How You Should Market Your New Product to Existing Customers

Here is a common small business scenario: you’ve been marketing and selling a product for a few years now, and the price and demand have been consistent and constant. However, you now find yourself in a dilemma. You’re releasing a new product that will be more expensive than your usual stock, maybe much more. The question becomes: how do you market that new more expensive product to your existing audience? How do you convince them to pay more?

My answer: you don’t.

If you’ve been selling $25 dollar handbags, and now you want to sell $200 handbags, you don’t want to market to your current audience, because they probably can’t afford it.

Now, maybe they can. But it’s very important for everyone to understand that, in this particular scenario, you may have to go out and find a new audience. And that’s scary. I get it. I know that building up that first initial audience is already an insane amount of work. But if you’re really motivated to get this new product out there, that is what you need to consider.

This is the same advice I give people when they ask how to market a new product. And I mean a brand new product, no prior price point or existing customers. You go out and you find the people most likely to spend money on that product. This is how you need to treat a more expensive item; start fresh. Start new. Inform your current customer base, but be prepared to reach out this new group of people who are far more likely to purchase.

There are a few ways this can happen. Put yourself out there. Engage with other people on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Find the communities that make sense for your product and get in on the discussion.

Influencers on Instagram, for example, are a tremendous opportunity. If you can find someone who is big in your space, has a blog, or podcast, or another type of media with an audience, connect with them and turn them into a brand ambassador. Maybe you can even get away with giving away some product to them for free as incentive. If you provide that value upfront, they are much more likely to give something back.

Five to ten percent of your current audience will grow with you into the new product range. Maybe even more if you have solid customers. But if you can keep the old products, as well market to new customers with your more expensive pieces, you’re winning.

Know someone who could use some of this advice? It would be great if you could please pass the article along to them. 🙂