Bringing your Product to Market
Your product is a big deal. It’s your and butter. You quit that 9-5 that led to hair loss and late-night Oreo-stacking paired with wine (that couldn’t have been just me, right?) because you believed you could do this. You ARE doing this. But what’s all this marketing fuss?
If you’re like me and you ARE your product, then promotional tactics seem all that more daunting. You feel like you’ve completed all those crucial steps like setting up your business Facebook page, Instagram page, Twitter… now, aren’t you supposed to be able to sit back and watch the buzz about yourself spread amongst the masses like wildfire?
WRONG. Unless you’re a Kardashian or were involved in a recent political scandal, get ready for some intense social media marketing on your part.
Ok. So, we’ve established that you and/or your new product is a big deal. At least to you. Right now it just isn’t carrying that same weight with the masses (we NEED the masses!) so it is essential that we establish a solid customer base and promote, promote, promote. So what do you need to know in order to pull off a product promotion that people will actually care about? Listen up.
Keep in mind that each year, over 30,000 new products are launched. 80% don’t meet with Lady Success.
HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY MARKET
- Know your Audience
Sounds simple enough, right? Think again. You designed a product or service. Marketing professionals designed specific algorithms and I can’t be sure, but I assume systemic-brainwave mapping to target individuals who need your product and/or service. Nothing ever comes that easy. On a more serious note, would you promote your artisan beef jerky to a mob of vegans? Marketing 101, folks –
- Identify and engage with your target market.
- What makes for your ideal customer?
- Demographics?
Try asking yourself this. Does your product/service solve a problem for your customers?
While being able to work for yourself doing something you feel passionately about has become your reality, you need to determine whether that reality has a market demand or if it is simply just a hobby.
Is your product/service addressing a single point of pain?
- Know your Product
Do you feel comfortable with your audience? Great! But you also need to be really comfortable with your product, too. Bummer, right? Wrong! This is the best part. Especially for someone like me, Captain Anxiety Pants. It’s ok. Eventually, you work through the “becoming a salesperson” stuff and realize that it’s not so much “selling” a product/service as it is meeting really great people that you likely wouldn’t have met before.
So;
- What is your product/service?
- How does it work/what does it do?
- Pricing?
- What challenges are you addressing for your client?
- What makes you better than the competition?
Get ready to roll your eyes at me…
- Plan. Plan. Oh, and Plan some more.
We’ve laid a foundation, we’ve mapped out our product audience and now we need to plan. We need to know to revenue goals (#boring), pricing of the product/service (#confused), existing challenges (#moreconfused), and steps necessary to overcome those challenges (#saveme). Here is where I recommend a moment of self-reflection. I like to actually reflect in a mirror and reiterate to myself that, I am a power glorious female warrior, queen of all that I survey…hear my roar. Thank you, Leslie Knope, for the positive affirmation; it gets me through the harder days. Another recommendation? Have a solid business plan to fall back on. (#oopsie).
Remember, launching a new product or service is always going to be a learning process, no matter how prepared you think you are. Your best bet? Stay flexible. Know that any solid plan requires tweaking along the way. Oh, another cliché? You’re not alone.
