By examining the four external factors that affect every business via PEST analysis, you ensure you’re on the right track for a successful product launch.
What makes a product launch successful?
You need to cover many bases and you can’t forget about the four essential external factors: political, economic, social and technological influences. It’s also known as PEST. No matter your industry or product, the knowledge of these four categories stand between you and a successful launch.
Here’s how you can use PEST analysis for a successful product launch.
1. Get your bases covered with PEST analysis
PEST analysis examines four major factor that will affect your business launch. There’s really no way around it. Every business has rules and regulations to follow, and it’s especially important to identify political factors. They include:
- Current and future legislations
- Government policies
- Trading policies
- Funding and grants
- Ecological and environmental issues
While examining these factors, you’ll most likely stumble into economics, or the ‘E’ in PEST analysis. Economic factors you must know include taxes, overseas economies (if applicable), and the current economy situation in the state you’re launching. Expenses, resources, and profits are affected by economic situations, after all.
Before any product or service launch, it must be clear what policies and legislations you’re legally obligated to follow. The last thing you need is to launch a product everyone raves about then have to pull it for breaking policies.
What you must do is examine policies within the state, country, and any other country you’re doing business in (this includes distributing and resource collection).
The plant that didn’t survive
Years ago, there was talk about a plant that could reduce anxiety. it’s commonly used for relaxation. In the country it originates, there are few reports of side effects. Because of it’s amazing track record, people in North America decided it was time to bring it over to the west.
This plant is called kava, originating from the kava kava root. Problem is, once it was brought over to the west, and various European companies, reports about liver damage and failure began to trickle in. The FDA decided this plant shouldn’t be consumed, and so it was banned in countries like Canada for years.
Those businesses weren’t in a great spot. The ban was lifted later, but the damage was done.
You don’t want that to happen. You can’t predict if an ingredient or essential resource will be banned, but you can plan now to avoid a devastating launch.
2. Identify social trends and plan ahead
A product is only as good if the product sells. You can build the most comprehensive service that’s perfectly suited for your target market but still fail. For example, maybe you didn’t use the right channels to market it, so they never realized it existed.
One aspect of PEST focuses on “social” attributes. This section encompasses every trait and piece of knowledge you can gather about your customers. This includes:
- Attitude and opinions
- Consumer buying patterns
- Ethical and religious issues and factors
- Major events and influences
Some companies have a narrow view about their customers. They know where they live, they know they have a problem, and so they build a product to fix the issue. They create and expect customers to flock to them. But that’ll never work.
A long time ago, it used to be that way. A product was built, people were informed through newspapers, radio, and TV. And then they bought the product. Since competition didn’t exist, it was much easier to get and keep their customers’ attention. Brand loyalty was more simple. But it’s not like that now.
Anyone can be an inventor. Anyone can be an entrepreneur. Building a digital product only takes a couple hours. Everyone is bombarded by this advertisement or that. Everyone’s attention is up for grabs, but not available to have.
That’s why you have to burrow deep into understanding your target market with market research. You must get into their head.
What’s the purpose of technology?
Never have we had such advanced technology within our reach. We’re able to connect with individuals across the world in opposite timezones. We’re using artificial intelligence to build products quicker, without the need for human input. You need to decide which technology to use, but also study:
- Technology maturity
- Legistrations
- Innovation potential
- Intellectual property issues and regulations
You can map out which technology that’s necessary for the launch. Market research can help. You can also study what your competition uses, especially if they’ve recently had a successful campaign launch.
Conclusion
By examining the four external factors that affect every business, you can ensure you’re on the right track for a successful business launch. Be sure to examine each category thoroughly. If you already have documented market research, this process may be a little easier.
Photo by Marius Ciocirlan on Unsplash
