|
|
A Forgotten Marketing Tool – The Postcard
The postcard can be a very powerful marketing tool. Many of our customers and/or students use them in their business. The key is to set up the card to market effectively for you. Concentrate on a specific item or niche. When used correctly a post...
Is Telemarketing Effective?
Telemarketing is one of the most controversial elements of advertising and sales that has ever been. With a turn towards avoiding this means of marketing, business are looking elsewhere. But, can an effectively run telemarketing campaign still pay...
Massage Marketing Made Easy : Marketing Plan for Therapists and Bodyworkers
Marketing is actually very simple. It involves telling people what you do….over and over and over. The key to successfully marketing your massage therapy business is consistency. So, first, let’s take a look at the difference between marketing a...
What Affiliate Marketing Mentors to Follow, and Why?
Affiliate marketing has been in the Internet industry for quite
sometime now and it is among the most popular tools used by many
online entrepreneurs today. It is a great option for those who
want to put up an online business quickly and cheaply....
Your Marketing Mantra for 2003
There's a 15-word marketing mantra that's covered in Marketing 101, that you need to know. It's: By the time you're sick of it, the public is just beginning to get it. HOW THIS WORKS I was in marketing for years before becoming a coach, and went...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Small Biz Marketing Stategy: When to Launch a New Product
The first question an entrepreneur should ask himself when contemplating whether to extend his product range is "why would I do that?"
A good share of the entrepreneurs I know have a tendency to extend their product range in a very curious, oportunistic way. Whenever the market has more opportunities than suppliers, I see entrepreneurs deciding "Let's do this, too. We can do this, why not doing it?"
For this reason, they end up developing unrelated products that eventually lead to parallel businesses, very time and effort-consuming for the small business. An entrepreneur should first be able to address the following two questions:
- why does he feel the need to take such step, launching a new product or service? - will the product contribute towards a better strategic positioning of the company? - will the product help sustain the company's message for the target market?
Some other issues should be considered and answered too, before deciding to add a product to the company's range:
- will the new product cannibalize the existing products? - if a new product is launched, will customers still purchase the previous products? - the new product's market is a new one, or is it the same market as for the older products (is the business truly extending, or it is just being updated?). A business update is surely not a bad idea, but not if it comes as an unexpected result: the entrepreneur invests to extend the business and in return he only succeeds to replace older products with new ones.
Extending a product range should occur only when the target market is ready to buy something new. This is especially true on emerging markets, growing markets that need time to assimilate and learn new products, according to existing needs. If a product is launched too early in the market's development stage, one should brace himself for failure, or at least for a costly adventure: marketing the new product can require more time and money than planned and expected. Extending the products range for a small business is actually a matter of inspiration rather than perspiration (read: "research") since market research is often too costly for the small biz entrepreneur - thus extending the products range is a pretty difficult task: what products can you offer to people who are already buying?
When adding new products to the business, focus become the crucial aspect,
and not the number of products being launched. If several new products are to be added to the range, they should be positioned for different targets and must be taken care by different teams. You can't give the market two products at one and you can't have one single team in charge of launching two products. Multiple products should be launched simultaneously only if the target market is large enough and there's an equally large team to manage it.
Two frequent mistakes made by small biz entrepreneurs are lack of innovation and focus. More exactly, they might launch products that are too "down to earth" (read: "boring") for an expanding market, or products that don't comply with the overall business strategy and direction. If the launch of a new product was successfull, sales should get a boost, but if the launch failed withdrawing the product is probably the best option. A frequent syndrome when it comes of small businesses stretegy is that of buried costs: the entrepreneur insists on keeping a failed product thinking "something" can be done with it or else the money spent on development and launch are lost. If the new product was a failure, it is theoretically possible to try a re-launch, a re-branding or a different communication campaign; though, most of the times it's simply the wiser to just eliminate the product and cut the possible further losses.
To conclude, here are some major question a small business entrepreneur should ask himself before launching a new product:
- will the product contribute towards a better strategic positioning of the company? - will the product help sustain the company's message for the target market? - will the new product cannibalize the existing products? - if a new product is launched, will customers still purchase the previous products? - the new product's market is a new one, or is it the same market as for the older products (is the business truly extending, or it is just being updated?)
About the Author
Otilia is a certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teach her own online course in Principles of e-Marketing and can be contacted through her Marketing and eMarketing articles portal Tea with an Edge of Marketing.
|
|
|
|
|
KnowThis: For Marketing, Market Research, Internet Marketing ... |
KnowThis.com offers a wealth of information, forums, and resources for professionals, academics and students in traditional and internet marketing, ... |
www.knowthis.com |
  |
Marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Marketers depend on marketing research, both formal and informal, ... The next big thing is a concept in marketing that refers to a product or idea that ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Marketing - Marketing Strategy - Marketing Plan - Marketing ... |
Learn about marketing careers, the stages of developing a marketing plan, how to begin marketing research, create a marketing strategy, and how to market ... |
marketing.about.com |
  |
Marketing.org - Home of the Business Marketing Association |
Serves the professional, educational and career development needs of business-to-business marketers. |
www.marketing.org |
  |
Welcome - American Marketing Association - www.marketingpower.com |
Dedicated to serving the educational and professional needs of marketing executives. |
www.marketingpower.com |
  |
Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR News - Brand Republic |
Find the latest Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR news from Brand Republic, the online resource for up to the minute advertising and marketing news and ... |
www.brandrepublic.com |
  |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic. |
www.brandrepublic.com |
  |
Marketing (Canada) |
Offers a Canadian source of news and articles on marketing, advertising and media. |
www.marketingmag.ca |
  |
BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click advertising - online advertising directly on sites of your choice, internet marketing solution for online advertisers. |
www.bidvertiser.com |
  |
Online Behavioral Contextual Advertising and Marketing. |
Promote your business with today's most effective online advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, CPM or CPV. |
www.clicksor.com |
  |
Sales Jobs / Marketing Jobs / Advertising Jobs - MarketingJobs.com |
Employment site for marketing and sales professionals. |
www.marketingjobs.com |
  |
The Chartered Institute of Marketing |
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world's largest international marketing professional body and helps with career support and information ... |
www.cim.co.uk |
  |
Marketing: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with marketing on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
  |
Marketing Profs - Marketing Concepts and Strategies: Expert ... |
Marketing knowhow from professionals. Newsletter, articles and how-to's. |
www.marketingprofs.com |
  |
Guerrilla Marketing Online - The Official Site |
Guerrilla Marketing Online is anonline magazine for small business, entrepreneurs, sales people and marketers of all kinds. |
www.gmarketing.com |
  |
Business Marketing - Small Business Marketing |
Business marketing - Read everything your need to know about small business marketing. |
www.entrepreneur.com |
  |
All About Marketing |
Adapted from Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation ... Inbound Marketing Includes Market Research to Find Out: ... |
www.managementhelp.org |
  |
Pages tagged with "marketing" on del.icio.us |
USA Network Announces a NASHVILLE STAR Marketing Partnership With ... - Yahoo! ... Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing ... |
del.icio.us |
  |
ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers |
Includes columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from B2B marketing to search engine marketing. |
www.clickz.com |
  |
Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing |
Trade association for users and suppliers in the direct, database and interactive marketing fields, offering seminars and resources, and lobbying for ... |
www.the-dma.org |
  |
|