Launching New Ideas

I am working on a new product launch and it's always an exciting time for me because of all the facets that go into a product launch. Today I would like to talk about launching any new idea and how to make sure it's a success.

The first thing you want to think about when launching a new idea/product/service or whatever it is you're launching is who is it intended for, be very specific here. What is the target audience for this idea and how will it impact them or their business. Once you have answered that question then there is a whole list of things to consider before launching, here are a few:

• How will you market it? Including Website, Email, Social Networking, Blogging, Direct Mail etc...
• Are there possible multiple product offerings in your idea, for instance in the product I'm currently offering I will also be able to spin off an e-book, a seminar, coaching services and a monthly subscription.
• What is your sales process? How will you sell the product and what will the sales approach look like?
• How will the service end look? Do you need to do anything different from a service perspective?
• And what does the profitability look like? Can you maintain margins to make the idea profitable.

These are just a few things to consider when launching new products, ideas and offerings. Too many times I see companies roll out a new product assuming there's a market for it but not taking care of the front end details that I mention above and then when they launch and get no response they can't figure out why. The other issue is look into how you might preview the launch and take a page out of Apple's book, by letting a few details come out on what you are launching to start to create buzz, Apple is an expert and creating a buzz before they ever launch a new product. I hope these ideas help you successfully launch new ideas and look for an exciting new product soon from me that will help you create a simple, yet powerful strategic action plan, keep your eye on our website for more details!

Great Marketing Ideas for 2009

I've been getting a little R&R on the beach in Mexico over the last few days and on my way down I picked up a book in the airport. The book is the New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott.  This book has been a real eye opening experience for me in that I thought I was somewhat tech savvy when it comes to marketing but as I found reading David's book I'm just scratching the surface of what I should be doing to market my business, let alone help my clients market their businesses.  David does a fantastic job of laying out the new rules of marketing and how marketing firms, ad agencies and PR firms have done this in the past and how the world of the web, online marketing, blogs, news releases, podcasting and an assortment of other methods have made the old world of marketing and PR obsolete. I generally don't do book reviews in this blog however I have been so impacted by this book I believe I need to let everyone know that reads my blog that they should be incorporating the ideas in this book into their marketing plans. I spend a lot of time in marketing with my clients however I don't consider myself a marketing consultant rather I work with them to create the plans for their marketing that will help them achieve their business goals.  And one thing that became very evident in reading David's book is that I need to focus more on internet based marketing as I work with clients to help them create their plans. 

Internet marketing has come a long ways since it's early days and with all the tools available our there today if you are not taking advantage of some of these things you are completely missing the boat on opportunities to let people know about who you are and what you do. Any business plan should incorporate many of the tools that David discusses in order to get maximum exposure in the marketplace. The best part of this is it is relatively inexpensive and you don't need webmasters and programmers to do it. In my book "Ultimate Breakthrough Planning" I have an entire chapter on looking at your marketing systems and building a business funnel for them.  By taking some of David's ideas and putting them into your funnel you will improve your marketing dramatically.  The best part is that many of the tools David mentions we have typically thought of for large corporations, yet he gives some great examples such as an auto repairman on how they grew their businesses through some of these tools.  

In building your business funnel you should very definitely read David's book as well as visit his blog.  By the way David's not paying me anything for this in fact I don't know David and he doesn't know me however I believe his ideas should be used by every business to make their marketing efforts more targeted and more effective. 

It's a New Year, Again!

Once again we start a new year and if you're like me you're thinking about all the things you want to accomplish in this new year.  Of course this year is a little different because we all probably have some trepidation about what's going on with the economy and how it will impact our business in the coming year.  As we look at what we want to do in the coming year we typically start setting some goals and then maybe write down some things that we will do to achieve those goals but in most cases that is the extent of our planning for the new year. 

I would encourage you to try a different approach this year!  Rather than focusing on what you want to accomplish this year, try developing an action plan of the things you need to do each and every day in order to achieve those goals you set.  Create a plan that measures those actions, for instance if you need to ramp up your marketing to achieve those goals then determine exactly what you need to do from a marketing perspective; do you need to do more advertising, or more direct marketing or more online marketing and whatever it is measure the specific things you are going to do in order to do that.  In my book "Ultimate Breakthrough Planning" I have a whole section that talks about measuring key milestones and how if you measure and hit your key milestones you will inevitably hit your goals. As I work with my clients I constantly remind them that if you measure your actions and execution of your plan your goals will take care of themselves.  

Obviously we have a challenging environment this year however with challenges come opportunities and in order to capitalize on those opportunities and grow your business in difficult times you must have a laser focused approach to what you are going to do.