Introduction

For a small business or start-up, a product launch can make or break your profits. The day of your product launch is a crucial one, with a lot of excitement and anticipation, but it also has a big dose of anxiety. If you don’t carry out the launch properly, all of the hard work and resources you’ve put into it will go to waste, and this can mean the end of a small business with limited resources to allocate.

This is why it’s vitally important to plan your product launch well. A well-executed product launch plan means more sales and greater customer satisfaction over all.

Taking plenty of time to prepare well for a product launch and employ careful strategic planning allows a small business on a limited budget to introduce their new products with immediate success.

The Benefits of Strategic Planning for a Product Launch

If you plan a product launch well, it will reduce the stress and anxiety that accompanies your excitement and anticipation. You know what to expect, you have everything organized, and you have contingency plans laid out in case anything goes wrong. When it comes to the launch itself, all you need to do is follow your plan and keep an eye on what’s going on.

When you approach your product launch in a strategic, organized way, it doesn’t consume all of your time. Rather than feeling like your launch tasks take up every waking moment, you can prepare for your launch while also working on other products or handling the day-to-day work of your business.

A well-organized product launch makes the best possible use of team members and resources. With a plan that’s laid out well, you can delegate tasks to members whose natural strengths best suit them. And, you can leave plenty of elbow room for any changes you might deem necessary.

By planning with enough time ahead, you have opportunities to gain feedback from customers in your target market. This feedback is essential to a successful product launch. You can learn about your market’s tastes and preferences so that the actual launch will be in line with your ideal customer’s needs and language.

Good product launch planning effectively primes the pump, getting your market ready for the big day. You then follow up with your market to gather feedback and other data to make the next launch an even bigger success.

Finally, once you have a successful formula for your first product launch, including all of the pre- and post-launch tasks that need to be done, you’ll have a template you can use for future launches that will work every time with just minor tweaks.

Why Product Launches Fail

Each year, businesses spend millions of dollars on product launches, as well as other precious resources. In spite of these great efforts, only around 10% of product launches actually succeed in meeting their goals. Most product launches fail due to lack of preparation.

Specific reasons include:

• The company created products that don’t meet the needs of the market. No matter how well-planned the launch is, a product that doesn’t meet the needs of its intended market will not do well.
• There was a lack of market research or customer feedback. This occurs when the company focuses too much on its own ideas and assumptions, rather than relying primarily on market data and the voice of the customer.
• Too much money or resources were spent on developing the product and not enough was allocated to promoting the launch. It is vitally important that the company does not fall short on funding during product launch planning and that planning stays within budget.
• Target market or goals are unclear. If this is the case, the marketing will also be unclear and ineffective.
• There is a lack of testing and data gained through customer feedback.

All of the above is why the execution of a product launch often begins months before the actual launch. This allows you to anticipate for potential issues (such as technical problems), get to know your audience well so that you can anticipate their reaction, and make sure that all of the small moving parts are in order.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Plan and implement essential steps before a product launch that will prepare you for a smooth launch process and which will create the type of buzz that gets your potential customers eager and ready to buy.
• Follow a structured process for generating excitement in the actual launch phase of a new product, so that you maximize your sales.
• Create a plan to continually monitor and increase product sales post-launch while ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Walk through the best practices for project management that will help make your entire product launch run smoothly, with as little stress and as few glitches as possible.