It can be an exciting time when a business launches a new product. You’ve tested it, conducted surveys, completed market research, and done a full market analysis, so you know that it will be received well by the consumers. You launch your campaign with great anticipation and sit back and wait for the money to roll in. But something happens and all your hard work seems to just fizzle out as soon as your product hits the market. The numbers you fully expected to get from your product launch never came through. What could have possibly gone wrong? Chances are, it’s not your product that has fizzled out but your marketing that has not gained enough momentum.
When launching a new product the odds aren’t exactly in your favor, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a winner. Here are a few fatal errors that many businesses make that can help you avoid ringing a death knell for your new product launch.
Your Research vs. Your Love
It is a given that a business should do adequate research before any product launch. Most businesses are aware of this fact and have no hesitation to do so. But research is designed to reveal certain flaws in the appeal of your product to the public or the effectiveness of your marketing. However, what often happens is that most people love the idea of their product so much that they fail to see the warning signs that show up in their research. They pick and choose what information they feel will fit their goals and any negative signs are either disregarded or at the very least not taken seriously.
The Lemming Effect
You also have to seriously consider why you’re launching your product. If your competition has something that has effectively cornered the market in your industry you may feel compelled to do the same just to keep up. The problem with this is that if you only want to launch a product to keep up with the competition your only leverage will be if you can cut the cost. If your product will be at a comparable price to the competition, and provide the same benefits as the competition there is no reason for the customer to switch loyalties as your competitor already has established himself as the leader in the field.
Is There a Market for Your Product?
Package design aside, you want to be sure that your product will be appealing enough to generate sales on its own. If your new product is so new, so innovative, and so unique you may have to do some public education before you launch. If your product is so different from anything else on the market, there’s a good chance that consumers won’t know what to do with it, how to use it, or see its value at any point.
You need to know that you have a viable market out there that will be interested in buying your product. Note that even if you had a large percentage of people to express interest, it does not guarantee that they will buy. It is therefore imperative that you have far more potential leads than you need sales in order to cover the investment dollars you put into marketing your product in the first place.
You Launched Too Fast
Probably the most common mistake that many people make when it comes to a product launch, is the rush to get it to the market. You have visions of big dollars coming in and you feel that the public will be ready to embrace what you have to offer. When it comes to marketing and product launches, timing is everything. Imagine selling Christmas trees in February. There are certain times of the year when the public is ready for something new and there are times when its not. The only way for you to know this when it comes to your new product is through thorough product research and responding to the results of that research.
It’s a noble idea to get your product on the market as soon as possible, but when your business could be better served by waiting until the right time, you’ll have a much better chance of success.
A lot of what you need to know can be learned before the launch through product research. There is no over stressing the importance of this step, yet all businesses will have to learn that market research cannot reveal everything that will happen when you launch your product. This is not necessarily the result of poor information but it may simply be the result of not knowing how to ask the right questions. Marketing research can be quite complicated and detailed. However, those that do will find sure success when they go about their next product launch.
