Should you Launch Your Product During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

It seems that many women don’t want to launch their product during the coronavirus pandemic. I’ve seen it on social media, and heard it from some of my clients.

Everyone seems worried about being insensitive, and many figure they ought to wait a bit. 

But I want to put out the thought that maybe this is the exact time you do need to launch your product. That it would be insensitive or selfish to hold it back.

Where do the fears from launching a product during the pandemic come from?

Fear of being insensitive

I think we’re all horrified at what we see on the news, and we feel a lot of compassion for those impacted by the virus and its effects – on health, on social gatherings, on personal finances.

We want to be as sensitive and caring as we can be. Typically, people imagine used-car salesmen when they think about sales. And that’s the opposite of sensitive and caring. 

If you worry about being insensitive, question that thought. Is selling something insensitive, or is the way some people go about it the insensitive part? Don’t people love to shop? Don’t people need to buy things that they can’t provide for themselves?

Fear of what other people think

Tied to that fear of being insensitive is the fear of what your mom and your best friend think. We don’t know how they will perceive our product launch. 

Why is that? Why do we care what others think? We all just really want to be liked and accepted by our group. And doing something unusual threatens that acceptance. 

One very freeing thought that I heard while listening to Rachel Hollis is, “Other people’s opinions are none of your business.” Think for a moment what life would be like if that were true for you. 

Like most women my age, I was taught to worry about what other people thought. Including neighbors I only waved to and people I didn’t even know. 

But worrying about what other people think doesn’t serve me well, and I maintain that if you’re running a business and being a parent and supervising online school, that belief doesn’t serve you either. As it turns out, it was mostly a habit for me, not a value that I hold. I haven’t let go of this 100%, but I’m working on it!

Really question yourself. If you’re worried about what others will think, is it because that concern is serving you well?

Fear of failure

Okay, so no one loves to fail. But isn’t this one tied to worrying about what other people think? It is for me.

Here’s a good question for fear of failure. “What’s the worst that can happen?” Go ahead and ask yourself, then write down all the terrible things that could happen. Maybe the worst really isn’t so bad at all.

If you do have some truly awful outcomes possible, make a note about how likely they are. Then, make a list of EVERYTHING you could do to prevent the worst from happening. Can you do those things? 

Fear of Uncertainty

All those fears are compounded by fear of uncertainty in the world right now. Humans in general don’t like uncertainty. And it’s that uncertainty rather than the virus that is causing a lot of the stress and panic right now. (See: the stock markets)

Personally, I believe here at the beginning of April, we’re in the quiet place in the eye of the storm. We’ve had a few months of denial, haphazard preparation, and conspiracy theories. Now, we’re realizing that we have to hunker down and stay put, take care of our loved ones and hold on for the rest of the pandemic. Because we see that true devastation is coming. 

Reasons you might want to launch now

With all those fears out of the way (or at least understood), I want to talk to you about some of the reasons this is a great time to launch a product.

So many people need help right now. Are you a healthcare professional? Are you a scientist? If so, you can help people with overcoming their uncertainty and caring for their families.

If you’re not a healthcare professional, think about how else people are hurting. Can you help with any of those?

Don’t you owe it to the world to help when people are in need?

Avoiding creating insensitive products

This one’s not so tough. Create your product & offer with a spirit of helpfulness, caring, and compassion for your customers.

Instead of thinking of your product debut as a “launch” think of it as reaching out to help. When you’re reaching out to help, when you know you have a helpful solution and you’re talking to people in need, don’t you want to keep trying to make contact and keep trying to offer your help? (That’s a lot like a launch.)

You also want to be sensitive when you work out your pricing. Do not price gouge. Do I even have to write that? But don’t give everything away either. You have to earn so that you can survive yourself.

If your business doesn’t survive, you leave your clients and customers in a tight spot. They need you and what you do to continue operating. So does this hurting world.

As I’ve written before, give away as much of the “what to do” as possible. Feel good that you can help people without charging them. But do charge for the “how to do it” and the “I’ll do it for you,” or you’ll be out of business, and will have to worry about feeding your own family.

If you’re still worried that your customers can’t afford you right now, I think that the kindest way to approach payments is to be very flexible with payment schedules rather than discount too much.

Current problems during this pandemic

Here is a small list of problems that need solving during this pandemic. I’m sure there are so many more! If you have solutions, you owe it to your audience and to the world to help.

• Anxiety
• Loneliness
• Loss of income
• Childcare & child entertainment issues
• Trouble getting necessities
• Change in routine
• Working remotely
• School at home
• Concern about elderly and sick relatives
• Pet care
• Physical health and exercise

Launch your product during this pandemic

So if you have something helpful to offer your audience, my take is that you owe it to them to go ahead and offer it. Your launch might look different than you’d planned, but you still need to get your product out there and you need to promote and let people know it’s available.

If you don’t offer your help or let people know it’s out there, your audience won’t get the benefits of your help. And denying your audience help is what is really insensitive.

Offer your product now, in a spirit of helpfulness. Be mindful of the times when you put your promotion together. Create something now in this world that can make life a bit better for your audience. You owe it to them!

Photo by Manik Rathee on Unsplash