Launching a new product can be a lot like throwing a dart at a map—when that the map is in another room, the power is out, and you're fresh from the optometrist and your pupils are dilated.

What I'm getting at here is that brands still spend copious amounts of money launching (and relaunching) products despite having minimal amounts of data. Even when companies manage to dig up plenty of data, they often focus their market research on the wrong people—so the messaging never entirely aligns with the customer journey.

Poor market research isn't the sole culprit, though. In some cases, there's simply a disconnect between Sales and Marketing. Sales teams often have the data, info, and knowledge that marketers need; but, if the two departments aren't communicating properly, it's easy for things to get lost in translation. Throw IT into the mix, and all bets are off.

The success (or failure) of most marketing decisions hinge on data, but modern marketers are forced to cover a lot of ground. In fact, only 6% of marketing executives say their teams are martech conversant, while more than 50% say the most significant barrier to success is martech competency.

You don't have to launch products—or even campaigns—with guesswork as your guide. It's time to put old-school tactics to bed and replace them with rapid market-testing.

Rapid testing offers one of the most effective ways to identify exactly where to allocate your budget before a product launch. Instead of placing large wagers that your campaign messaging is right, you spend a small amount to prove that you're right—adjusting as necessary and scaling from there.

Quick-Fire Forecasting

With rapid market-testing, you spend a small amount of money to confirm assumptions. You can then move forward with all the data you need to be successful, such as the ideal audience, where the audience congregates online, what messaging resonates with that audience, etc.

Here's an example of how it can play out.

Our company was brought in to determine how to best market Battle Toss, a new-to-market game for adults and children. The initial testing lasted about three weeks, and we worked to build a presence on various social media platforms to gather customer feedback, gain visibility, and identify consumers with the greatest affinity for the product.

We also hosted an event at a local bar to gather feedback on the product and to use a drone to shoot video of people playing the game. The feedback revealed the game's niche and helped us identify key adopters. We then used that information (and the footage we captured) to build a product website and start a YouTube channel with any information our potential customers might want.

Based on the data we gathered, we fine-tuned our marketing message and began a Google paid-search campaign, which led to the product's being sold out in only a month. That success led to extended sales to Amazon, tripling orders for the game within a week.

Without rapid testing, it would have taken us much longer to validate the product—and the time we spent developing and planning the marketing campaign would have pushed the full launch back by months.

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Can You Ensure Your Product Launch Isn't a Dud? Yes, Rapid Market-Testing Can Do That

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Kip Botirius

Kip Botirius is the CEO of Tenlo, a pipeline marketing agency in Cleveland. Kip leads a diverse team to develop marketing and brand-building strategies.

LinkedIn: Kip Botirius