Launching a new product is a hectic process. It requires a comprehensive framework that encompasses various aspects of product management. Every decision matters, from ideation to validation of the product, its production, launch, and marketing.
Debuting a new product is like a gamble. Failure is inevitable if you don’t manage the product cycle carefully. Analyzing the target market and intended customers is just as important as planning, pricing, and designing the product. Make sure you have a team of qualified and experienced professionals who know how deal with the product management cycle. Also, if your product meets the customer’s needs, it is launching at a time of high demand and you have the edge over the competitors.
1. Hire Qualified Professionals:
According to Harvard Business Review, 80% to 95% of product launches fail. Product managers are not competent enough to deal with the challenges of the overall product management cycle. A product management role requires a broad range of skills and expertise beyond theoretical knowledge. When you coin the term “professional,” it means someone with a professional degree. To ensure success, you need to hire certified professionals.
If you don’t have qualified staff that can deal with product management challenges, have them enroll in a product management bootcamp, which is an excellent option to have certified professionals in your team. It’s the best alternative to degree programs with engaging online classes and hands-on experience where you develop in-demand product management skills by getting an entire product experience.
2. Product Vision and Launch Goals:
Start with the end in mind. Having a picture of where you want to see your product in the next 5 to 10 years is the essence of devising a launch strategy. Today’s top brands like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft had a vision statement when they started. That helped them to achieve their long-term goal of reaching where they stand today.
It’s easy to set goals when your vision is clear. Your objective should be well-defined, measurable, and achievable within the given time frame. Outlining clear goals enable everyone in the team to work efficiently and effectively toward achieving the desired outcome.
3. Research the Target Market:
Before diving deep into the planning phase, thoroughly research your target market. Getting insights into who the targeted audience is and what they want leads to an effective launch plan. Knowing the problems customers face and coming up with an effective solution help you position and market your product better. This extensive research lets you decide on distribution channels, pricing, and marketing platforms.
4. Identify Your Competition:
Competitor research is critical to the successful launch of your product. In today’s high-tech world, it’s very easy to research your competitors. Knowing your competitors help you identify market gaps, discover market trends and enable you to sell your product profitably. It will help you understand your customers’ needs and wants even better. The focal points of analysis should be their sales process, marketing campaigns, and audience engagement.
5. Highlight the Unique Selling Point:
With a thorough understanding of your audience based on extensive market research, the next step is to craft a strong message highlighting your product’s key features. The main idea here is to identify the unique selling point. To find answers to the questions like how it’s different from the ones already in the market and how it’ll address customer problems.
Your differentiation strategy needs to outline the value your product will add to customers’ lives in a way that resonates with them. The underlying reason is to demonstrate that the product has all the features that competitors offer but with added functionality to gain a competitive advantage.
6. Promote Your Launch:
Now the product messaging is in place, it’s time to promote your product launch and plan on how to market. There are unlimited ways to promote it, especially in today’s digital world. But figuring out which marketing tactics work the best for your product niche is tricky.
To set your product launch up for success, consider these tried and tested marketing campaigns:
- The first and foremost is to draft a compelling product page to outline the product’s unique selling proposition. This sales copy should state product features and benefits while emphasizing how your product will solve customers’ problems better than anyone else.
- Connect through social media platforms. It helps to create a buzz and get your target audience on board. Social media outreach has the advantage of generating more sales and conversions. It leads to positive reviews, recommendations, and closed deals.
- Next is email marketing, which is the most cost-effective and efficient way to get in touch with your audience. It helps to generate lead magnets by addressing the audience’s pain points and establishes credibility where people want to learn more about your product.
- Creating valuable and engaging blog content based on SEO is the fourth-best way to let your customers find you. This approach lets your audience sign up for an email, through which you keep them informed about your product launch and incite excitement through regular updates.
Other promotional strategies you can use are gift guides, influencer marketing, paid ads, referral marketing, and affiliate programs.
7. Find the Right Price:
Setting an optimal price for your product is key to profitability and leads to growth. There are many pricing strategies, such as penetration pricing or skim pricing. Both have their pros and cons. Penetration pricing works best in case of greater competition. In contrast, skim pricing is effective if you have a unique product with a strong brand reputation.
Use your product’s uniqueness, your audience’s buying capacity, and the competitor’s price as reference points to determine the perfect price for your product.
8. Select the Right Time:
Selecting the right time to launch your product could be a make-or-break moment for a company. It won’t be wrong to say that it is the number one factor to ensure whether the launch will succeed.
There’s no hard and fast rule to determine the perfect timing. However, if you are confident about your product, the best time to launch is the time set at the beginning of the project.
Final Thoughts:
Launching a product requires a well-planned and well-coordinated effort. A successful launch comes down to solving the customer’s problem in a real-time setting, focusing on promotional channels, and building up the narrative of your product’s unique selling point at the right time and at the perfect price.
