In this article, I am not referring to getting market feedback and refining a product over time as a result. If you have been diligent in the development of something, you at some point need to launch. You can’t plan and prepare forever. There will always be adjustments needed because everything is theoretical until it’s not. I am talking about the naive, arrogant or lazy notion you can half-bake your product to save cost and expect good sales forgetting that competition for people’s attention is fierce and without serious differentiation, value or brand equity.
Sometimes in your rush to launch a product and start selling, you place unneeded pressure on the advertising of it by not developing the product enough or being willing to start with a little less gross profit in order to gain traction. What happens is that you don’t get the sales you want and waste tons on advertising that you end up feeling isn’t working.
People often mistake marketing with advertising. It’s not the same thing. A product is designed to sell to a particular market, right? So every effort from the start is essentially part of the marketing effort. Don’t think that all will be solved when ‘we start marketing.’
If you are launching a product that is easily comparable to another, and you are asking a similar or higher price, and think that by just ‘pushing the advertising’ it will sell, think again. Don’t half-bake products and naively or arrogantly assume that the market will pay a premium for what you offer for no added value or beneficial differentiation. This is almost always the result of wanting the sales, but not really being interested in building true value into it for the buyer.
How do you know if you’ve done enough? Well, emotion always gets in the way. Put aside the excitement and bias as best you can assess where the product is truly at. A good question to really ask yourself is ‘would I buy it?’ – sure you’re not necessarily the market, but we have a feel for universal value to some degree and could see why someone else would go for it. It needs to excite someone, otherwise, it doesn’t stand a chance.
Then look at the advertising budget again and consider using some of it for either;
- testing the product on a sample of the intended market to gain feedback,
- develop it a bit further and solve those last few little niggles you know will affect the customer experience,
- allow for a lower selling price to test where the market is at and gradually work it up to what you need it to be once it has won the trust of customers and is getting sales,
- add a feature that reduces initial gross profit but ensures that product is superior.
Your advertising then serves as a catalyst and accelerator instead of an exhausting effort and you will most likely spend far less in total to develop and advertise the product.