Today, the fulfillment of needs of clients has become the priority of every modernly organized enterprise. Due to strong competitiveness on the market, all products and services need to possess some unique qualities which will make them significantly diff
Today, the fulfillment of needs of clients has become the priority of every modernly organized enterprise. Due to strong competitiveness on the market, all products and services need to possess some unique qualities which will make them significantly different and, at the same time, will cause them to remain in the consciousness of every potential client. In order to adhere to the needs of customers, companies have to periodically introduce some new product. If they do so, they increase their chances of gaining profits. However, every new product brings up the questions – how to introduce it to the market so that it would yield best results? How to do it as effectively as possible? In this guide we aim at answering these two questions.
Six steps on how to introduce a product to the market
The process of introduction of a product to the market can be presented in a few steps. If they are followed, it is possible to achieve the highest possible effectiveness of the process. During every stage, our attention should be focused on a bit different functions of our product. Below, step by step, we give suggestions on how to firmly establish our product or service on the market.
Step one – Presenting a new product
A new product has to be adequately presented to the whole market – not exclusively to the clients, as some entrepreneurs claim. As it turns out, it is not only the client’s point of view that should be taken into consideration when introducing a new product or service. After all, the new product is presented not only to the potential clients, but also to all market participants – the competition, the contractors, the media, and the providers. A product should be regarded as a tool for acquiring clients, but, on the other hand, it can also be perceived as a weapon in the struggle with competition.
At this stage we should plan the whole cycle of life of a product – at least to the extent which can be predicted. The future of a new product should be considered carefully, so that we know what tactical decisions should we make later on once it is introduced to the market.
Step two – Designing a new product
The idea of a new product appears during a careful analysis of a company’s current situation and the market as such. When it comes to company analysis we should consider the following: the resources at its disposal, the financial capabilities, the technologies used during the process of production or during giving services, the company’s structural organization, the contacts with providers and contractors, and the company’s reputation on the market. All of our resources – material, financial, and human – along with those which do not have clear-cut boundaries (e.g., our company’s reputation) contribute to the initial position our new product will have once it makes its appearance on the market. Naturally, companies which are relatively new to the business world will have to take up a different strategy than the ones which have been on the market for many years. Experienced companies have already made their appearance in a given field of market, so now they can focus on the advertising of their new product. They simply expand their offer and aim at both – current and potential clients. It is easier for such enterprises to introduce new products because, over the years, they have gained some experience in this field. It is not like they are trying to present their first offer to the world.
The second type of analysis is related to the market itself. The market is constructed on the basis of specific demands of groups of clients. The introduction of a new product should be appropriately adjusted to the current stage of market development. We should carry out different actions in relation to markets which are in the initial stages of development, and different actions in reference to those which are fully developed and simply evolve further.
If we perceive a new product in the light of the resources of our company and its structure, we can point out four different models of product introduction:
a new company introduces a product to a new market
a new company introduces a product to a mature market
an experienced company introduces a product to a new market
an experienced company introduces a product to a mature market
Step three – Giving unique qualities to a product
If a new product is to achieve success on the market, it has to have some unique qualities that will make him stand-out from other competing products – qualities that will become entrenched in the minds of customers. Innovation proves to be the most important quality, and the product should receive approval from innovators, clients, and market onlookers. What is more, every product described as innovative should be superior to those already existing on the market. The basic feature of innovation is the ability to transform. When it comes to a new product, it can shape the direction towards which the market is moving. However, we must not forget that transformation is not the only feature of an innovative product. It should also possess a relatively permanent ability of internalization. At this point, it is worth to emphasize the fact that a widespread acceptance of innovation is a clear path to its acquisition not only by organizations, but all the target groups of receivers. The next feature of innovation is the explanation why a client needs to experience changes. This explanation has to have a foundation that would be easy to verify. A good thing is to refer to some appropriate market research in the form of an analysis of the chances of success of a new product on the market, of the results its introduction may cause, of the costs, and of the dangers its introduction might entail.
Step four – The evolution of a given company and its product
By company evolution we mean the change in certain aspects of its behavior in relation to the market. The evolution encompasses changes in relation to the company’s clients, its competition, the society, as well as its contractors and strategic groups with which the company engages in trade cooperation. The absolute maximization of clients’ satisfaction should become the aim of a company’s evolution. Only one thing can lead to such evolutional changes – the change of the offer, so, in other words, the implementation of a new product to a company’s assortment and, at the same time, its introduction to the market. How to carry out changes in our company’s offer? We should compare our enterprise’s offer with similar ones in the field and combine the qualities. We can also compare our own products in various fields.
When discussing company evolution, we cannot omit selection – which is its second factor. All modifications made to the product make it possible to increase our clients’ satisfaction and raise the market value of the product ; all modifications should be objectified and standardized. The third factor related to the evolution of a company and its product is isolation. We should strive to isolate the qualities which best define our new product in order to use them later on in our product offer. We can also equip our new product with qualities based on some pieces of data taken directly from the market, however, we have to bear in mind that the estimation of changes in relation to the market can be a very subjective thing.
Step five – The establishment of market aims and the choice of a potential group of buyers
In order to establish a set of market aims for our company during the process of product introduction, we should first carefully observe the market itself. We have to bear in mind that the decisions made at this stage determine the type of strategy that needs to be applied in the process of product introduction. They decide upon the character of advertising procedures, the selling system, and the channels of distribution. Market analyses should be carried out very carefully and professionally because it may turn out at some point that we have to make a choice between maintaining the current form of the new product and implementing some alterations. Such analyses prove to be invaluable because thanks to them an enterprise can learn what sort of product with what sort of qualities will fulfill all of the clients’ needs. The analyses point towards the features which should distinguish the product from its predecessors, and they make it possible to more clearly specify the first group of receivers of our product.
Step six – The composition of marketing mix
Once we have established a target group for our product and market aims, we should move on to combining the ingredients characteristic of marketing mix, namely: the product, the price, the promotion, and the place. We have to go to great lengths to properly present our product and its qualities to the market. Effective advertising is very important. We have to choose such a method of promoting that would be ideally suited not only for the type of product we wish to sell, but also for the target market. Different methods of advertising are applied when the target group consists of primary school students, and different methods are applied in relation to adults who come from large cities. A good advertising campaign is the best possible method to encourage people to buy our products. At the same time, we have to choose proper channels of distribution through which we wish to reach our target group of clients. The final thing is to decide upon the price of the new product. In determining the price, we should consider the costs of similar products which are provided by our competition, the expectations of our clients, and the costs related to the production of the new item.
We need to cover all of the aforementioned steps in order to introduce a new product to the market. Effective implementation of a given product into our company’s offer is possible if we diligently follow the steps mentioned in this article. During the whole process, we will probably have to change our plans, or make some alterations in design in order to make our product suitable for new conditions on the market.
Comments are closed.