The Challenge of Getting a New Product to Customers
It is easy to take for granted the fact that products are available for purchase at a retail store. In fact, most people do not think about or understand the work and effort that goes into getting a product from the design stage to being manufactured to actually finding itself on the shelves in a retail store. It is not something that happens by accident, but instead it is the result of careful planning and a well-crafted marketing and communication strategy.
New product development can take years. The designer or inventor will first come up with an idea for a product. One of the first questions that they must ask when they are designing their product is, what need does the product fill? Or what problem does the product solve? Next, they have to ask themselves, is the product that I am designing the only product on the market that addresses this issue? If the answer is yes, that’s great. If the answer is no, then the designer must ask themselves, what is it that makes my product different from the other products that are already on the market?
The answers to these questions are key in developing a marketing strategy for a new product. There are two aspects of marketing a new product that must be considered. They are attracting the attention of retailers and attracting the attention of the customer.
If a retailer does not see the potential benefit of a product that is being sold, they have no reason to stock it on their shelves. They must first be convinced that they will be able to make money from the product they are selling. If customers are not interested in the new product that is being developed, no one makes money.
Once a product has been developed and once it has generated some interest among retailers, marketing companies will strive to find the best way to promote the product to customers. Companies like the MDV Group for example will attempt to determine who the niche market for the newly created product is, and they will try to determine the best way to present the product to this niche market.
Once this information has been gathered, Internet and direct marketing, product placement, television advertising, print advertising, and radio advertising campaigns will be prepared. The primary concern of a marketing firm is to create a campaign that is effective and that communicates the value of the product they are marketing to customers and retailers.
