How to Prevent Your Product Launch from Failing

Very often, we see entrepreneurs and brand managers seeking to launch a new product fail to run through processes like a proper market research to confirm if the market is truly in need of their product, or it wants a slight modification to the design. Failure to look into basic issues like these is a tell-tale sign predicting the success or failure of the product launch.

Experts have identified a lack of preparation as a major reason for the failure of a new product. Primarily because companies usually spend more time designing and manufacturing a new product that they forget the business of marketing it. Here are some steps to take so you can prevent your product launch from failing: 

Launch only when the product is ready: Launching a product when it is still undergoing manufacturing does not give you the chance to run it by the market to test for any new challenges or consumers suggestions. This results in a failed launch when the product eventually gets released and customers start bashing it. A great example is the Microsoft Windows Vista launched in 2007. The media and the public were treated to high hopes for the product, while the company itself allotted a $500 million war-chest for marketing and even made bold predictions for the success of the product within its first two years. Unfortunately, the software had significant compatibility issues and performance problems that impeded its march to stardom as the software of the year.

In simple terms, it was an incredible flop. Its failure was foregrounded when, the market, and even loyal Microsoft customers, rebelled against the software and called for changes to it.  There is a high degree of certainty that the challenges the product had would have been corrected if the product was ready for customers to test run before or during launch.

Always seek consumers’ insights: to prevent waste, it is better to run your new product by consumers. Most times, companies fail to see the red light in market research because they think since a product already has an acceptable prototype in the market it will be successful too.  The history of the Coke Zero says otherwise. The company created Coca-Cola C2 for 20-40 year-old men who liked the taste of Coke but not its calories. In C2, the company thought it wise to include half the calories from the parent brand. However, despite the huge budget of $50 million for advertising campaign, the men it was made for rejected it upon launch. They wanted no calories, but just the full flavour of the original product.

Never take a product without a unique selling point for launch: Every company has to figure out the unique selling point of its product before thinking of the product launch. Many products operate in a market that has similar products; probably the ones already in the market are not good enough, or unaffordable. Your unique selling point serves as a marker for your brand in the market; it sets you apart from competitors and demands the attention of consumers with the phrase: ‘I can offer what others can’t’. Nothing attracts buyers to a product as much as this phrase.

Above all, hire a reputable marketing communications agency to coordinate the product launch. Fortunately for you, no agency handles a product launch with great professionalism like TRW Consult. Contact us today.