As a major partner for startup brands looking to launch products to market, we often get a lot of questions about expanding retail reach. So, we’ve brought in one of Gallium’s recommended and highly experienced partners — Retailbound — to give their expert take on what new brands should look to do when launching a new product to market. Retaibound’s Yohan Jacob, Retail Management Consultant, takes us through the steps.
Getting off to a good start
Product launches need more than a few well-placed ads to succeed. Every aspect of doing business combines into a multi-faceted strategy all aimed at selling products as much as possible. The process can be quite overwhelming and may involve a lot of confusion and the potential for wasted investment if handled inefficiently. If you want to generate real success during and after a product launch, your brand needs to focus on what is called the trinity of success.
What is the trinity of success?
The research, development, and pre-launch processes involve a lot more than three things. At times, it may feel like your organization is juggling 1 million balls at the same time. However, when you get down to the end-stage planning process, everything falls into one of three main categories. These represent the trinity of success, and each one is a necessary part of creating not only an impressive launch but also the type of long-term profits your brand needs.
The trinity of success includes marketing, communication, and retail distribution.
Marketing for product startups
All marketing begins with the identification of a target audience or ideal buyer persona. This represents the people who would be most likely to benefit from your product. Everything from search engine optimization on the website to retail shop signs to social media posts announcing a new offer must speak directly to them if you want the type of response that leads to sales.
Marketing involves so many different potential strategies and individual tasks. However, the most effective overall strategy requires a lot of market research, competitor analysis, and product positioning well before the in-house team or outsourced experts put the plans into action. You need a strong launch plan in place to make a huge impact on the market as soon as possible. But, you cannot rest on the laurels of initial success. Ongoing marketing plans for product startups give you the brand-boosting power and profits to fuel future product development.
Communication for teams and target audience
Effective communication increases internal elements like efficiency and productivity, as well as external ones like brand recognition and customer service. There is no end to the list of people you need to communicate with before, during, and after a product launch. In order to do so effectively, it helps to have organized systems in place.
Internal communication requires all necessary information to be shared in a timely manner and through channels that everyone can access and understand. In most cases, this is handled by project team collaboration platforms that integrate different departments and people so everyone is kept up to date with the process.
External communications are integrated into the entire marketing strategy of product launch and future sales. These tasks focus on sharing information and offers with a target audience and making sure they are satisfied with both the product and the process of getting and using it.
Retail distribution options make a difference
Companies that sell physical products need to get them into stores in the real world and online. So many logistical tasks go on behind the scenes to get an item manufactured, transported, stored, and finally delivered to the shop or the buyer. Retail distribution is one element of this entire process that weaves through every other part of the supply chain. It mainly focuses on the last stage that includes getting the product from your storage facility to the shop itself.
The specific distribution strategies used depend on the product type, how the retail store wants to handle the product carries, and budgeting and financial considerations. Do you want your product in a single specialty boutique or every single location in a chain store? Do you want to pay a middleman distributor to set up displays and manage inventory or offer wholesale lot pricing with return contracts for unsold items? Effective distribution makes all the difference in the world when it comes to making sales well beyond the excitement of the product launch.
The trinity of marketing, communication, and retail distribution encompasses all the essential elements that lead to a strong product launch and ongoing sales. It may take more than you expect to tailor strategies effectively. If you fail to use any one part of this system, you will find that you may struggle to reach brand growth or revenue targets. An exceptional product launch is possible if you make an intelligent plan that approaches your goals from all three angles.
Retailbound is comprised of retail experts with hundreds of years of combined experience in all aspects of sales and sales support, merchandising, product development, marketing, multi-channel strategy, category management, pricing and brand growth. To learn how to successfully bring new products to market, get in touch with them today.
