Book Sample
Excerpt from New Product Launch: 10 Proven Strategies
co-authored with Joan Schneider
Article Samples
Lead article from Community College Entrepreneur,
August 2007
Viewpoint, April 2008, one of a series of monthly thought piece written for Mirus Capital Advisors
Web Sample
Writing for the World Wide Web
New Product Launch: 10 Proven Strategies
Chapter 29: Take Home Points
We hope we’ve provided you with the salient trends, challenges and advice you will need to propel your future launches to success. While we realize there are so many things to take into consideration in both the planning and implementation stages, in the end, it’s the basics that provide the foundation for new product launch. If you follow the 10 Proven Strategies reiterated below, you will begin and end your launch journey on a path that others have charted successfully before.
It’s true that each launch is a new mission, replete with its own challenges and opportunities. We urge you to review this list each time you embark on a new launch and consider it your GPS (Global Positioning System). These success factors will serve as a guide for finding the quickest and most successful way to reach your destination. Just check your instruments and these 10 “waypoints” before you turn on your launch engine.
Launch Strategy #1: Treat Launch as a Separate Phase
If you think of new product launch as a huge jigsaw puzzle, launch is an important piece of that puzzle. In Dr. Robert Cooper’s Stage-Gate Model, production and launch are coupled together as the final stage of new product development. Our belief is that launch should be its own gate because the elements that comprise launch (or commercialization) are critical to a new product’s success. Establishing a Launch Gate focuses the attention on this process that it truly deserves. Advertising, public relations, promotions, special events, POS, guerilla marketing, e-commerce and the Web are the engines that drive sales. They deserve consideration long before the first package rolls off the assembly line. Begin thinking about launch the minute you decide to produce a new product. To successfully create a launch in today’s highly competitive marketplace can take the integrated marketing communications team the same amount of time it takes the product development team to design and manufacture the product. Start early and give launch the planning and execution time it requires in today’s complex marketplace. Launch Strategy #2: Have a Plan
Carefully choreograph your launch so everything you do is part of a master plan. Be sure your launch team develops the plan together so all the elements fit together seamlessly. Timing is everything with launch and we urge you to consider all the possible ways/times/methods you can introduce your product to its various target audiences.
Launch Strategy #3: Don’t Carve Your Plan in Stone
It’s great to have a plan, but if you find one particular element of the campaign is performing heads above the others; do more of that and less of something else. Being flexible is one of the keys to launch success.
Launch Strategy #4: Learn to Live with the Inevitable Delays
No one ever thinks their launch will be delayed but empirical evidence says 70 percent of launches are delayed at least once. On the flip side, sometimes a launch can be accelerated by a leak to the media or by a competitor’s move in the market. Plan for the possibility that your launch will be delayed or accelerated. In addition, you might want to consider what you would do if a competitor interrupts your launch—either by intention or by accident—with an announcement derails your launch. Plan for all eventualities that relate to timing, so you’ll be prepared no matter what happens.
Launch Strategy #5: Spend Money on Products That Are “New”
Spend your launch money on products that are really new and will captivate the imagination of consumers. With so many products being introduced each year, pick a new product from your lineup that has media potential. Whenever possible, build your launch campaign around a product that has sizzle. If the product fits into a new trend, if it has unique features never been seen before, if it is new technology, if it makes life easier in a new way, then it’s worthy of a major launch campaign. Be realistic, not all new products are blockbusters. And no matter what agencies you choose to help with your launch, if the product isn’t really new and if it doesn’t captivate the imagination of consumers, it’s going to be really hard to build the buzz necessary to meet your sales objectives. Be honest with yourself about how newsworthy your product or service really is before you embark upon an expensive launch campaign that will yield marginal results. Also, don’t “sort of” launch the product and then ask the agency to launch it as if it’s never been introduced before. (If you send out a press release announcing a new product, many editors consider that a launch!)
Launch Strategy #6: Assemble an Expert Launch Crew
Make sure you have the right people on your launch team. Select talented agencies you enjoy working with and whose judgment you trust. Choose agencies because you like their style, their people, their track record and you feel confident they will “push the envelope” and encourage you to make the right creative decisions. You are going to spend a great deal of time together and your working relationship is critical to success. Find partners who exhibit the right blend of strategy and implementation. You can have the best strategy, but if it isn’t implemented flawlessly, you’ve lost the game. Select people who understand your business but aren’t stuck in doing the “same old thing.” Passion counts for a lot and you want to partner with people who are as passionate about your business—and your new product—as you are.
Share information with your agencies and treat them as partners so they can provide maximum effectiveness. Be a full participant on the team. It’s true you are the client, but it’s like being the conductor of an orchestra. You have to lead your musicians to play the best music they can at every performance. Communication is key to success no matter what industry you are in, so be sure you share yourself, your time and your knowledge with everyone on the team. And don’t forget to read your emails, review the creative product and comment by the due date, return phone calls promptly and generally be as attentive to the “administrivia” as you are to the big decisions—with launch, the devil is in the details and meeting deadlines is paramount to success.
Launch Strategy #7: Brand/Product Managers Make the Best Team Leaders
The best launch leaders are totally devoted to a new product’s success. They have the time and inclination to squire the product from inception to launch without the distractions of many other responsibilities. While the president of the company may seem like a great person to lead a launch, his/her responsibilities on so many other fronts can be a distraction to the focus required to successfully lead a product from development to market introduction. Brand mangers, whose sole responsibility is to lead the launch, make the best leaders; their future success depends on the successful introduction of this new product to the marketplace so their focus remains steadfast throughout the launch process.
Launch Strategy # 8: Bigger Budgets Fuel Success
Be sure you have all the tools you need to be successful. So many times, companies spend all their money on new product development and have little left to devote to the actual launch. Launching new products costs money. You’ll need research that you’re willing to share with the media on how and why you’ve developed the product (the media loves statistics and other types of hard data). Having credible spokespeople, both inside the company and a third party expert who can attest to why this product is important, is imperative. Having consumers who’ve used the product and are willing to talk about it standing by to share their opinions is a must in most product categories. Budget enough money to plan and implement a launch campaign that will move the sales dial. The single biggest obstacle to new product success is under-funding your launch. In today’s competitive marketplace, it always takes longer and costs more to launch a new product than you expect. Research your budget to be sure it’s realistic and plan for the unexpected.
Launch Lesson #9: Consumer-focused Spending Prevents Crash Landings
Marketing “direct to consumers” is the new rage. Putting your product in the hands of the consumer through sampling, guerilla marketing and “presence” opportunities at events are all ways to personally familiarize the consumer with your new product. The old adage, “try before you buy,” is the new consumer mantra. Finding ways to introduce your product through means other than advertising can be an inexpensive and effective way to build trial and drive sales. These alternative methods of distribution can be critical in building consumer demand. Remember, if the customer falls in love with your product and asks for it at retail, it’s hard for store buyers to ignore such requests. It’s one of the few ways left to combat the high costs of slotting fees. Go direct to consumers and have them plead your case at retail.
Launch Strategy #10: Don’t Overlook PR
Never before has public relations been such a critical part of the launch mix. Placing stories in the media where your consumers congregate is essential to building the awareness and credibility that are essential for a successful launch. Know your consumers intimately so you can develop story lines in print, broadcast and on the web that will attract their attention. Keep your media messages sharp and focused so the features, benefits and attributes that differentiate your new product from the competition come across loud and clear. Develop both a short and long-term media relations strategy so your new product doesn’t burst upon the media scene one day and then crashes and burns the next. Leverage consumer trends as much as possible to sustain interest in your launch beyond the introductory period. Remember, the most effective launches use public relations to build the brand and sustain it over time.
Good Luck on Your Launch Journey!
We hope you’ve found New Product Launch: l0 Proven Strategies for Success to be as interesting to read as we’ve found it to write. Based on how much information there is to know about Launch, and how much it changes every day, we now understand why this topic has not been written about before.
We are eager to learn more about your successful or challenging launches or tips you’d like to share. We invite you to write to us at jschneider@schneiderpr.com as we are committed to providing on-going information about Launch. Through our efforts and yours, we hope that Launch will one day have its own chronicled “best practices” and that people will freely share what they’ve learned so we can all be more successful in New Product Launch.
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Building Bridges: Links Between 2- and 4- Year Schools Offer a Bounty of Benefits for Entrepreneurial Education
When NACCE’s 5th annual conference kicks off on January 6 in San Antonio, one major topic under discussion as part of the “Building Bridges Through Entrepreneurship” theme will be how community colleges and four-year schools can link together around entrepreneurship. This article provides a preliminary look at some of the issues that are sure to be discussed regarding these important relationships and the challenges involved in building them.
As evidenced by the rapid growth of NACCE membership, more and more community colleges across the country are leveraging the power of entrepreneurship education. This growth mirrors the rapid expansion in entrepreneurship education that has occurred in the past decade or so at four-year schools.
“By virtually any measure–number of courses offered, number of centers, number of endowed chairs, number of electives–the growth of entrepreneurial education at four-year schools has been explosive in the last 10 years,” says Stephen Spinelli, vice provost for Entrepreneurship and Global Management at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. “In some ways, entrepreneurship is the new management paradigm. In our rapidly changing environment, opportunity recognition is a core competency, so we have to teach entrepreneurship. This is an arena where two- and four-year schools can come together in a way that aligns market demand and the competencies of both types of schools.”
In Spinelli’s view of the ideal future, two-year schools will provide students with a core curriculum in entrepreneurship. Then four-year schools will leverage that knowledge by offering a highly differentiated curriculum that enables transferring students to specialize in a wide range of disciplines. He believes NACCE can be a coalescing force for achieving this goal by helping to create a curriculum that would have what he calls a “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval.
Consistency Essential
Critical to the success of inter-institutional relationships is making sure students can easily move from their community college to the four-year school without losing momentum or confidence. “About 40 percent of our students are transfers from community colleges so it’s critical that we be more attentive to what it is that they’re being provided in terms of skills and knowledge,” says Timothy Stearns, who is Coleman Foundation Chair on Entrepreneurial Studies at California State University, Fresno. “There needs to be some consistency. Nothing is worse than going from one institution and finding that what you’ve been taught isn’t consistent with what is being taught at your new school. It makes it much more difficult to continue on. So we need to work hard to get together and figure out, through collaboration, what things we can do better in this arena.”
Picking up on Stearns’ theme about the need for consistency is Leona Ittleman, dean of the School of Business and Information Technology at Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield, MA. “Today’s students view themselves as consumers,” says Ittleman. “They appreciate academic standards, but they want to know what they’ll get out of a program and what the standards are. They want to accomplish their educational goal quickly and efficiently, and they want the transfer to a four-year institution to be seamless. They expect to go in as a first-semester junior because they’ve had all these courses in entrepreneurship at the community college level.”
Each Side Benefits
Ittleman has seen first hand how strong links with four-year schools can strengthen a community college’s entrepreneurship program. “We’ve had four-year institutions review our curriculum and make comments,” she says. “They’ve been very generous in giving us course syllabi and giving us guidance on text selection. They’ve also helped us in terms of suggesting people we could talk to regarding establishing internships for our students.”
Michael Hennessy, president and CEO of The Coleman Foundation, one of NACCE’s major financial supporters, identifies another area of opportunity that is ripe for exploitation if two-and four-year schools work together. “Many large universities are answering the ‘so what’ questions with their research,” he says, “but we could push that knowledge forward by using the communities colleges as practical laboratories. The community colleges could become the playing field where all those hypotheses about entrepreneurship could be tested in an applied setting and then the results could go back for more analysis at the four-year schools.”
As a community college graduate, Sandra Coyne-Westerkamp, Lead Director and Campus Director for the MBA program at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, MA, doesn’t have to be sold on the opportunities that arise when two- and four-year schools join together around entrepreneurship. She is looking forward to learning more about how to build such bridges at the 2008 NACCE conference. “I attend NACCE every year and my statement to my school, which is a four-year school and a graduate school, is that if we know what’s going on among the NACCE members and are aware of their entrepreneurship efforts, we can engage students from those schools,” she says.
“Our students benefit any time educators can make connections and eliminate barriers,” adds Coyne-Westerkamp. “For example, we bring in faculty from local community colleges and introduce them to what’s going on in our school. These faculty members can then foster relationships with Bay Path for their students. Then if a student from a community college comes to our school and meets with a professor and takes a tour, they realize it’s do-able. It’s just an extension of their current experience. It’s not a bridge; it’s a door to give people opportunities they wouldn’t have thought possible.”
Iowa Colleges Together Work on Building Bridges
Tim Putnam, associate director of the Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC), reports that entrepreneurship educators in Iowa are actively building linkages that enable students with an entrepreneurial bent to achieve their goals. “For our rural economy here in North Iowa, it’s essential for us to help students realize that their ambitions to create new ventures that will drive our economy can be accomplished right here in Iowa,” he says.
Putnam points to two innovative programs that are typical of what he calls the “practical” approach Iowa’s higher education community is taking toward the challenge of creating more home-grown entrepreneurs. “Iowa State University has created an Entrepreneurship and Innovative Learning Community where students from multiple majors who have entrepreneurial aspirations live and learn together in one dorm,” says Putnam. “We’re working toward having the ability for our students to transfer right into that learning environment, and our first two students will be making that transition this fall. Iowa State is holding scholarships for them.”
Putnam’s community college also has a close relationship with the University of Iowa that has led to exciting educational opportunities for would-be entrepreneurs at NIACC. “We’re working on an articulation program with the university that will be in place later this year,” he says. “But equally exciting is an on-line education program that allows our students to take higher-level courses that are in place at the university without leaving our school. This is in place at several community colleges across the state and we’re very excited about it.”
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Viewpoint, April 2008
One of a series of monthly thought piece written for Mirus Capital Advisors Click here to download this pdf file.
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Writing for the Web
Please visit www.nathanagencies.com for an example of my Web site copywriting.
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