Pre-Launch Marketing Starts With Building A Waitlist

Most Companies Start Marketing Too Late

The typical startup journey looks like this… come up with an idea, build a product, launch to the public, and wait for your customers to come to you.

This formula has worked for some but not for many. Usually, there is a large spike of interest on launch day 🥳 and then a large drop-off the next day leaving founders disappointed. 😢

product launch map. Pre-Launch marketing

The Best Companies, Start Marketing Early 🦾

Pre-Launch Marketing is a strategy that allows you to raise product awareness, gain product feedback, and build anticipation around your product before the official launch date.

The ultimate goal is to build a loyal community of customers before you launch so that when it is time to launch they’ll be ready to buy your product and spread the word.

Here are a few success pre-launch startup stories:

Robinhood gained almost 1 million users prior to its launch, all thanks to their pre-launch waiting list strategy
Monzo generated almost 5 million users before the banking app was released
Clubhouse built a waitlist of 10 million people before their product was officially released to the public

Robinhood pre-launch waitlist

How To Run a Successful Pre-Launch Campaign? 🤔

The most cost-effective way to implement your pre-launch marketing strategy is to build an email waitlist using a method called Demand Generation which includes the following tactics:

Building a Landing Page (a single page website customers land on that has a singular call-to-action)
Attracting the right audience to your landing page by marketing on the right channels and owned channels
Collecting email addresses and as much information about your email subscribers as possible (i.e. Name, job title, and location)
Setting up email marketing campaigns that consistently sends personalized email messages to your waitlist that are educational, informative, and exclusive

The Importance of a Waitlist💡

A robust waitlist will increase your chances of getting your first paying customers and will allow you to build a relationship with your early adopters to make them feel like they are a part of an exclusive community. Having a loyal community means you’ll have advocates telling others about your product and repeat customers.

Setting Up Your Pre-Launch Marketing Strategy 🚀

For Starters:

If you don’t know exactly where to start when it comes to your pre-launch marketing strategy, no worries, we got you! We created an online course specifically for you called The Day 100 List led by Surthrive’s Founder, Justin McLeod.

The Day 100 List Online Course by Justin McLeod

We’ll walk you step-by-step on how to build your waitlist to its first 100 subscribers from scratch in the quickest & most cost-efficient way possible by using no-code landing pages, automated email sequences, and highly-targeted marketing campaigns.