How to Launch a Product [7-Step Process]
An interesting fact: The oldest person on record was a French woman who lived for 122 years. A thing to note: she smoked for most of her life. Interestingly, the oldest living person in the world, right now, is also a French woman. She is 118 years old… this reminds me of today’s topic… About a year ago, I made a video about why you should never launch a perfect product. After that, someone suggested I teach people how to actually launch a product… and it made me I realize that… certain business concepts might have to be explained in greater detail, depending on where you are in your entrepreneurial journey. So, right now, I’m going to show you how to launch a product.<<>> You are now tuned in to leonard innovation, where we work together to solve the problems of everyday entrepreneurs. My name is Justin Leonard. Over the years, I have successfully launched numerous products and services, including going from invention to market. When I say, market… that just means the product is actively being sold in the retail marketplace. Most inventions don’t make it to that stage for a number of reasons. Eventually, I will cover how to bring a novel product or invention to market. But today, I’m going to briefly go over the main steps involved in launching a product. So, how do you go from idea to profit? In order to do this, I have identified 7 action steps that are needed for a successful launch. And here are the 7 steps: Idea, target, source, platform, payment, marketing, distribution. Now, let’s go over a few details on each of these, starting with the idea.<<>> The first thing you need is a general idea of what you can sell to make money. For example, do you plan to sell a food product? Are you selling a service? Are there any products like it already being sold? Is it a niche product or is it widely available? So, these are the types of questions you need to ask yourself in order to come up with a successful product idea.<<>> The second step is the target or the process of identifying those who would be willing to buy your product. You are performing market research. Where do potential customers hang out? Where do they shop? The target identification phase is a time for information gathering, which might also include things like determining pricing, product testing, and obtaining feedback from potential customers. <<>> How to launch a product, Step three involves sourcing of two things: the first, of course, is the product itself. And the second is any materials that might be needed to make the product. Once your target audience or customer has been identified, you have to figure out where the product will come from. 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. So, in step three of the action plan, you are basically trying to figuring out where to buy the product and any materials at a discount for the purpose of resale.<<>> How to launch a product step 4 is the platform. Here, you want to think about how to get discovered by potential customers. So, 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? The key is to identify the platform in which you will be selling because… customers have to be able to find you in order to buy your product or service.<<>> how to launch a product step 5 is the payment. In the previous step, a platform was established. Now, you need a way to facilitate customer payments. How will customers pay and what type of payments are accepted? Credit card? Check? Bank wire? So, you want to have all this sorted out before the launch. <<>> Next, it’s time to prepare for the official product launch. So, marketing is step number 6. Here, we should attempt to notify potential customers of when and where the product will be available for purchase. There are a number of ways to promote a product launch: newsletter, social media, events (launch parties), paid advertising, press releases, and anything you can think of... You want to use any and all means of creativity to announce your product launch.<<>> How to launch a product, step 7, the final step, 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? So, you’re just going through the process of making sure that the final step of delivering the product to the customer is covered.<<>> And that is how to launch a product. Again, the seven steps from start to finish are the idea, the target, the source, the platform, the payment, the marketing, and the distribution. And yes, the same seven-step action plan will work if you are launching 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, well, they handle the payment processing; and it is even possible, in some instances, to set up fulfillment services where they handle delivery to the customer… Now, this guide only touched on the basics. Technically, each step has many more layers that can be forensically assessed to further increase your chance of success. For example, before a launch, you can sometimes get your customers to pay you for a product that hasn’t even been made yet. So, this is a whole movie on its own. But you can see that a product launch can have many layers. But the intent of this presentation is to get you to think in a more sophisticated manner about the process of launching a product. By the way, I created a free seven-step product launch template that you can download for reference at any time. For immediate access, visit leonard innovation.com/launch7 Once again, you can download the free seven-step product launch template at leonard innovation.com/launch7 I’ll also put a link in the description. Lastly, if you enjoyed this presentation, the next one will be even better. And for more high value content, leonardinnovation.com is the place for free entrepreneur resources like the 90-day online launch guide, free online courses, and more. Learn how to start or grow your business. 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