Last week I was invited to the Jesse Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University as a guest lecturer for a group of MBA students.  Professor Siddharth Singh asked me to share from my experience of almost 20 years, about launching new products in a variety of industries around the world.

So here’s the list I came up with after thinking about the best & worst new product launches I’ve been involved in and what I’ve learned from them.

1) Ask yourself: How is marketing viewed within the organization?  As a function, like HR or Facilities Management or as a business leader and decision maker.
2) No navel gazing. Always look for new information & opinions outside your organization/team/corporation.

3) Marketing partnerships should be viewed like a marriage, and don’t forget the pre-nup.
4) Set metrics/benchmarks for success up front and leave them set.  If your product doesn’t measure up, either go back and fix the problem area and test again or scrap it before you end up putting good money after bad.  Don’t let your desire to launch override common sense benchmarks for success.
5) Marketing is about finding an unmet consumer/customer/client need and addressing that need in a new/interesting/innovative way.  It’s not about engineering coming up with some cool technology that is then handed over to marketing to ‘find a home/market’ to sell it.
6) Partner with Finance.  If marketing is to be viewed as a serious partner in the business then you need to have strong arguments of which financial information is extremely important.  Work with finance and share your point of view with them and vice versa.
7) Contingency plan like your life depends on it, because sometimes it will, when you least expect it.  Put some “A” players on the “B” team to show how serious you are about contingency planning.
Plan your exits as well as your entries.  When a new product comes to market there is usually another one that is replaced.  Ensure that you’ve put in a program to clear out old stock to make room for new.
9) Always remember you are building a brand.  Everyone is an ambassador for your brand, from CEO to administrative assistants, accountants, customer service reps.  Everyone should be aware of who you are or aspire to be as a brand and how that translates in their particular role.
10) Celebrate success.  Launching products is not easy, there are lots of obstacles but remember that people like to feel appreciated and a little thank-you, public recognition for a job well done, small cash reward or gift card goes a long way.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.