The beauty of running a small business is that we can be really flexible with regards to what happens in the macro-economy and how that impacts our small piece of the world. Mainly it changes what products I'm going to release in a calendar year. I like to try and act like one of the big guys I used to work for and create a marketing plan in the Fall (or more realistically for me, while I'm home at my parents house during Christmas) that outlines what we're going to do the following year. It's supposed to be a guideline. And I can honestly say I don't think I've once followed it in the 3 years this company has been up and running.
This time round what's set me off from the current plan is an "idea." The one thing I can say that truly strikes fear in my husband's heart is hearing me say "I have an idea." It started with some packaging I saw on a completely unrelated product but it got my mind working and now - in my mind's eye - I've developed a completely new product. I know how it looks, I know how the packaging looks, and I've already figured out how it would need to be marketed. Best of all, it's actually in line with another new product I was already planning to release this year.
What's the problem? Well, how smart is it to release 2+ new products in one of the worst economies since the Great Depression? Granted, the launch costs are minimal so it's not a lot of money out the door on my end and my hope is that any sales help make up for what I anticipate will be a decline in sales for some of our more expensive products. But is it just pure madness to release new products in this economy?
The crux is that my gut says to go for it. It was that same gut that said I had to release a new product last year that I thought up late one night. That product went on to be the biggest selling product for my company last year and brought us SO much press and attention that was ultimately hugely beneficial for the company. I think that product alone was the reason why we hit our financial goals despite the bad economy. So do I listen to that same gut this time round? What about the fact that said gut doesn't spend a lot of time reading our financial statements?
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2 comments:
I don't think it's madness to release a new product. You need news of some sort -- having something new gives you a reason to call people. The worst thing you can do, IMHO, in a down economy is not call people distributing your product. I was in that situation in the last downturn (2002), granted in a very different industry, where people were afraid to call their clients because they were afraid of bad news, and it was a perfect opportunity to pick off customers. If it's a good product, launch it. :-)
Thanks - I appreciate that. Now i just have to determine if it's a good product. :)
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