What You Need To Know When Launching A New Product

When you are running a business, growth, change, and development are necessary to stay relevant. One of the ways you can implement change and growth is to launch a new product, whether this is a completely new product or an advancement on what you are currently offering. Putting new life into your business can be achieved if you focus on improving what you are offering.

Evaluating What Stage You Are at Now and Where You Are Headed

So now you are firmly set on launching a new product, you need to evaluate what stage you are at. If you do not work out where you are, then you will not be able to push forwards. So, are you still deciding what product to launch, or are you finalizing the details ready for development? New product launches cost money, so it is important to work out just where you are at and where you want to go with your new product. For example, do you want your new product to reach a new target market? Do you want your new product to boost sales of existing products, or do you want them to be potentially complementary products?

Evaluate Your Costings and Get Your Figures Straight

When you launch a product, it can be easy to overlook the costs associated with getting it from design to launch within your marketplace. You need to know how much each unit will cost you, and you need to know how much you can afford to invest in your new product launch. If you do not invest enough money, then your launch will not be successful, and your product will not gain momentum, and, unfortunately, it will end up being forgotten about, which is not what you were aiming for. Costings and figures are so important, so start working on them as soon as possible. Work out how much you can afford to spend on advertising and marketing and work out how long a lifecycle your product will have. When you work out the length of a product’s lifecycle, you will be able to work out your return on investment.

Who Are Your Competitors?

Whether you are launching a completely new product or a variant on one that currently exists, you need to know who your direct and indirect competitors are. Healthy competition is good if it is managed; finding out what your competitors have on offer and at what price is beneficial. Looking at what competitors have done right and wrong will save you time and energy and will keep you from making the same mistakes again.

Creating a Sales Plan and Sales Forecast

Creating and forecasting sales is one of the most important things you should do. If you do not plan about how and when you will make sales, then you will struggle to break even and make a profit, which will be detrimental to your business and its reputation. Work out where you will sell your product, through what channels and platforms, and then from here, work out how many units you will be selling both on a weekly and monthly basis. When you forecast sales, you get a better feeling for the product and its potential lifecycle.

Having a Marketing and Promotional Plan in Place

After establishing where you will sell your product, you next need to focus on creating a marketing and promotional plan. People need to be aware and exposed to your product in as many places as possible, and so it is important to utilize as many good quality channels and mediums as possible. It would be unwise to try and tackle all the marketing, promotion, and advertising yourself, and it would be detrimental to your businesses and product success.

Calling in the Professionals

Utilizing professional marketers and an advertising agency is probably one of the best things you can do when launching your new product. If you try to tackle promotion by yourself, you will find you run out of steam, and you will quickly notice that you will not be able to reach all of your target markets. Advertising agencies and professional marketers have experience behind them; they know which avenues to pursue and which ones to avoid completely. Good professionals will get your project seen and noticed, and they will ensure that your product has the best potential chance at surviving and growing in even the most crowded marketplaces.

Focusing on Your Target Market

Your target market is at the center of everything you do. Should you fail to reach your target market, all your hard work, time, energy, and effort will have been wasted. You need to closely align with your target market, and you need to establish what they want and need. If you are not in tune with your target market, then you will not be able to provide a product that will benefit or enhance them and their lifestyles. If you cannot add benefit, then you will not make sales, and ultimately your new product will be hidden away in the storage sooner than you would like. Put your target market at the core of everything you do and ensure that they are getting good value for money alongside good quality.

Timescales and Dates

Everything takes time. To successfully launch a new product, you need to have accurate timings and time scales in place. If you do not know how long marketing will last or how long you must take to get from development to launch, then you could quickly realize that your new product is a non-starter. Having timescales in place provides you with focus. As soon as you can, create a timeline for your new product. Your timeline should focus on key dates, such as launch day. When you put down and work to times and dates, you will quickly realize that everything becomes more realistic and achievable. If you do not work on a time scale when launching a product, you will not know when you are ready for the next stage. Time costs money, and no matter how big or small your business is, your time still has a cost element attached to it. If you fail to stick to time scales and you miss deadlines, then your new product and its launch could be detrimental to your business.