by: Michele Pariza Wacek

When most entrepreneurs decide to launch a product, they're mostly thinking about how many products they're going to sell or how much money they'll make during the launch.

Now while that's a great reason to have a product launch, it's actually not the only reason. In fact, I may go as far to say it's not even the most important reason. Let's take a moment and go through the top 5 reasons to have a launch that have nothing to do with selling that particular product.

1. You create visibility for yourself. Even a small product launch will create visibility and get people talking about you. After all, the point of a product launch is to create a buzz and get some of your free content to go viral. The sheer act of doing that builds name and brand recognition, which is key to growing a business.

2. You build your credibility. If your product launches include releasing free content (i.e. videos, special reports) or hosting a free call or webinar, how you present that information can go a long ways towards building your credibility. If you giveaway great content and people can experience for themselves how knowledgeable you are, your credibility will shoot through the roof.

3. You build your list. Offering free content or a free call or webinar is a great way to build your list. Even if you have a small list there are ways to structure your product launch to maximize your list building. (Note -- the end result may not be tons of sales but rather a big boost in your credibility and visibility not to mention more names on your list.)

4. You build momentum in your marketing and your business. Product launches take an enormous amount of energy to get off the ground. That energy has to go somewhere (remember the laws of physics -- energy is neither created or destroyed, just transformed) and if done right it's transformed into a huge momentum boost for your business. You'll likely find marketing your business much easier after a launch -- not just because your personal momentum is going but because your prospects are still "talking" about you and are more open to receiving your message.

5. You sell your other products and services. Remember all that visibility and credibility you created with your launch? Well, you likely got the attention of people who may not be interested in the specific product you're launching but they ARE interested in YOU. Don't be surprised if sales of your other products and services jump (this typically happens both during and after the launch).

Now, here's the best part. If you do a product launch for reasons OTHER than a big payday at the end of the day, think about how good it will feel when you DO sell a bunch of products? One of the biggest reasons why product launches are so stressful and so discouraging is entrepreneurs put this big number out there on how many they want to sell and when they don't hit that number, they're depressed -- EVEN though it may really have been a big success in other ways. So, if you flip it, you can relax during the launch, enjoy it more and be excited and grateful for whatever sales you make.