Compile a list of the ideal customer’s characteristics. It can be helpful to develop a target customer persona – complete with a “biographical sketch” and picture. Finding the specific demographics of your target market will help you to tailor the launch strategy to the people most likely to purchase your product. In addition to knowing the competition, your ideal customer must be identified as well. The competition is an important source of information as you prepare to launch your product – don’t overlook this vital step. What are the key differences that would compel a customer to select your product over another company’s?.What factors set your product apart from theirs?.What service or product do they choose currently?.Listing the top market competitors will help you study both their products and their marketing techniques.Ĭonsider the market from your potential customer’s point of view: As you study the competition, look for some specific details that will help you not only shape your own product launch, but will give you essential information about the market that your product will be placed in. Research the competitionĭuring your market research, be sure that you are evaluating not only the potential market for your product, but thoroughly investigating the competition. Once you start planning the actual launch, you need to look at your competition, your market, as well as your marketing strategy. Market identification can help you to target that audience for your launch, increasing the chances for a successful launch. Identify the feasibility of the market to accept your product, as well as the specific market that your product will appeal to. Does the available market have a place for your product?Ĭonducting market research can be time consuming, but can lead to vital information that will help direct the launch of your product.If your product is a niche product, is there enough of a market to support the product?.Take a close look at the results of the market research to make sure that there is a market for the product. Most likely, there has been market research performed in preparation for the launch. Setting high expectations for a product’s abilities can cause a swift backlash of angry customers when the product fails to deliver. It may be tempting to overlook the negative responses, but doing so may be putting your product and your company in peril. Once you have done an internal evaluation of the product, study the answers – even the ones that aren’t what you want to hear. Has the product been thoroughly tested?Īsking hard questions internally will not only help improve the product, but will help to ensure that the product is ready to be launched.Taking a realistic evaluation of the product before releasing it to the public is vital to the launch success. Marketing personnel, ambitious sales personnel and even company executives can set their stakes on the wonderful new product they have. When a company begins to prepare for launching a new product, there can be a tendency to sensationalize the product. At the very least, establish a plan for acquiring the needed resources as needed before going ahead with the product launch. If the answer to any of these questions is no, delay the product launch until you have sufficient resources available. Do you have protocol for handling customer inquiries and needs in a customer service department?.Do you have adequate staffing/supply lines/processes in place to handle the increased customer attention?.If the launch is successful (and let’s face it – the reason you’re launching a new product is because you want it to be successful) then your company will need to be able to facilitate the increased demand.Can your company support fast, overnight growth?.Evaluate the readiness of your company before starting to publicize your new product.Before sending out the press releases, spend some time doing a little introspective study. It is impossible to gauge exactly how the new product is going to be received – even the most experienced and large companies have had both wild success and epic failures with new product launches. In this article, we look at 1) evaluations you must do before the launch, 2) the proper way to plan a launch, 3) successful execution of a product launch, and 4) things to keep in mind post-launch.

Alaunch startup item