How to Plan a Product Launch

When you’re in sales, you’re always driven to think of ways on how you can get your products nearer your target market. When you have such an amazing product, the next step is to formulate an ingenious strategy by which you can best disseminate the info that you have the solution to your client’s problems.

One of the most wide-ranging and effective business strategies is to conduct a product launch. Introducing a product is costly, but if the product launch is done strategically, you’ll find that you can easily convert this expense into sales. Consider these tips on holding a product launch.

Study the selling points of your product. There’s no doubt that your product is amazing, but the challenge is how you can make the consumers think the same. Identify all the selling points of your product and rate them from strongest to weakest. Categorize the selling points according to the type of client. Where the product is food, for example, you should concentrate on presenting the product’s selling points on health benefits if your target market are the health buffs.

Have a message which you will convey clearly. All campaigns should be consistent with one clear message. In all your advertising materials — fliers, posters, TV ads, or radio plugs, make sure that your message is clear. The best way to achieve product recall is to have a product identity. Tell your customers exactly why they need your product.

Planning the launch. It’s a big event, so make sure everything is perfect - the venue, the attendees, the program, the food, etc. Write a list of people who should be there - VIPs, the press, some common people. Make a head count of these and consider a bit of spillover just in case some of your invitees would bring other with them. Based on this estimate secure a venue that would accommodate everyone. Make sure that the layout of the venue would allow for the smooth flow of foot traffic. Contact a caterer and plan for refreshments to cover all attendees.

Be prepared for questions. Don’t rush the launch because you will have to check about a lot of things before you can make the big announcement. When will your product be available? How much is the suggested retail price? Who are your designated outlets? These are only but a few questions which need answers before you broadcast. If your expertise does not include events organizing and management, it would be best to hire professionals.

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Create a risk management plan

Select appropriate controls or countermeasures to measure each risk. Risk mitigation needs to be approved by the appropriate level of management. For example, a risk concerning the image of the organization should have top management decision behind it whereas IT management would have the authority to decide on computer virus risks.

The risk management plan should propose applicable and effective security controls for managing the risks. For example, an observed high risk of computer viruses could be mitigated by acquiring and implementing antivirus software. A good risk management plan should contain a schedule for control implementation and responsible persons for those actions.

According to ISO/IEC 27001, the stage immediately after completion of the Risk Assessment phase consists of preparing a Risk Treatment Plan, which should document the decisions about how each of the identified risks should be handled. Mitigation of risks often means selection of Security Controls, which should be documented in a Statement of Applicability, which identifies which particular control objectives and controls from the standard have been selected, and why.

Implementation

Follow all of the planned methods for mitigating the effect of the risks. Purchase insurance policies for the risks that have been decided to be transferred to an insurer, avoid all risks that can be avoided without sacrificing the entity's goals, reduce others, and retain the rest.

Review and evaluation of the plan

Initial risk management plans will never be perfect. Practice, experience, and actual loss results will necessitate changes in the plan and contribute information to allow possible different decisions to be made in dealing with the risks being faced.

Risk analysis results and management plans should be updated periodically. There are two primary reasons for this:

1. to evaluate whether the previously selected security controls are still applicable and effective, and
2. to evaluate the possible risk level changes in the business environment. For example, information risks are a good example of rapidly changing business environment.

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