Launching Market Driven Products and Services

Jerry Rackley

Quiz time: name a notable product that failed horribly when it was launched. The answer? Well, there are plenty of choices. The Ford Edsel has earned a spot in the Product Management Hall of Shame, and New Coke is there as well. These products have plenty of company: Yahoo! Finance shares a list of 15 disastrous product launches that were killed quickly.  This article is required reading for marketers whose responsibilities include launching and managing products. It’s humbling to see how easy it is for respected companies with smart people to stumble, sometimes in ways that jeopardize the company’s existence.

If you don’t have time to read the article, here’s the primary takeaway: these disasters were less the result of bad luck than bad planning and listening. While luck can certainly factor in to product success, failing to plan is planning to fail when it comes to developing and launching new or enhanced versions of products. Demand Metric has published its Product Development methodology to help you keep your products off the next list of spectacular product failures.

Here is a quick outline of this new methodology:

  • What it is: a step-by-step, methodology to help you identify market opportunities and launch profitable new products and services.
  • Who it is for: Organizations whose revenues come from products. These firms tend to fall into one of these categories:
    1. No Product Management discipline. Products aren’t launched, rather they “escape”. Product success is attributed to luck and great instincts.
    2. Recognize the need for Product Management but don’t know how. Often, these are firms who have been “stung” by their inability to launch and manage products effectively. They are looking for practical guidance on instilling a process for launching products customers will buy.
    3. Have a good process in place already for launching and managing products. This methodology can serve as a benchmark for improving an existing Product Management process.

Consults will also find this methodology valuable for use with clients they’re advising on Product Management issues.

  • How it helps: this methodology provides a starting point and detailed directions for building an effective process to launch market-driven products and services. An experienced Product Manager who has taught this topic at the university level developed this methodology.
  • How to get it: this methodology is free, and Demand Metric encourages its download, use and sharing. It does reference a number of Demand Metric tools and templates that are available only to Demand Metric members.

Let us help: Demand Metric provides advisory and consulting services to help you use this or any of our methodologies. Contact us to explore the options for putting one of our experts on your team.

Questions or comments about this methodology are encouraged! Share your thoughts here or on the Demand Metric website, where you can also download Launching Market Driven Products and Services. Simply click on the Methodologies link found on the home page to get it, share it or leave a comment.

 

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