Marketing Efforts for New Products

Without proper marketing efforts, your new products might end up gathering dust in a warehouse.

Developing new products can be a perilous venture, even for well-established companies. Copernicus Marketing Consulting estimates that 90 to 90 percent of new products fail. A company's marketing efforts can be the key to the success or failure of new products. Even the most innovative, useful product can fail if marketers fail to inform consumers of the product and make it accessible to those who might need or want it most.

Strategic Planning

Marketing efforts for a new product should begin early in the product development process. In fact, many ideas are scrapped simply because their originators see no clear path to marketing success for the particular product. A strategic marketing plan should be developed early in the process to define the market for the product. Once the market has been defined, marketing specialists can research the market and create a strategic plan for marketing the product.

Developing Sales Channels

An essential element of marketing efforts for new products consists of determining and developing the correct sales channels for the product. Sales channels might consist of brick-and-mortar stores, online sales channels and catalogs. Marketing efforts might be directed at other businesses, also known as B2B (business to business) marketing, or directly to consumers, or B2C (business to consumer.) Determining the appropriate sales channel or channels is vital to the success of any new product.

Pricing and Distribution

Pricing and distribution are essential to the successful marketing efforts of a new product. It is not uncommon for a mediocre product with first-class distribution lines to outsell a superior product that gets stuck in a distribution line fraught with troubles. Appropriate pricing is also vital to the success of your marketing efforts. The product must be priced high enough that the company can make a worthwhile profit and low enough to induce consumers to purchase it.

Build the Market and Expand

Building and expanding the market is perhaps the last step to marketing new products. Once the product is ready for distribution, it is important to get it directly to end users and take steps to obtain feedback from these customers. This feedback can be used to refine the product packaging and adjust the price point if necessary before attempting to sell to wholesalers. Once the product has been refined, it is time to expand into wholesale markets where real profits might be realized.

References

• Copernicus Marketing Consulting: New Product Development Help---Latest Book by Copernicus Founders Shows Marketers How to Launch Financially Successful New Products and Services; Kevin J. Clancy, et al.; March 1, 2006
• Entrepreneur: Taking Your New Product to Market; Tamara Monosoff; May 29, 2007
• Denver Business Journal: B2B vs. B2C marketing -- Do the Differences Matter?; Sherri Leopard; April 2, 2006
• R.Q. Riley Enterprises: How to Develop, Protect and Market New Product Ideas; Sept. 5, 2003