Have you ever wondered how to launch a product? This article will cover the main points needed to go from idea to profit.

Over the years, I have successfully launched numerous products and services, including going from invention to market. Most inventions don’t make it to the finish line for a number of reasons. I have identified seven action steps that are needed for a successful launch.

1. The Idea

The first thing you need is a general idea of what you can sell to make money. For example, do you plan on selling a food product? Are you selling a service? If selling a product, are there any like it already being sold? Is it a niche product or is it widely available? These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself in order to come up with a successful product idea.

2. The Target

The second step is the target or the process of identifying customers who would be willing to buy your product. You are performing market research on potential customers. Where do would be customers hang out online? Where are they likely to shop? The target/customer identification phase is a time for information gathering, which might also include things like pricing strategy, product testing, and obtaining feedback from potential customers.

3. The Source

Once your target audience or customer has been identified, you have to figure out where the product will come from (the source). Who can supply it? Does the product need to be purchased from overseas in bulk? Or can it be obtained from a local supplier? Some of you will act as your own supplier; meaning the product will be custom made. But you will probably still need materials to make it. The goal of step three is to try and figure out where to buy the product and/or any materials at a discount for the purpose of resale.

4. The Platform

Identifying a platform is step four. Here, you want to think about how to get discovered by potential customers. How or where will the product be sold? For example, will it be sold in a retail store? Will it be sold via online website? Or what about selling a product from a food truck? So, the goal of step four is to identify the platform in which you will be selling. Your customers have to be able to find you in order to buy your product or service.

5. The Payment

In step five, you should set up payment processing. In the previous step, a platform was established. Now, you need a way to facilitate customer payments. How will customers pay for your product? Also, what type of payments will be accepted? Credit card? Check? Bank wire?

6. The Marketing

Next, it’s time to prepare for the official product launch. Marketing is step number six. Here, you should attempt to notify potential customers about when and where your product will be available for purchase. There are a number of ways to promote a product launch: newsletter, social media, events such as launch parties, paid advertising, press releases... Try to use any and all means of creativity to announce your product launch.

7. The Distribution

Step seven of the product launch sequence is to establish a mode of distribution. Once the product sells, it has to be delivered to the customer. How and when does the customer receive their purchase? Are transactions facilitated in person? Does the process take place autonomously? Are additional services needed such as storage, packaging, shipping, and fulfillment? In step seven, the goal is to ensure that the final step of delivering the product to the customer is covered.

Once again, the seven steps needed to launch a product from start to finish are the idea, the target, the source, the platform, the payment, the marketing, and the distribution. The same seven-step action plan will also work if you intend to launch a service. Although, depending on the path you choose, it might only require, say, five out of the seven steps. For example, if you plan on selling via one of the larger shopping websites, they handle payment processing. It might even be possible to set up fulfillment services where they handle delivery to the customer.

This guide only touches on the basic steps needed to launch a product. Technically, each step can have many more layers which can be forensically assessed to further increase the likelihood of success. For example, before a launch, you can sometimes get customers to pay in advance for a product that hasn’t even been made yet. But you can see that a product launch can have many layers. The intent of this presentation is to get you to think in a more sophisticated manner about the process of launching a product.

Want to learn more about launching a product? I created a FREE 7-step product launch template that you can download for reference at any time.