Phil Glowatz and Associates - new products, branding, positioning, repositioning, marketing experts.
Phil Glowatz & Associates has observed, in developing new products for numerous firms, that the more successful companies apply the following key, basic principles:
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1. Assemble a multi-disciplined team.
Marketing, marketing research and R & D should form your core development team, with finance, sales and operations in an extended team. Each is critical to a successful launch, and early involvement averts roadblocks later. Also, great ideas sometimes come from unlikely places.
2. Set specific parameters up front.
Establishing realistic goals for the time and money you are willing to invest in product development, and for the sales volume you need to achieve, allows you to avoid wasting effort on product ideas that do not make sense for your firm.
3. Involve end-users and/or purchase influencers early.
No product benefit is truly meaningful unless some segment of consumers, end-users or purchase influencers perceives it as such. Talk to your customers, and develop the features and benefits they want and need. Remember, they're the ones with the money.
4. Involve upper management early.
If management has new business objectives different from yours, you lose. While this may seem obvious, it is often overlooked.
5. Challenge the research.
Sometimes, research is indicative only of the past, and is not predictive of the future. The product answer may be totally at odds with the research. Exploring a wide range of potential solutions can increase your chances of success.
6. Look in your archives.
There can be gold buried in the failed concepts file. Some may have been executed poorly, while others may have been ahead of their times.
7. Be sure each concept is reducible to a positioning statement one sentence long.
A new product needs a single compelling benefit, stated simply, to attract consumers. Multi-part positionings guarantee failure.
8. Show concepts with visuals and/or prototypes to respondents; try to avoid using abstract concept statements.
Most people--whether they're professionals or consumers--need to see a visual element to fully grasp a product idea. This allows them to get past shape, color, etc., and focus on the positioning, features and benefits.
9. Give concepts a chance to evolve.
instance, the key benefit presented may not be very meaningful, while the real key benefit is buried in secondary copy. Be careful not to kill product ideas and positionings too quickly.
10. Don't be afraid to go with your gut.
Concept test results can sometimes mislead. Consumers and end-users can sometimes be wrong. When your judgment nags at you, and tells you to ignore the consumer, act on it. The best ideas are often the inspired ones.
