2 Things You Must Do Before You Create A New Product

By Dave Brown
Posted Sunday, September 12, 2004

Many people who create their own products to sell make a fatal mistake before they even create the product. It's such a big mistake that they doom their product to failure before it's even born. Make sure you don't do this.

In fact, there are actually 2 mistakes people make. And you may be making one or even both of them yourself. It's difficult to avoid making these mistakes because the seemingly logical course of action when you create a new product is actually wrong.

Here's what a lot of people do. It's the obvious thing to do. And I've done it myself. But it's the *wrong* thing to do.

You get a great idea for a product. You know that people will love this product because it will be just so darn useful. It will make so many people's lives so much better. You're bursting with enthusiasm for your new idea.

So you start working on the product right away. You know it's going to sell like hotcakes, so you want to get it out there as soon as possible. You work hard on it everyday until it's done. Now, you're great idea is a real product.

Once you've got the product done, you sit down to figure out how you're going to sell it. How are you going to tell everyone about it? How are you going to get traffic to your web site where people can buy it instantly?

Here's where you may hit a wall. Sometimes, you can't figure out how to get people to your web site. You have no idea how to tell people what a great product you've got. You haven't got a clue where you can advertise something like this. BAM! You just hit the wall. You've got a great product that nobody knows about.

Or maybe you do manage to get traffic. You may try things like FFA sites, safe lists, buying traffic from people who offer a deal that's too good to be true. Don't bother. It's worthless traffic. You'll be very lucky to make any sales that way.

Instead, you could buy traffic from pay per click search engines. Or you advertise your product in ezines. Or you might even get some people to tell their lists about it. But with all that traffic, you're still not making any sales. There's that wall again. You have a great product, and yet no one is buying it.

Could it be that no one wants your product? Was your idea not as great as you thought?These problems can arise because you made one of two mistakes.

Mistake #1: You didn't find out if people *want* the product *before* you created it. Just because you think it's a great idea doesn't mean other people will. Don't assume something will sell unless you have evidence. There are a few ways you can guage the demand for a product before you create it.

You can flat out ask people if they would buy it. If you have a list of potential buyers, then ask them if they would buy the product. Ask them how much they would pay. Just ask them to do a quick survey with those two questions on it.

If you don't have a list, then you still might be able to get potential buyers to respond to your survey. If the product is something that people would use search engines to find, then run an ad using Google AdWords to drive traffic to your survey. It will only cost you a few bucks to determine whether or not people are interested in your product.

If you participate in any relevant online forums, then you might be able to ask people there to fill out your survey.

Just be aware that people are much more responsive to surveys if they get something in return.

Again, if your product is something people might look for using search engines, then just find out how many searches there are each month to see if there are enough people searching. If only 500 people are searching in a month, then maybe it's not a good market.

Mistake #2: You didn't figure out how to reach your market and tell them about your product. Even if there's a demand for your product, it won't sell unless you can tell people about it.

After you determine that there's actually a demand, and before you ever start working on the product, you need to come up with at least a rough plan for how to market it. Who's going to buy it? How can you reach them? Do you know where to advertise where they'll see your ads? Can you collaborate with other people who have relevant web sites and email lists?

You have to know these things before you have the product. It takes the same amount of time whether you do it now or
later. But if you can't answer these questions, then your product won't sell. And it's better to know that before you spend time, and possibly money, creating the product.

My Google AdWords Checklist explains in more detail how you can do some of this research. If you don't already have it, you can download it from my Marketing Toolbox at (http://www.dave-brown.com/adwordschecklist)

Make sure you do your product development in the proper order. Don't get stuck with a product that won't sell.

About the Author
Dave Brown is a self-taught marketer and software developer. He also publishes the uncommon and uniquely original newsletter on making the most of your life - A Fresh Perspective. You can learn more at (http://www.dave-brown.com)