MARKET DEVELOPMENT FOR YOUR BRAND

Over the last 6 years I have been developing markets for new and existing products. So far it has been the most challenging yet rewarding engagement in my career. As results I have been able to pick up a couple of insights that can help businesses come up with sustainable plans to seed and grow their brands from scratch. In this article I focus on the basics of rolling out a new product in the market.

Know your target customer. This is something I cannot emphasize enough yet it is the single most important factor that will help in growing your business. You need to define who your target customer is based on certain criteria e.g. Age, Lifestyle, Gender, location etc.

Operations: Have a clear understanding of how the market you are entering operates.  This includes laws, regulations and policies that affect the success of your brand. For example what SKU’s are recommended for your product? What advertising models are allowed? What distribution models work best for certain geographical markets?

Pricing: Have a pricing strategy that aligns with the market that you are seeking to tap into. A price sensitive market needs products that are affordable to them. A luxury market will focus less on pricing and more on status.

Awareness: Drive awareness through targeted promotions. Craft a promotion mechanic that is simple and appeals to the target customer. This can be anything from introductory price offers, product demos at points of purchase, free merchandise etc.

Cost: Establish the cost of rolling out the product in the new market. It is very important to establish the budget needed to successfully run your campaign. You would not want to over stretch your budget and end up achieving little or over utilize the budget and not get the desired results. Make sure the budget matches the activities you intend to carry out in order to get the best results.

Run a Pilot study: Carry out a seeding exercise as part of the initial pilot project. One of the best ways to get accurate feedback from the target customer is by approaching them while still developing the strategy to get your product into a new market segment. Do product demos and give them samples of the product in order for them to give you their honest feedback. The same should apply to trading partners as you try to engage them to help you in the distribution of your product.

Distribution: If you are expanding your market geographically you might want to have a clearly laid out distribution policy for your product. This lays down the framework of how you interact with distribution partners. Trading terms need to be established to avoid disagreements that might be detrimental to the performance of your brand.

Be consistent. Always be where your target customer is at. This way you attract their attention and are able to drive trial and conversion easily.

Measure. Have actionable KPI’s that should be measured on a regular basis. This will give you insights on how your product is performing within the new market segment.

As part of the measuring process have a 360 degree cycle plan that helps you collect feedback, filter the feedback to pick out relevant information, action on the feedback and measure.