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Successfully building your product or packaging your services are essential ingredients for business
success. However, that is not where it all ends. Just because you build a new, improved or newly
available product does not mean people will know about it, buy it, or even know why they should.Ê

This is why you need to communicate clearly, effectively and consistently to your potential target market.
The first step in a successful launch is communicating what your product does. A new product has both
the advantage and disadvantage of being new. No one else may have a similar product, but potential
buyers may not clearly understand the benefits of the product. Consider carefully the following questions:Ê

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Oou may need to produce product information sheets, brochures or other marketing literature to help
educate potential buyers. Take care to explain the product or service using benefits, not features, and
point out any key differentiating factors with regard to competition.Ê

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All new brands, be they products, services or a combination of the two, require a larger marketing
communication boost in the short term to establish awareness. Without awareness, people will not be
enticed to buy, and the last thing you want is your product to just sit on the shelf, assuming it even gets
that far. Launching a new brand involves using a number of marketing communications tools, from
advertising to sales and internet marketing. Here are some key issues that you should consider well in
advance:Ê

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  % Where a new invention is being launched, not only do you have the challenge of
educating your target market about the existence of your offering; you also need to educate them about
use of the product and reasons why they should consider purchase. From a launch point of view, the
focus would usually be on public relations and perhaps some form of publicity event. A launch function
would be mandatory for a new invention as a place for the product to be displayed and demonstrated to
both its target market and the media.Ê

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&  '% New releases or versions of existing products may be launched via
advertising, PR and direct marketing. However, they would not usually involve a specific launch function
unless they are a highly complex product requiring detailed demonstration.Ê

ë( % The launch of a new consumer brand, due to the relatively large size of its target market,
would typically comprise advertising to the mass market, perhaps some form of launch function (i.e., a
cocktail function or stage presentation) with the media invited, sales promotions at the retail level and
within the channel to secure appropriate shelf space. New product acceptance is likely to be easier with
an established brand or company name behind it and you should leverage off this position where
possible.Ê

ë)* *)% The launch of a new product and/or brand in the business-to-business world
usually focuses more on personal selling, direct marketing and a launch event (i.e., a sit-down or buffet
meal, presentation and demonstrations) attended by existing VIP customers and prospective customers
and the media. Product launch functions are particularly important where business networking and
relationship management are crucial. Typically the launch campaign would be on a smaller and more
personal scale than that designed for the consumer market, as the target market is more limited.
usiness-to-business launches may also centre on an exhibition, conference or seminar where there is
the opportunity to display and demonstrate the product.Ê

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Consider the following opportunities that a launch can bring:
ë, % Holding a product launch event allows a specific focus on the new brand versus focus on the
rest of your product range or on competing products. It provides a clear platform for the new brand to be
introduced and reduces the clutter surrounding the message. Ê

ë-  % A launch event provides the opportunity to invite customers, potential customers and
media to a special event, to treat them to something exclusive.Ê

ë- % Launch functions are a great place to take orders in advance for new products, as
the focus is specifically on the product and the people attending have signalled their interest in the
product. Depending on the type of product or service you are marketing and the level of attendee, direct-
selling may or may not be appropriate.Ê

ë$ % A launch function provides the opportunity to get the media's undivided attention
and for senior spokespersons to have access to a variety of media representatives. It enables you to
demonstrate the product, discuss possible angles and it is newsworthy because it is a new product
launch.Ê

ë.  % Like exhibitions and seminars, a formal launch function provides a central place and
captive audience to perform product demonstrations. Prospects can handle, test drive, or even take home
samples of your new product.Ê

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Making your product dazzle and stand out from the crowd is one issue, ensuring effectiveness in
communicating brand benefits to the target market is another. efore you start, think about what the
overall marketing objectives are for your brand. What are the communication objectives that a launch will
help you achieve? Consider the following questions before you begin:Ê

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 Increase awareness? Provide product or service
information? Sell product? Or something else?Ê

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   If so, analyse their methods, as you would a
competitor's advertisement.Ê

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  New or existing customers, or someone else?Ê

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ë Most importantly, who will be handling inquires from your launch campaign?Ê

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The following marketing tools should be assessed to determine how they can help meet your overall
product or brand launch goals. Ê

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ë Use it to create general awareness.
ë Reach new and existing customers and prospects.
ë Develop product literature and information sheets outlining benefits to your target market.Ê

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ë Utilise sales to give more detailed information, especially for complex or high ticket items.
ë Approach existing customers using personal relationships.
ë Provide a mechanism for prospective customers to buy.
ë Utilise outbound telemarketing to enhance the sales effort.Ê

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ë Provide detailed product information to a wider market.
ë Reinforce advertising and personal selling messages.
ë Direct invitations to your target market to attend the launch event.
ë Provide an alternative mechanism for customers to buy.Ê

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ë Educate potential clients by providing detailed product information.
ë Provide 24-hour access to your business and product information.
ë Reinforce advertising and personal selling messages.
ë Provide an invitation mechanism.
ë Provide a mechanism for customers to buy.Ê


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ë Additional educational opportunities provided by a tight forum of interest.
ë Provides wide attendance for lead and prospect generation.
ë Can gain additional media attention.Ê

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ë Create wider awareness.
ë uild credibility through possible third party endorsement of your products and services. ë Reinforce
advertising, personal selling, internet marketing and direct marketing messages.Ê

   
ë Utilise sales promotions to generate trial of product.
ë Promotions can assist in pushing your product on to the shelf or through the distribution channel.
ë Promotions can be used to get introductory offers and samples to the market.
ë Penny Ooung is the director of Creative Thinking Marketing, a Sydney-based business that helps small
and medium-sized businesses stretch their marketing dollars further.Ê

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Ten Steps to Launching an Early Stage Company

In general, Ignition companies follow the following ten step plan to success:
1) Determine your main value-add.
‡ What is it that you¶re good at?
‡ Where is your unique advantage? Focus on that and build from there.
‡ When thinking about your initial offering don¶t over reach. If the first phase of your business plan is too broad by definition you¶ll end up doing things you don¶t
understand very well. There are lots of inherent risks in doing new things. When you are new you often don¶t know what you don¶t know. It¶s fine to have a vision of
where you do want to go, but it¶s important to have a very pragmatic starting point.
‡ Who are you like? est way to figure out who you are is to triangulate with what you are replacing and who you are like. Windows was replacing MS DOS based
applications and was like the Mac. People understood it as something that makes your PC into a Mac. This allowed us to very clearly position it as something that
³made PC¶s easier to use´. I¶ve had other companies position themselves as the ³Oracle of Unstructured Data´ or the ³Salesforce.com for Recruiters´. Anyway, it
allows you to more clearly figure out who you are and who you are not.
‡ A winning strategy has the following components: a) A great vision; b ) Place to start to day; c ) A plan to scale between the two. Oou should think through your
strategy in this order.
2) Evaluate the market and determine who your customer is and what they want to buy.
‡ Understand. Try to make it something they already understand versus something new you¶d like them to consider.
‡ Need versus nice to have. A ³need to have´ is something that you are already planning to buy and all that you have to do is convince them to switch vendors or
more than like take on an additional vendor.
‡ A ³nice to have´ is when you are trying to educate and convince somebody to buy something they are not buying presently or solve a need that they don¶t
currently have.
‡ In terms of who the customer is, you need to go beyond simply identifying the companies or organizations that buy, but who specifically in the organization that
buys.
3) Determine your competitive strategy. How do you fit with in the context of the marketplace? What ³play´ should you run? Are you a trying to win a drag race or
execute a fast follower play? Are you trying to pincer a competitor between an advanced or basic offering? Oou don¶t need to start from scratch. There aren¶t a
million choices. There are only five based on how you assess the overall market landscape.
4) Determine your positioning. Why your version of the solution is this situation is better than anyone else¶s? Translate this into messaging that your target
audience find both easy to understand and memorable. Finally, roll all of this up into a case for your company or product based on the situation in the market that
makes your product or company necessary. See the fourth bullet point on point number 1. Usually it is easiest to start with the man on the street positioning and
double back on the ³X that does O for Z´ construct. My favorite focus group question is to ask a customer, how do you describe this product or service to a friend?
5) Identify the key trends you¶re going to exploit. The way for a new product or service to displace an established service is to align with trends that are bigger than
any one company. Major trends in technology include the exploding power of the micro-processor, the pc economy, and internet standards. In each instance the
large established players resisted the trends and were either displaced or had to adapt to them.
6) Produce the product or a proto-type of the product at minimal cost and sell it to a few select customers. Oou¶ll learn a ton along the way. Oou¶ll validate your
proposition and your target customer. Oou¶ll also get a much better understanding of your profit structure.
7) Fully deploy with a handful of customers. In other words, it is better to have one really good customer than three folks who are simply sampling your goods or
services. The reason is that when you are a new company potential customers will want to call existing customers before they buy. It is really, really hard to scale a
business if you don¶t have reference-able customers.
Acquire the next handful of customers primarily through word of mouth. In other words, ask your first happy customer to refer you to three others. Make them
happy.
9) Use PR and momentum to project your product, offering, or company into the market. In other words, win the thought leadership battle. If you¶ve aligned with
key trends in the marketplace, have happy customers, and are showing momentum you should be able to convince key influencers that your product¶s success is
inevitable. If you¶ve done this right than customers will start believing it is ³when´ and not ³if´. Oou than need to create the perception of overwhelming momentum
so that you play to both the motivations of greed (e.g. the desire to get a head of their competition) and fear (the anxiety about being left behind).
10) Scale. Here is where you have a Web Site, tighten up your product positioning, find additional partners ect. The key thing is to keep your cost structure low
until you are ready to scale. At this point you should have a good sense of what your revenue is before you spend the dollars. Most new entrepreneurs try to scale
too early before they really figure out what they are selling and who they are selling to. They spend a bunch of dollars on the front end and ironically it actually
hurts their ability to refocus their business towards a better outcome.
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