A Step-by-Step Guide to a Disruptive Product Launch

Disruptive product launch is more than a catchphrase. In the age of the consumer, the only way to remain competitive is to reconsider your traditional marketing techniques and the standards by which you operate. As customers' perceptions, reactions, and acceptance of firms change, marketers must take greater chances and rely more on their instincts.

In reality, in today's distracted environment, where customers are exposed to 10,000 marketing messages every day, disruption has become increasingly important.

But what exactly is a disruptive marketing approach, and how can firms use it to increase their marketing efforts?

What exactly is a disruptive product launch?

Disruptive marketing entails turning all marketing standards on their heads, shaking things up, and changing people's perceptions of your organisation and the industry as a whole.

In other terms, a disruptive product launch entails:

• Changing the status quo
• Experimenting using new methods
• Putting the typical marketing technique to the test

According to Geoffrey Colon, author of Disruptive Marketing: What Growth Hackers, Data Punks, and Other Hybrid Thinkers Can Teach Us About Navigating the New Normal, we now live in a world where discussions trump aggressive selling. It's a location where consumers generate the best brand content; people focus on emotions; and analytics combined with creativity are the cornerstones of growth.

Indeed, according to a 2017 Wunderman survey, 88% of consumers in the United States and 90% in the United Kingdom prefer to engage with businesses that are:

• Establishing new benchmarks
• Going above and beyond the expectations
• Pushing the envelope

In this environment, the replacement of traditional marketing by daring, status-quo-breaking disruptive marketing is evident.

Furthermore, disruptive product launch encourages businesses to rethink their entire brand, not just their advertising and marketing initiatives.

They have to be ready to adapt their business strategy, product or service, and the message they deliver to consumers. It can be a risky undertaking, but sticking to the same business strategy for an extended period of time can be much worse.

What makes disruptive marketing effective?

Market interruptions are classified into two types:

1. Novelty - meets the needs of customers in a novel way by providing a brand-new product or service.
2. Curiosity. Because it is distinctive, it draws and excites individuals, prompting them to seek more information. In 2015, 84% of buyers stated that it is very or very important that the brand from which they purchase be innovative. However, in the post-pandemic era, this has become critical! New challenges necessitate new solutions, and modern consumers desire items that provide novelty and entertainment. As a result, audiences enjoy disruptive marketing initiatives because they force them to think in novel ways.
3. Adoption - enhances an existing product or service by making it faster, better, or less expensive.In any case, disruptive marketing has numerous characteristics that make it a strong strategy:
4. Approachability. Customers can easily understand the tale told by disruptive product launches. In an age when consumers are 22 times more likely to recall a fact if it is enhanced with a story, great brand storytelling is vital. Why? The intention of stories is to make us think and feel because they can provoke an emotional reaction.
5. Affordability. Effective disruptive marketing does not have to be expensive. Instead, it must alter the way things are done and challenge people's perceptions of your product.

The top brand attributes that millennials value the most:

• Trustworthiness
• Communication that is open
• Creativeness
• Intelligence
• Authenticity

A disruptive product launch combines all of these elements, and it is difficult to replicate. If another company tries the same strategies or posture, it will most likely be overlooked because customers will favour the first.

There is room for experimentation. While traditional marketing categorises your brand, disruptive marketing empowers you to break the rules. As a first-mover, you have the freedom to experiment with new products and industries.

Why is disruptive product launch so crucial today?

There are three most essential reasons why you need to embark on a disruptive marketing trend:

1. Rapid technological advancement
2. PWC conducted a significant study on the long-term changes in consumer behaviours and values that happened during COVID-19 and discovered that 50% of them have grown more digital.
3. Consumers of the next generation
4. Market saturation

As a result, new social media trends emerged, such as short-form vertical videos. If you're wondering how this may affect your traditional marketing, consider that TikTok users watch over 24 hours of material every month on average. And this one social media platform began to influence all of the others.

This means you're suddenly competing against millions of content creators, with a short attention span, and an entirely new need.

Create a Disruptive Marketing Campaign

1. Be familiar with your industry.

Before you can develop a disruptive marketing strategy, you must first choose what you want to disrupt. Think With Google, Survey Monkey, BizStats, and other tools can help you get an in-depth understanding of an industry, product, or service. Consider an industry weakness or potential customers whose wants are not met. Then, identify areas where your brand may address an unmet demand and either build something new or make significant enhancements.

Brands accomplished this by researching the organic, non-GMO, and clean product retail industries. They realised that "$3 is simply not the entry price into that market." So they sought to democratise access to these things at reasonable prices and devised a simple business model: everything is $3, and there are no manufacturing hidden costs.

2. Recognize your customer

Furthermore, in order to design a successful disruptive campaign, you must put yourself in the shoes of your customer.

Customers want businesses to understand their specific demands and expectations. As a result, it is critical to investigate the audience that is vital to your brand:

• What are their requirements and desire?
• Is there something they might find surprising?
• In their free time, what do they prefer to do?
• What do people anticipate from your company?

To have a better understanding of your audience and its behaviour, use audience analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Followerwonk, and others.

For example, LEGO has long collaborated with consumers to develop goods. Members of their online community LEGO Ideas exchange their ideas, submit their own designs, and provide feedback to one another.

3. Perform the unexpected

When you've identified your competitive edge, promote it in an unusual way.

Make a splash with something unexpected and exceptional. Nissan, for example, changed the way new cars were sold by selling its Versa Note through Amazon's website and shipping them in well-known Amazon boxes.

The internet store sold 100 cars in all, and their advertising was clearly noticed by their target group.

4. Be pertinent

According to the Brand Relevance IndexTM, "the strongest brands are those that are relentlessly relevant and make a difference in the lives of consumers." Thus, creating experiences that are relevant to your customers is one of the most important components of disruption.

Air Wick accomplished this through their interactive digital tool, which "allows you to mix the appropriate smell and home decor ideas with the atmosphere you want to create in your house." The quiz was designed by data scientists and specialists using the outcomes of scientific studies on people's moods based on fragrance categories.

5. Be amusing

Could it be as simple as being able to laugh at yourself or your product to create disruption? Consider BMW's innovative technique in their video for their new electric vehicle:

"Zeus meets his match in the Ultimate Electric Driving Machine, the all-electric BMW iX, after retiring from Mount Olympus and residing in Palm Springs with his wife Hera."

6. Make use of uncommon pairings

Connecting the unconnected can disrupt trends and spark innovation.

Pan n' Ice nailed it when they developed innovative videos of mashing their ice cream rolls with unexpected things such as Cheetos, Big Mac, Hellman's mayo, Chupa Chups, Dr Pepper, and so on.

7. Push the boundaries

Define the industry's existing rules and conventions, then redefine them.

This is what Dollar Shave Club has accomplished by distinguishing itself from large brands with a clean and sleek identity. Dollar Shave Club, on the other hand, leveraged humour and a unique value proposition in its 2012 video marketing campaign, which received over 27 million views on YouTube. Even a decade later, people are still commenting on and applauding this advertisement!

Why do customers enjoy disruptive product launches- Final word

We live in an ever-changing world.

Technology, products, and services are rapidly changing and evolving. As a result, customers are not only spoiled for choice but also tired of the information overload they face on a daily basis.

Your audience craves to be shocked and challenged in a sea of irrelevant information and recurrent trends.

Disruptive marketing campaigns accomplish just that! With their distinct appearance, they make products and services stick in our memories.

When consumers pay more attention and think about your advertisements after scrolling away, their engagement is likely to increase. Encourage your marketing staff to reconsider their digital strategy and be more daring when it comes to content creation. We hope this guide helped you understand more about disruptive product launch ad how you can achieve the same.