startup's vision or product. To amplify the impact, you can share these visuals across social media, landing pages, or email newsletters.

Remember to align your messaging with your brand identity and target audience's preferences to maximise the campaign's impact.

Engaging with influencers and bloggers

According to research, 49% of consumers rely on influencer recommendations when making purchase decisions. Therefore, bloggers and influencers hold immense power to amplify your tech startup's message before its launch. These individuals are a helpful shortcut to a bigger audience when starting out.

Platforms like Boksi can provide a centralised hub for discovering, connecting, and collaborating with influencers and bloggers, streamlining the process. Look for individuals with highly relevant and highly engaged audiences with smaller followings (micro-influencers). These will be much more cost-effective, with campaigns starting at as low as $50. When reaching out, personalise your message, highlighting how their expertise and content can resonate with your brand.

Using email marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool to keep potential customers engaged and updated before launching your tech startup. By leveraging social media and content marketing, you can drive people to subscribe to your newsletter, expanding your email marketing reach and effectiveness. Here are three tips for maximising the impact of your email campaign:

• Personalisation: Customise your emails to make recipients feel valued and connected. Tailor the content to their needs and pain points, demonstrating that you understand them individually.
• Providing value: Offer valuable and relevant content in your emails. Share industry insights, tips, or exclusive sneak peeks about your startup. Focus on solving problems and providing solutions rather than purely promotional content.
• Using compelling CTAs: Use action-oriented language to create urgency or exclusivity. For example, a compelling CTA could be "Get Early Access Now!"

Remember to regularly analyse your email campaign's performance, track open and click-through rates, and refine your strategies based on the insights you gather. Mailchimp is a great tool to consider for a comprehensive analysis and detailed metrics.

Build buzz for your tech startup with Growthmode

A successful tech startup launch requires more than just a great product—it demands a pre-launch marketing strategy that builds anticipation and excitement. Getting your business off the ground can be one heck of a challenging ride, so you need to start as early as you can.

At Growthmode, our only goal is to help businesses grow. Our founders come from tech startup backgrounds and have built multiple startups, starting with pre-launch campaigns. Contact us today, and we'll help you build buzz for your startup.