How to plan a product launch for your business

It sounds obvious, but any product/service you create needs to solve a specific problem for a specific type of person.

This is particularly relevant when selling a done-for-you/ done-with-you service – or coaching/consulting. For someone to invest time/money into solving a problem, it has to be pretty painful for tham. And not solving the problem typically has negative consequences e.g. loss of time or money.

A common mistake I see – particularly with coaches/consultants – is creating a service they want to deliver – rather than what people want to buy.

This is why it’s SO important to spend time on product research – otherwise you can end up creating a product/service no one wants to buy.

If you have a product-based business, focus on the problems your ideal customers have that lead them to invest in your product. For example, my Courageous Content Planner solves two key problems for business owners.

1. Struggling to come up with content ideas
2. Struggling to stay consistent/organised with content

The Courageous Content Planner includes hundreds of awareness days and key dates. While there are tons of websites out there that list awareness days – having all the date in one place – on your planner, saves time trawling those websites to compile your own list of awareness dates.

If the problem your product solves doesn’t seem obvious – think about how it compares to your competitors.

For example, if you have a wooden toy company the problem you solve might be providing plastic-free play things for children. For someone who is looking to reduce their plastic use – and/or buy a gift for a child whose parents are – that definitely solves a problem.

During the product development phase you’ll need to create the following types of content:

• Social media posts and other content that will help you understand what problems your ideal customers/clients have (and how you can solve them). This will typically mean asking lots of questions. If you have my Courageous Content Planner, this is an example of community content
• A ‘quick offer’. This is a document I recommend business owners create for every product they are thinking of selling – which outlines what the product is and the benefits. Typically this will be no more than a few hundred words long (think of it like a short sales page). You can use this document to get feedback on your idea from prospective customers/clients.
• You’ll also need to create a launch plan for your product/service – starting at the end of your launch period.