New Product/New Business Concept Review

Congratulations!  You’ve designed a new product that you are sure will be a big hit.  Or you have an idea for a new business that is going to answer a previously unfilled need.

You love your idea.  Obviously, since you’ve invested time, effort and often a great deal of money, trying to bring it to life and into the market.

But this is when things get complicated. Now you have to segue from the creative, development side to the practical business side.

That means marketing! Now you have to think about:

  • What’s my brand promise?
  • What’s my USP (unique selling proposition)?
  • What messages will break through the clutter and attract the attention of the customers I need to sell to?
  • How do I get my product into the market for the lowest cost, but with the greatest chance of success?
  • Is my business plan solid? Are the assumptions on which it is based accurate?

And most especially…

  • How do I get my target customers to love my idea as much as I do?
  • How do I get them to love it enough to buy it?

Now for the bad news…

Everything is stacked against you!  The new product failure rates range from 40%-80% percent.  New business success rates are even worse: 90% of startups fail.   How can you increase your chances of success?

Get the best people behind you to help you succeed.  While there is no guarantee of success, it really helps if you have the most high-powered team on your side with the right talents and skill sets.  And that is where I come in.

Over the 25 years I have been in the market research and consulting business, and most especially after I wrote my first book, Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need (Paramount Market Publishing, 2002), I have advised businesses on ways to successfully market their new ideas.

I have studied new business successes, and fails, and have tracked the changes in the consumer market that are the cause, including demographic shifts, changing purchase and shopping behavior and most especially, how the consumers’ mindset is evolving.

I know about the consumers that you must attract. This gives me a unique vantage point from which to evaluate new business ideas that can lead to greater success in the marketplace.

Having a mentor greatly enhances your chance for success, statistics say so.  In research about why new business ideas succeed and fail, one factor figures prominently: having the right mentoring relationships.   For example in a study conducted by the Small Business Administration, it found that mentored businesses had a more than double rate of success: 70% of those that were mentored survived longer than 5 years.

Get an outside, objective perspective to avoid common mistakes.  A mentor helps entrepreneurs by bringing special expertise.  They provide an outsiders’ perspective that entrepreneurs need, since entrepreneurs by nature are emotionally attached to their new business ideas. “A mentor can help you look past your original scope and see the weaknesses in your model,” writes entrepreneur and investor John Rampton in Inc. Magazine.  

Helping small and mid-sized businesses is my particular passion and marketing is my special expertise. I would like to merge these two together to help entrepreneurs, start-ups or established businesses get to the next level in a mentorship role where I can make a real and meaningful difference.

Get help with a quick, cost-effective analysis of your business.  What I offer is a review and analysis of your new business idea, looking at your website, studying your business and/or marketing plan and in some cases a personal visit.

Then I deliver a point-by-point written report along with a conference call highlighting where you are on track, places where you might be missing the mark, and suggestions for improving your odds. This initial engagement can be extended for six-months or a year of on-going advice, as you achieve goals and confront new marketing and branding challenges.

Services tailored to your needs, the budget to your wallet. Every engagement is customized to your specific requirements. And what’s best, this program is tailored to the budgets of small businesses where every dollar counts.

I recently worked with an entrepreneur who has a new men’s clothing idea, OverWinter.  Here is what Ryan Matthews said:

I found Pam while doing demographic research for a new clothing brand I’m launching in California. I think the HENRY reports on her website are some of the most insightful I’ve seen. I liked them so much, I hired her to review my business plan. Pam’s advice helped me gain more confidence in my product offerings, but also, she brought up some things that I hadn’t thought about which helped me look at my business concept in a new way. I find her opinions to be right on target and they’ve really helped me craft my message to appeal to my target demographic. Thanks again Pam.

— Ryan Mathews, OverWinter, San Francisco, CA

And here’s another testimonial from Todd Beechey, Chief Experience Officer of OceanScape Yachts:

I have been working with Pam for the last 12-15 months during the launch of our new business, where our vacation product is targeted towards the affluent client base that she is very familiar with. We had Pam conduct market research for us about the travel preferences of that affluent consumer, and the results of her work far exceeded our expectations. The market research projects that we did were focused on travel industry insiders as step one, and then a small focus group of targeted consumers to get their initial impressions on our business. Both reports that were delivered offered both insights that confirmed or validated our original thinking in certain areas, but also offered new ideas and opportunities that we had not thought of yet. In addition, Pam took a very personal interest in our business model, and is continuing to offer very valuable feedback and insight.
For any business that is looking at the affluent or high net worth consumers as their target market, I firmly believe that Pam has the knowledge, the insight, and the data available to assist in assessing market opportunities and recommend new strategies for capturing business in this segment of the market. Highly recommended!

– Todd Beeechey, OceanScape Yachts – Ontario, Canada

Too often entrepreneurs look only vertically, not horizontally across other categories where keen insights can be found.  My research spans many different vertical industries, including fashion, jewelry, travel, home, automobiles, luxury goods & services, gifts, tabletop, art, retail and more.  This is another key value in working with me, because successful strategies in fashion may well apply to travel, and vice versa.

Whether you are a product manufacturer or marketer, a services provider, a brick-and-mortar or online retailer, I can give you an unbiased, research-based evaluation of your offering and help you reach your fullest potential.

Want to engage Pam to review your new product or business concept?

Contact Pam for Concept Review