Generating demand for your product requires much more than simply releasing it onto the market. You need to conduct research, determine what consumers’ needs are, establish yourself as a leader in your industry and repeatedly prove your products’ worth.

Industry professionals recognise that before, during and after you introduce a new product, there is a lot of legwork to be done to pique consumers’ curiosity and get them interested. Here are five things you should be doing:

1. Pay attention to market research

Your company should aim to figure out what customers need and want through surveys, test groups and feedback on social media and reviews left on your website. If you notice certain issues that keep popping up, there might be a need for a new product to solve the problem.

2. Produce stellar content

If you’re just starting out, your business should promote its new product and prove that it’s solving a problem currently plaguing consumers through informative and educational content. Determine your target demographic and do some research to find out where they are active on social media and elsewhere online. Your content should aim to entertain and inform your customers of the value of your products. By producing quality content on a regular basis, you’ll begin to build trust with your audience and ideally increase sales from this newly established relationship.

3. Feature customers’ reviews

On your website, product pages and elsewhere, you should be featuring customer reviews. Customers are going to trust testimonials from their fellow shoppers. They won’t hesitate to purchase from your competitors if there’s a plethora of bad reviews about your products, which is why your employees should be apologetic to any customers who had negative experiences and respond quickly to any feedback that comes up. You also need to track their reviews and analyse them in order to improve products.

4. Give new customers a deal

Another method to get consumers to try your products for the first time is to offer them a discounted or special rate. Initially, customers may not be willing to try out a product at full price. If it’s offered at a rate lower than your competitors’ – they just might. Once customers have received your product and find it useful, they’ll likely be inclined to purchase from you again at the regular price. Make sure you’re clear that the deal is a one-time offer, because you don’t want customers to be discouraged when they decide to shop with you again and find your products priced differently.

5. Create an exclusive club

Once a person becomes a repeat customer, you’ll want to reward them and make them feel appreciated. Create an exclusive club for these loyal customers that gives them access to certain promotions, let them in on company news and secrets before they’re releases to the general public and communicate to them that they’re part of the process of perfecting your products. Ask for their opinions and encourage them to take surveys.

When attempting to generate customer demand, you have to realise that no one is going to listen until you substantiate your usefulness. Always keep the customers’ needs in mind and aim to please.

Source: Firas Kittaneh