Tips For Launching New Products or Services

Successfully bringing a new product idea or service to market can be tricky. Here are a few tips on how to spread the word and generate sales:

Remember it is easier to fill a need than create one. But before you contact a graphic designer, decide to buy postcards, have a brochure made or print up thousands of full color flyers, there is an important step that should not be left out. At this stage the operating agenda is to survey before you act.  A survey will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted time and advertising money.

There are three basic areas you should survey:

1. Survey your current customers to find out what is needed and wanted. How much would they pay for it?
2. Survey your client base to find out who would be the best prospects for the product or service. Survey to see if the product is offered anywhere else. If so, how much is it selling for? How is it packaged? How many companies are selling it? What does the competing products not do?
3. Study your competition from your prospects’ point of view, including their website, ads, marketing materials and brochures.

Based on your surveys, decide how you are going to position the product or service. You can position it, there are four ways you can position something:

1. Compared to something else.
2. As being different from something else.
3. As being similar to something else.
4. Against something else.

Note, the something else could be a competing product or something dissimilar. For example, “Frog legs are the new health food, high in protein, easy to cook and tastes like chicken”. You position the product as being similar to something that is different, but already familiar to most people (chicken in this example).

Test your marketing message and approach with a small, targeted audience. Also, cherry pick a few loyal customers to provide their honest insight from a customer’s perspective in a brief round-table discussion. Be sure to reward loyal customers for their input.

Strategize your marketing approach, considering all angles such as print, electronic, direct mail and word of mouth marketing. Create a waterfall effect, touching your target audience no less than three consecutive times to create the greatest awareness.

Consider holding a launch event to generate buzz and help your customers and prospects learn more about your new products or services in a non-threatening atmosphere. Adjust your pricing accordingly, considering your competition, the demand, the economy, etc.

If you’d like help creating brochures, flyers, posters and other print materials to promote the launch of your new products or services, give us a call. We’ll help you develop creative marketing materials that increase awareness and generate sales. You can contact us at 727-536-4173.

Mark Hale
CEO