When it comes to getting a product to market, it’s usually a long and stressful journey for a business owner. You have to think about manufacturing, marketing, and then sales. With so much to think about, it’s easy to let things slip through the net. This post will help you through each of those stages, but you’ll still need to do some legwork yourself.
- Manufacturing
Obviously, the first stage of getting a product to market is the manufacturing. In most cases, when you’re mass producing something, it’s cheaper to have it done overseas. Whereas, any prototypes or test versions should be sourced locally. When you’re developing the product, you’ll want fast turnaround. You will also want to be able to talk directly to the manufacturer, to allow for quick changes and easy feedback. These concerns won’t be so big, once you’re mass producing. You’ll need to do some research to figure out exactly how your products will be made. For plastics, rim moulding and vacuum moulding are common solutions. And for metals, CNC and laser cutting are usually used. But, it will always depend on the product. Talk to your prospective manufacturers, and see which methods they think are best. They’re not likely to lie or give you misinformation, as they want to make money from you.
- Marketing
The success of your product will depend a lot on the strength of your marketing. You have a few choices, though. If you’re willing to pay for advertising, it’s best to start out online. Using advert services, you can have your business plastered on loads of different websites. These advertising systems will use cookies, which track a user’s browsing habits, and only show them adverts that are relevant. You’ll only pay for adverts that actually get clicked. This creates a great platform for effective and affordable advertising. It can be best to avoid TV and radio advertising, at least to start with. These services are usually very expensive and could miss your demographic entirely.
You can also advertise for free! With millions of people using social media on a daily basis, it’s the perfect place to get your business out there. Websites like Twitter and Facebook allow you to create a group for your business. These groups are visible to the public, who can like and share the content. If people follow your group, they will see what you post automatically. Generating a following online can be hard work. Use competitions that require page likes to generate followers, and keep your posts consistent and regular. The only think you have to invest in social media is time.
- Sales
When it comes to selling your product, you need to come up with a plan. You should know how much you expect to sell each month, for at least a year. Having a solid projection like this will help you to follow your progress. Be weary of hard selling, and don’t be too pushy. It’ll take a while, but with the rest of this done right, the sales will come by themselves.
Good luck! Getting a product to market isn’t an easy task. You’ll need to work hard and do a lot of research. But, once you’re out there, the rewards can be fantastic.