Many people may have an excellent idea for a new product. However, even if your idea is truly great, it could still end up failing when put onto the market. Developing new products is in no way easy. There are a lot of pitfalls you must avoid. Below are six things you can’t forget when developing a new product if you want to achieve long-term success.
Your likely competition
You can have an excellent idea for a product. However, while the product may indeed be good, it could be too similar to something already on the market. When developing a new product, you must always perform comprehensive market research including an examination of perceived competitors in a given market.
Keep in mind, this includes both your direct competitors and indirect competitors. While you may think your main competitors will be hamburger restaurants, for example, any restaurant in a given area could be your indirect competition.
Your target market
Also, just because your product appears great on paper does not mean it has an actual customer base in actuality. Launching a business doesn’t only require knowing your product in and out. It also requires knowing the profile of your most likely customer in and out. This will require some market research.
You may, for example, want to test the product through things like focus groups, surveys, and pilot programs. Eventually, you should acquire hard data on exactly what groups are interested in your product and which are not. This should include information on likely customers’ income levels, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, and more.
In-home product testing
Your research and development phase must include extensive testing. Otherwise, you are likely to run into unforeseen problems that could cause extreme turmoil for your business. Your R&D should always include something known as IHUTs. This is an acronym that stands for In-Home Usage Tests.
This refers to testing that is done inside a typical consumer home or some other environment the product was designed to be used in. This can be contrasted against tests only performed in a laboratory, factory, or office environment.
Without these tests, you may become ignorant of the serious risks or problems that actual consumers face when using a product inside their homes. These results can not be replicated somewhere else like your office.
Intellectual property
The true value of a business isn’t simply tied up in things like physical assets, real estate, or even accounts payable. Something else that certainly helps create the true value of a business is its intellectual property. This includes things like copyrights, trademarks, and patents.
If you have created a new invention, you better file for a patent before you launch your business or huge corporations may simply copy your invention. However, your investigation into intellectual property should also ensure that you are not violating others’ rights.
If you choose the same name as an existing business, you could end up being sued over that fact. It has been estimated that IP theft has cost the US $1.2 trillion.
Marketing
One of the most important elements of any business plan is marketing. If you don’t have a marketing strategy formulated for your new product, you may as well not launch at all. Without marketing, you don’t have a plan for getting your products into the hands of customers.
You should know exactly what advertising platforms you will utilize that will give you the most bang for your advertising dollar. This could be traditional advertising platforms such as print or radio. Alternatively, a wholly digital marketing plan could fit your business if your main customer will likely purchase your product online.
The manufacturing process
If you are developing a physical product to be bought and sold in stores, you are going to either need to launch your own manufacturing operations or partner up with an existing manufacturer that can produce your products for you.
Make sure to crunch all the numbers when it comes to manufacturing. You should also ensure that your final prototype can be easily replicated through a large-scale manufacturing process. If it can’t be, you may run into quality issues or even safety problems that did not exist during the R&D phase.
Bottom line
Overall, developing a new product for the market is never a short or easy process. If you want to do things the right way, this process should include performing extensive market research, completing extensive product testing, developing a sound marketing plan, and creating a solid plan for manufacturing. If you cover all these bases, you should be able to make your new product idea a success.
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