New Product Launch Marketing Guide Part 3 – Essential Content

We’ve learned a lot about launching new parts and accessories over the 17 or so years we’ve been in business, so we’ve put together a multi-part guide as a reference. This is the third article in our series, and it’s focused on pulling together essential new product content.

New Product Launch Step-by-Step

This is the third article in a series that addresses the seven key steps in the product launch process:

1. Competitive Analysis and Benchmarking
2. Developing and Testing Messaging
3. Pulling Together Essential Content (this article)
4. Web Content and Content Strategy
5. Generating Reviews and Testimonials
6. Awareness Advertising
7. Refine, Revise, and Retarget

What Product Content Is Essential And What’s Just ‘Nice To Have?’

Essential product content means different things to different people, but generally speaking, there are a few content types that are universally important in automotive parts and accessories marketing:

1. Consumer reviews
2. High-quality photos
3. Video that helps end users visualize ownership
4. Video and/or written installation instructions
5. Vital product specifications

Very often, new products don’t have any of the above. This is often where marketing teams get bogged down, as creating all of this essential content for the web is hard. However, there are tricks.

Influencers Can Generate Reviews And Helpful Videos

The single most important type of content for a new product is a consumer review. Reviews can be obtained by giving products to influencers and asking them for feedback or a review. If an influencer posts a video about the product, the video can be cut or edited to help potential customers visualize ownership. And very often influencer video helps with installation instructions too (only some influencers are better at documenting install than others).

Product Photography Is Easier Than Ever

A few years ago, quality product photography required a studio and an expensive camera. While there are still good reasons to use an expensive camera and a studio, A.I. tools and high-quality cell phone cameras have made photography easier. A newer premium mobile phone can usually grab a great photo with basic lighting, and then A.I. tools can remove backgrounds, fix blemishes, etc.

In terms of photos, most parts and accessories need a few shots:

• Hero-style product photos with and without packaging
• Close-up photos of visually interesting and/or critical product details
• Photos of the product in as many relevant contexts* as possible
• Photos of the product installed (ideally, before and after install from the exact same angle)
• Photos of the product plus all included extras (a “what’s in the box?” photo)
• Photos of the product from the top, side, front, bottom, 45° angle photo, etc.

There are other photos that are helpful—like lifestyle photos that show people using the product or 360 photos shot with a turntable—but the essentials are above.

*Relevant context is showing the product in the environment it would be used in. For example, a bottle of motor oil might end up photographed on a garage workbench next to an oil filter, filter wrench, and funnel. A pickup truck towing accessory would be in a video clip with a truck and a trailer. And so on.

Ask Your Customers For Video

At Spork, we’ve developed a simple yet effective process for collecting video from end users:

• We create a “Submit a Video” page on a manufacturer’s website and make it very easy for consumers to upload a video from their mobile phone
• We ask every end user to submit videos as part of our standard customer welcome email series
• Whenever we share a video on a client’s social media channels, we credit the end user who uploaded and encourage others to upload too…the more video we share, the more video we get

If you’re not working with us, setting up this process yourself is fairly straightforward.

Reference Your Benchmarking Notes For Vital Specs

Vital specifications are:

1. Any product specs that end users need to know
2. Any product specs that are impressive / build value

If we’re selling an aftermarket wheel, for example, the end user needs to know the wheel diameter, wheel width, wheel offset, and bolt pattern. But most companies selling wheels share more than these four specs:

• Most of the time wheel backspacing is shared, even though users could calculate this number themselves
• Wheel specs also usually include wheel material, wheel finish, and wheel color, because that’s how a lot of people shop for wheels
• For some users, wheel weight, load rating, and hub bore diameter are helpful, so those specs can be listed too

The best way to determine the vital specs for your product is to review your benchmarking notes. If your competitors are all mentioning cross-reference OEM part numbers, for example, your products probably need that data too.

Review And Next Steps

Hopefully, you have all the product content you need at this point, or at least you have a plan to get it. In our next article, we’ll talk about creating essential product launch website content and content strategy.

Also, if you don’t have a plan to get all the content you need, now is a good time to check in with stakeholders. If you can explain what content you’re missing and why and also show stakeholders that competitors have this content, it can sometimes free up some resources.