Bringing a Product to Market: 5 Steps to Launching Your Product Business
5 Steps to launching your product business
So, you have a great idea. The question is, “How do I turn this idea into an actual, revenue-generating business?”
As an experienced agency that helps entrepreneurs, inventors, and everyday people bring ideas to market, we know that developing a high-quality, successful product is no easy feat. Time, effort, expertise, and investments are all part of the process. From solving design challenges and creating a prototype to managing manufacturing logistics and effectively branding your business, there are quite a few steps involved in the process.
These five steps offer a general overview of the typical process and highlight some key details to consider.
1. Choose the best product and brand name
Your product and brand will be recognized by its name, so choosing the best one is crucial. Your chosen name should appeal to your target audience and accurately represent your business and values. Aside from being a perfect fit, you want to ensure the name is available as a dot com website. Also, check that similar brands and products aren’t already using it. This way, when you begin marketing, people can easily find your product.
And, of course, watch out for trademarks.
2. Design the product
Designing a product means ensuring it has the features, benefits, functionality, and aesthetics necessary to succeed. This requires extensive research, which includes defining the problem you’re solving and determining who your target audience is, among other considerations. From there, various design iterations help develop your idea into something that can be prototyped and, eventually, manufactured.
3. Prototype your product idea
There are various types of prototypes. For example, proof-of-concept prototypes validate ideas and have just enough functionality to test feasibility early on. Looks-like prototypes help visually explain your product, and works-like prototypes focus on core functionality.
Rapid prototyping, which can use 3D printers, is oftentimes a money- and time-saving method, as it eliminates the need for elaborate machine setup and tooling.
4. Manufacture your product
Manufacturing a product is where you quite literally take your idea and turn it into that tangible, final product that you’re going to sell. Cost, of course, is an important factor to consider—as is quality. The goal is to create a high-quality product at a price point that’s low enough to appeal to customers, while also being profitable to the business. Thus, choosing the right manufacturer to work with is key. Some of the other components that can be involved with manufacturing include:
Introducing a technical package
Custom tooling (if needed)
Requesting prototypes and product samples
Quality assurance
Mass production
Fulfillment and logistics
5. Brand, Market, and Sell Your Product
Branding and marketing are what help you reach your audience, inform them about your product and brand, draw them in, and encourage sales. Research the market to determine how you should brand your business. This helps you answer questions like: Who are you targeting? How can you distinguish yourself from other similar products? What should your tone be? What graphics should you use? From there, you can work on logos, website design and copy, messaging, SEO, marketing strategies, and more. And when it comes to sales, remember to set appropriate expectations.
Launching Your Product Business
Bringing an idea to market is a complex process, and this is just an overview (not an exhaustive guide) of the basic steps typically required. It’s important to keep in mind that launching a product business isn’t always a one-size-fits-all process—and there are a number of nuances, details, and considerations not included in this brief article.
At 52Launch, we specialize in all of these steps, as well as the complicated ones in between. Book a free consultation today to see how we could make your product business a reality.