Do you remember how cool Crystal Pepsi was in the early 1990s? No one does… because it wasn’t.
Despite the company’s attempt to make their product sound cool and healthy, it fizzed faster than the foam on your glass of soda.
You might have a product or service you want to launch. However, you probably don’t have Pepsi’s budget, so you can’t really afford for your brand launch to flop. The best way to determine whether your new business venture is a good idea or not, is to study your target market. Knowing what makes people tick is as important as the quality of your product.
1- Is there a market for what you have to offer?
You may have come up with a creative way to brew starfruit beer, or you may be an expert at fixing original Atari consoles; but if nobody’s interested in either idea, it won’t make sense to invest money, time, nor resources into those businesses.
2- If there is a market, why would they need your product?
OK, so let’s say Generation X kids do want to fix their Ataris. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, you know.
Do they want additional forms of entertainment? Do they have a void that only going down memory lane is going to fill? What, exactly is Xbox failing to provide that would make bringing back this console from yesteryear a hit?
Prioritize understanding their point of view. If you can provide exactly what they’re looking for, you’ll have customers eating right out of your hand.
3- Is there anything your competitors are not providing?
When performing your market research, figure out what is your competitions’ Achilles’ heel and fix it. Then market your solution to your target audience as if it were the answer to their prayers.
Think about your product launch as training for a marathon. You wouldn’t just show up at the start line and run 26.2 miles just because you happen to like tennis shoes. You have to train properly and eat well to maximize your performance.
The same concept applies to marketing. Place some effort into your preparatory tasks so that when that shot goes off, you are able to hit the track running.