Preparing to launch your new product into the market is an exciting time and can bring both joy and worry as the time nears. There are a few tips for taking your ideas from the idea phase to the market that can help to make it a smooth transition and help to determine which steps to take next.
Find Your Target Market
Every product or service has a target market that is the most likely to need or use them. By determining what your target market is, who they are, and how they make decisions, you will be better prepared to pitch and advertise your idea. Once a target market is determined, it can be easier to flush out the idea and create a full product based upon your idea, and you will be able to differentiate it from similar products or services.
Find Affordable or Free Advertising
There are many ways to advertise and market an idea or product that are free or affordable. Using social media, self-created websites, and local advertising options. These will help you to form a customer base and provide a way to contact those who are interested, gaining attention and followers as you go.
Partnering with others who have similar products or services can allow you to work on your ideas together and share the expenses of some of the costs involved in producing something and entering the market. By sharing website designs, costs of hosting the websites, and other marketing or research projects, you can each benefit from the partnership and gain feedback on your ideas.
Seek Input on Design
When moving your idea through to a fleshed-out product or launching a service, it is valuable to ask those you trust for their feedback on design and what factors may be important to the end customer. Having feedback may help you to see it from a different perspective and get to market faster, finding more success after launch. Companies like the RP Group, can prototype your concepts and deliver you a product that can be taken to investors to generate interest. This is important if your idea is something physical that needs to be designed and manufactured at some point in the future.
Find a Mentor
A mentor is someone who is involved in the business area that you are interested in and can provide guidance on what steps helped to make them successful. They will be able to guide you through the steps to take to get to market, which activities were not helpful or productive, and encourage you to stretch your own abilities to get the best design and results.
Having a mentor can ease the anxiety over taking a new idea to market, provide guidance for developments and marketing as well as balance, and help to bring your attention to aspects or ideas you hadn’t considered. They may have contacts in the market that you are interested in and be able to help you connect with others who would be able to help get your idea to the appropriate market and reach success.
