Keeping a steady strategic head during new product development

The process of new product development (NPD) can be one of the most exciting times for a business. Bringing something new to the market, and hopefully reaping the rewards[N1] . This[N2]  won’t always be the case. We have seen it plenty of times when products, a lot of the time launched by very large companies have completely flopped when they’ve gone to market[N3] . Seeing these business giants topple like this [N4] can be scary to the point of paralysis for smaller businesses who are wanting to develop new products and bring them to market. In this article, we will look at how to avoid this by having an NPD strategy.

In short, a solid strategy will help avoid wasting time, money and resources. It will make sure that product planning and research is properly organized and structured. Alongside this, you will put in place a way in which customer’s views and perceptions are correctly captured. This will allow you to have an accurate plan produced on how to proceed and resource the whole NPD project.

There are several key areas a good strategy should help you avoid. Such as overestimating and/or misreading the target market a new product is aimed toward. Or[N5]  it can help make sure you don’t spend resources you don’t have due to higher-than-expected[N6]  development costs. While also keeping in mind[N7]  where your business currently lies; and making sure this isn’t exposed to risks and threats due to the NPD process.

There are some key steps that need to be taken when developing your NPD strategy. Firstly, make sure you accurately define your product and have strict parameters in place from the beginning. This will reduce the chance of running out of resources before NPD is completed. While also highlighting potential pitfalls to avoid along the way.

Finally, a new product should usually address some form of gap in the market it is targeting. So it is important that market needs are clearly identified. This will mean asking questions such as: What is the benefit of the proposed new product? What is the specific target market the new product is aimed toward? What are the specific market needs of this target market? What is setting this new product apart from the competition? The list could probably continue indefinitely. A solid NPD strategy is one which works out the necessary criteria to take into consideration when examining a target market.