How To Begin Selling Your Product or MVP
Updated on June 26, 2023 by Tim Donahue
You Have a Product or an MVP: What To Do Next?
How do you bring your product to market?
If you’ve managed to transform your brilliant idea into a tangible product or Minimum Viable Product (MVP), congratulations! This pivotal moment marks the beginning of a new phase: transforming your idea into a successful venture.
This journey involves knowing your potential customers, crafting a compelling value proposition, rigorously testing your product, analyzing feedback, optimizing your offering, and more importantly, marketing your MVP.
This comprehensive guide will walk you through each of these steps to get your product into the marketplace and ensure its success.
Table of Contents
- Identify Your Target Audience
- Define Your Unique Value Proposition
- Test Your Product or MVP
- Gather and Analyze Feedback
- Optimize Your Product
- How to Get Your Product into the Marketplace: Effective Marketing Strategies
- Next Steps You Can Take To Get Started
Identify Your Target Audience
Identifying your target audience is the cornerstone of every business venture. This group represents the people who will most likely benefit from your product, thus, understanding their needs, preferences, and pain points is vital. Here’s how you can identify your target audience:- Conduct market research: Use online tools like SurveyMonkey to gather information about potential customers’ demographics, habits, and preferences.
- Talk to people in the real world: This is really key: find people who need what you’re selling and interview them, talk to them, ask them if they are interested in the solution you are selling. Ask them what could be improved, or if they would buy it, and what would it be worth. Then give them a chance to actually buy it. See if they like it enough to actually pay for it!If not, work on it until they are ready and willing to buy.
- Create customer personas: These fictional characters embody the characteristics of your ideal customers, helping you understand their motivations and needs.
- Analyze your competition: Look at who’s interested in similar products. This can give you insights into potential markets you might have overlooked.
Define Your Unique Value Proposition
A unique value proposition (UVP) sets your product apart from the competition. It’s a clear statement that explains how your product solves customers’ problems or improves their situation, delivered in a way that’s easy to understand. Here’s how to define your UVP:- Tell your customer what problems it solves for them: People are much more interested in ‘what’s in it for them’ than they are in marketing benefits that you like.Speak to your customers in terms of how your product will speed, or improve or benefit their actual lives.
- List the benefits your product offers: These could be anything from saving time to providing entertainment.
- Identify what makes these benefits unique: Perhaps your product delivers results faster, or it’s more affordable or convenient than alternatives on the market.
- Communicate this in a clear, concise statement: Keep it simple and focused. Your UVP should quickly and clearly convey why customers should choose your product.
Test Your Product or MVP
Testing your product or MVP allows you to validate your ideas and assumptions before you go to market.
It’s an essential step in the product development process and can save you from costly mistakes down the line. Here’s how you can do it:
- Usability Testing: This involves observing your target audience as they use your product. It’s an excellent way to identify any issues that could prevent them from using your product as intended.This is a REALLY interesting part of your product cycle: User testing allows you to see how your users interact with your product. It’s often not the same as how you think they will do it! Be careful not to lead your customer while they are trying to use your product. Let them figure it out. No hints, no clues. It’s important to see what they do and adjust your product if needed.
- Alpha and Beta Testing: Alpha testing involves a small group of internal testers, while beta testing involves a small group of external users. Both can provide valuable insights into your product’s strengths and weaknesses.
Gather and Analyze Feedback
Feedback from your users is a treasure trove of insights that can guide your product development. It helps you understand what’s working, what’s not, and what you could do to improve. Here are some ways to gather and analyze feedback:- Surveys: Use tools like Google Forms to conduct online surveys.
- Interviews: Engage your users in one-on-one conversations to delve deeper into their experiences.
- Feedback Analysis: Identify trends and common themes in the feedback. This can help you prioritize areas for improvement.
Optimize Your Product
Optimizing your product involves refining it based on the feedback and insights you’ve gathered. It’s an ongoing process that helps ensure your product continues to meet your customers’ evolving needs. Here are some steps to optimize your product:- Prioritize feedback: Not all feedback will be equally valuable. Determine what’s most important for your product and your users.
- Implement changes: Make the necessary adjustments to your product based on your prioritized feedback.
- Test again: Don’t forget to test your changes to make sure they’re effective and don’t introduce new problems.
How to Get Your Product into the Marketplace: Effective Marketing Strategies
Marketing your MVP effectively can be the make-or-break factor in its success. A well-thought-out marketing strategy can help raise awareness of your product, attract potential customers, and ultimately drive sales. Here’s how you can do it:- Identify Your Marketing Channels: You can’t be everywhere at once, so you’ll need to identify where your target audience spends their time. This could be social media platforms, search engines, local events, or even physical locations.
- Build Relationships with Store Owners or Buyers: If your product is a physical good, it’s crucial to establish relationships with store owners or buyers. You could offer initial discounts to these partners to encourage them to stock your product.
- Develop Online Marketing Strategies: If your product is sold online, you’ll need to test a variety of marketing strategies to see what works best. This could include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing.
- Measure and Optimize: Whatever strategies you choose, it’s essential to track your results and tweak your approach as necessary. This iterative process of testing, measuring, and optimizing can help you find the most effective ways to get your product into the marketplace.
Specific Strategies You Can Use To Begin Selling Your Product
Whether your product is online or offline, getting it in front of potential customers is crucial. Let’s break down some specific strategies for both online and offline products that you can start using today:Online Products
- Start a Blog: Write about topics related to your product. For example, if you’re selling a fitness course, write about exercise and health tips. To start, you can use platforms like WordPress.
- Social Media Marketing: Create accounts on popular platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Post regularly about your product, share behind-the-scenes looks, and engage with your audience.
- Email Marketing: Collect emails from interested visitors on your blog or social media. You can use tools like Mailchimp to send regular updates or discounts on your product.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Use specific words and phrases (keywords) that potential customers might use on search engines like Google. Including these in your blog posts can help your website show up in search results.
- Online Ads: Platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads allow you to pay to show your product to more people. You can target people who might be interested in what you’re selling.
Offline Products
- Local Fairs or Events: Set up a booth at a local fair or event and showcase your product. You can give out samples or demos to attract potential customers.
- Pop-up Stores: Rent a small space in a shopping center for a few days or weeks. Display your product for shoppers to see and buy.
- Networking: Attend business meetups and events. Talk about your product with other business owners who might be interested in selling it in their stores.
- Flyers and Posters: Create attractive flyers or posters about your product. Ask to display them in local stores, community centers, or cafes.
- Direct Mail: Send out catalogs or postcards featuring your product to local households. Include a special offer or discount to encourage people to try your product.
Next Steps You Can Take To Get Started
With these actionable strategies, it’s time to take the next steps in transforming your product or MVP into a business success. Start by identifying your target audience, defining your UVP, and testing your product. Next, gather and analyze feedback to optimize your product. Finally, prepare to market your MVP and get ready to get your product into the marketplace. Remember, it’s all about testing, learning, and iterating until you find what works best for your product and your audience. Good luck on your entrepreneurial journey.