Anyone here a business owner who introduced a new product to the market?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'm looking for some advice. I have the opportunity to do some brand building, but I'm not sure where to start. It's a little known Chinese manufacturer of camera equipment and we're both hoping to sell in the US. Provided that their quality is good and they can be sold for about 25% cheaper than the cheapest competing item, can you give me any tips on brand building?

I'm going to set up an e-store to sell their stuff, but of course, a store doesn't matter if we don't have customers.

Here are some thoughts I was thinking about:

1. Definitely add the ability for customers to put up their own reviews on the site.
2. Ask review sites to review our stuff.
3. Put a lot of info on the site so people can familiarize themselves with the product. Video reviews, lots of photos of it in action, etc.

Anything else I can do?

 

[MikeMike]

ygpm

 

[Alphathree33]

Online customer reviews don't build brands. At best, they'll help with conversions directly at the point of sale.

Do you have any idea what you're doing at all? Go read a few books. Posting on a forum is not where you want to be.

 

[Sea Moose]

if you have a good product. A way of getting your name out there is to set up a stall at your local sunday markets. Costs like 20bucks to have a stall here. And its a great way to get your name out there

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Did you ever end up manufacturing that panoramic camera mount you prototyped, FBB? I was interested in that thing.

 

[1sikbITCH]

I mixed oregano with basil once, sprayed it with bug spray and marketed it as "crazy weed". I got my ass kicked.

So I wouldn't recommend that.

 

[Nik]

I've been involved with a couple NPIs and I can tell you right now it'll take far more than an online store or customer reviews to begin. You've got to have a method to bring your item to market and hopefully one who's already satisfied by revenue from legacy products. Your target market will also change how you sling your new gear. Are your current customers only seeing adverts for your current line when they're shopping for new gear or are your products published anywhere like in a related periodical? Getting the word out that your product even exists is going to be the difficult one and you'll be lucky if you find a vendor who'll buy a few and place them PoS to see how they sell unadvertised. What are your quarterly sales goals? Can manufacturing keep up with those goals? Most importantly, what does your product provide that other products do not or do not as effectively as yours?

Just the tip of the iceburg.

Advice given earlier was dead on: if you have these kinds of questions about a new product integration, this forum is not the correct place for you.

 

[wwswimming]

one resource for publicizing your product is social media.

my brother has worked in web analytics & marketing management for about 10 years. i'd have to look at some of his old emails to see the websites he talks about. There's websites that talk about social-media-used-for-marketing successes, presenting case studies.

one of the recent papers that was fairly popular was an analysis of the use of social media in the Obama campaign. (separate from whether Obama's election was a good thing !)

on the downside - on Facebook i had this woman DELUGE me with FarmVille and YoVille requests. my guess is she worked for the company that makes FarmVille & YoVille. polluting cyberspace with ever more advertisements - i question whether that leads to actual sales.

 

[darkxshade]

I introduced a new line of hookers and blow that sell out like hotcakes... but between you and me, it's the same product as everyone elses with a flashier name ya dig?

 

[Soundmanred]

if you have a good product. A way of getting your name out there is to set up a stall at your local sunday markets. Costs like 20bucks to have a stall here. And its a great way to get your name out there

LOL. He doesn't live on a little island.
"local sunday marketz"

 

[JS80]

Three words: search engine marketing.

 

[Crusty]

LOL. He doesn't live on a little island.
"local sunday marketz"

I live in a major city and I can list off half a dozen places where someone can set up shop(legally) during the week and weekends.

You don't have live in the sticks to have a local market...

 

[Soundmanred]

I live in a major city and I can list off half a dozen places where someone can set up shop(legally) during the week and weekends.

You don't have live in the sticks to have a local market...

Yes, we have local markets here, but not to promote and sell what they hope to be a nationwide competitive product. That's for local goods and services.

 

[richardycc]

Is it like a chinese version of lensbaby?

 

[Sea Moose]

Yes, we have local markets here, but not to promote and sell what they hope to be a nationwide competitive product. That's for local goods and services.

got to start somewhere

you know that Amazon.com started out of the guys garage.

 

[xanis]

It sounds shallow but... image is everything.

Your success will partially depend on how people perceive you. If your visuals (website and logo) look cheap, people will perceive you as cheap. If your visual materials look professional and upscale, people will perceive you as such.