Would you believe me if I told you that out of 100 new product ideas, only about 5 will actually succeed? And of those 5, only 1 will become a breakout hit. Scary, right? The odds are definitely not in your favour when it comes to launching a new product. But there’s one way to increase your chances of success: test marketing.
Test marketing is basically what it sounds like – testing your product idea with a small group of people before taking it to the masses. This allows you to gather important feedback about your product and make any necessary adjustments before spending a lot of time and money. In this blog post, we’re going to show you how to test market a new idea so you do not waste your time and money.
Pick Your Target Market
The first step in test marketing is to select your target market. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s actually quite important. You want to choose a target market that is large enough to give you meaningful results but small enough that you can reach everyone easily. For example, if you’re selling a new type of baby formula, your target market would be parents with young babies. If you’re selling a new home security system, your target market would be homeowners.
Once you’ve selected your target market, the next step is to define your objectives. What are you trying to achieve with this test market? Are you trying to gauge interest in your product? Are you trying to get feedback on your pricing? Are you trying to determine what features are most important to your target market? Once you know what your objectives are, you can develop your test marketing plan.
Develop Your Plan
Now it’s time to develop your test marketing plan. This should include everything from who will be involved in the test market (e.g., employees, family, friends) to how long the test market will run (e.g., two weeks, one month). You should also decide how you will collect data during the test market (e.g., surveys, focus groups) and how you will analyze that data (e.g., using Excel or Google Sheets).
Execute Your Plan
After your plan is developed, it’s time to execute it! This is where the rubber meets the road and you put your plan into action. Be sure to stick to the schedule and timeline that you laid out in your plan – if things start going off course, it will be more difficult to get accurate results. Also, don’t forget to document everything! Keep track of everything from how many people tried your product to what they thought of it. This information will be invaluable as you move forward with your business venture.