In our previous e-newsletter, we spoke about Funding Development through Production, which was Step 7 of our 8 Step Product to Market Guide. Today, we bring this series to an end with the final step – the Product Launch. Happy inventing!

We’re currently facing a global pandemic the likes of which we have not seen in over a century. We have all had to find ways to adapt to the situation and continue to maintain productivity and peace of mind. While our nation has made some drastic changes over the past few weeks to prevent the spread of the highly contagious Coronavirus, we have seen the importance of innovation and creativity.  Here at Envision, we are following the recommended precautions and guidelines and we hope you are doing the same and doing everything possible to stay safe. 

Over the past few months, we have been discussing 8 steps to take your product idea to market. We feel this guide is even more relevant now as so many people have had time to think up new product ideas during this quarantine/lockdown. In the first 7 steps, we discussed Knowing your “Why”, Establishing Marketability, Avoiding Patent Infringement, Performing Market Validation, Confirming Manufacturability, Creating a Business Plan and Pitch Deck and Fund Development Through Production. In this edition of your newsletter, we’d like to wrap up our Product to Market Guide with the 8th and final step of the process – the Product Launch. 

Business Plan and Pitch Decks

In Step 6 of our Product to Market Guide, we delved into the importance of a business plan and pitch deck, and the difference between the two.  Just to refresh your memory, a business plan is a detailed document about your business/product. It should include answers to all the common questions investors and clients would have about your product: what it is, what gap it fills in the market, goals and future plans and projected profit and loss. On the other hand, a pitch deck is more of a visual presentation (either in PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi) that summarizes your company/product. Your pitch deck is what you’ll use to try and bring investors on-board and so it should be brief (no more than 19 slides), include all pertinent information and be engaging (lots of graphics, not as much text). Both of these documents will be important during the launch of your product as you want to ensure that everyone involved (your partners, investors, employees and target customers) has all the information they need about the product.  

Marketing Plan 

When launching a new product, you’ll need a solid and detailed marketing plan. Within this plan, you’ll need to address questions like ‘what are your goals’, ‘what will success look like at the end of this launch’, etc. Your marketing plan needs to be realistic, and it needs to include a comprehensive outline of how you plan to market and advertise your product. It should include details about your target audience, messaging and product differentiators, planned marketing activities and a database of influencers/media representatives. Your marketing plan needs to ensure people are hyped and excited about your product before it actually hits the shelves and it must outline the strategy to achieve this. 

Sales Strategy

You’ve invented, tested and finalized a great new product, but now how do you sell it? This is the essential question a sales strategy answers. As the name suggests, your sales strategy is a breakdown of how you’ll go about selling your product and making a profit. Your sales strategy needs to identify your target audience, how you plan to reach them, how you’ll get them to buy from you (as opposed to a competitor) and your revenue projection. 
Having a great product idea, but no way to determine if it’s marketable and how you could get it onto shelves can be stressful and confusing. Our product-to-market guide is here to assist you with this…and so are we! We’re here to help bring to life just about anything you can envision. Our team has decades of experience in new product launch strategies and we invite you to take our product viability test to see how we can bring your product idea from mind to market! Please continue to stay safe and keep thinking up those great product ideas!