Market a new product

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Short of manufacturing the new product and selling it to see how many people buy, there really are only two ways to answer marketing questions ahead of time. You can find out directly or indirectly.

Let's look at the direct way first. To find out if people like your idea, you have to talk to people and see what they are thinking and feeling. You've probably been talking to people all of your life, so you are familiar with the many different ways to reach them.

You can:

? Call people on the phone
? Talk to people face to face
? Send an e-mail
? Send a letter through the mail
? Assemble people in a group and talk to them

No matter which technique you are using for market research, your goal is to ask a set of questions and get back a set of answers to your questions, and new ideas. In many cases you learn things that you never thought about by talking to people. For example, you might find that no one in the south wants your dry car-washing granules, but in the north, where water freezes in the winter, dry granules are just what people have been looking for. If you had not realized that previously, it can be a big revelation -- it can save you a ton of money that would have been wasted advertising your granules in Florida.

The indirect way to learn about the marketplace is to look at what's already out there. How many companies are making a competing product? What are their products like? How do they market them? The fact that there is a competing product tells you that there are some customers out there, and you can access your competitor's market research by looking at the products your competitor is producing. Assuming, that is, that the competitor did any market research.

Getting Ready to Ask Questions

Three questions about your potential product:

1. Who, if anyone, has a real need for the thing I propose to sell, and how many of those potential customers are there?

2. How much, if anything, are they spending to address that need today [and/or how much would they be willing to spend]?

3. Does my product meet that need in a manner that either saves or makes them substantial amounts of money?
Consider the following ideas to help you formulate your own response to your assignment.

These questions have a business focus, but they can be generalized to handle any product. For example, no one has a "real need" for pet rocks or singing fish, yet these products sold very well. So you might expand the question to include "desires" and "whims" as well as needs.

People often buy things for reasons that have nothing to do with making or saving money. For example, Egyptian cotton sheets either make or save money, but they feel good when you are falling asleep. So we can say, "Does the product appeal to a customer in a way that would cause him or her to pull out the wallet?" The word "appeal" can be very broad -- everything from breast implants to chrome wheels to food processors can fall into that category.

Now that you have these three "big picture" questions in mind, you can start to think about the specific questions that you would like to ask your specific audience. Normally you come up with a set of questions that help you to understand how the audience is thinking and feeling about your product. The goal of all of these questions is to gain intimate knowledge of your customers. You want to know exactly what they are thinking and feeling, and why.

Marketing Strategy and Research

Marketing is an integral part of an organization. Marketing is a process for creating value in and awareness of a product or service, informing and communicating to customers about what a company offers, and engaging customer relationships to reach desired results. Ultimately, marketing benefits the organization and its stakeholders because marketing can drive profits if done correctly. Marketing is an art that requires marketing managers to research, create a strategy and plan based off of this research, understand the desires and needs of the consumer and then show how the company?s product fills this desire or need. Successful marketing is not as easy as snapping your fingers. In order to ensure marketing is being maximized, managers should have an understanding of how marketing research and marketing strategy and tactics work together.

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