Commercialising and launching a product
Before you start commercialising your company’s new product, make sure that there are no barriers to doing so. In the matter of commercialisation, think about such things as pricing your product, customers, sales promotion and protection. Think up a pithy name for your product, something that will stay in people’s minds. After the commercialisation stage, you can launch your product.
Commercialisation allows you to make your product one that you can launch on the proper market.
Find out what the general price range is for similar products when commercialising yours. Think how your company should price its product. Think about who the customers are and how much they are prepared to pay for your product.
From the marketing angle, consider what makes your product unique. Think how you can persuade customers and bring out the product’s strengths in marketing activities. Look at the suitable marketing channels for your product.
Discover the right sales and distributions channels for your product. Think how your company can help promote sales of the product. Consider what your customer’s purchasing decisions are based on and how your product differs from the rest.
Plan everything to do with product protection. Consider whether you are commercialising your product yourself or are using licensing, for example.
Services that support commercialisation are offered, for example, by the ELY Centres.
Leave it no later than the product development stage to find out if there are barriers to the commercialisation of your product.
Your company may not commercialise its product if someone else has acquired a patent or utility model for the operating principle it uses, its practical application or its technology. Note that in Finland a viable product can be patented abroad.
Nor may your company commercialise its product if, for example, patterns, symbols or marks are associated with its appearance for which someone else has acquired the design right. Note that a design right might only relate to one part of a product, such as the handle of a mug.
You can use the services of the Patent and Registration Office to help you find out about existing patents, utility models, design rights and trademarks.
Note too that an official permit or authorisation is needed to manufacture certain products or provide certain services. Examples include medicines, alcohol products, fertilisers, as well as services connected with food, hygiene, safety and the environment. Check the regulations with the supervisory authority for the product.
A good, marketable product name is pithy, perceptive and easy to understand. It will suit the product, get people’s attention and stay in their minds.
When you invent a product name, try and think of as many valid alternatives as possible. The product name you like best may well already be used by someone else.
When you invent a good product name, try to register it as a trademark as soon as possible. This way you will find out immediately if the name is available and if it can be registered as a product name. The Patent and Registration Office can also help you to find out if anyone has protected the name you are planning to use for your product with a trademark.
Remember that the protection of a trademark only relates to the country in which it is registered. If you are planning to export, check whether you can protect the name in each relevant country.
You can also invent a parallel product name for your product for the purposes of exporting it, one that is better suited to the country in question. If you are thinking about a product name in a foreign language, find out first if the name you have thought up has unwelcome connotations or inappropriate associations, or is obscene, or comes with historical baggage you did not suspect.
The launching process means your company brings a new product onto the market or exports its old product to new markets.
Decide first the timetable and budget for the launch. Make the things you thought about when you were commercialising the product a more concrete reality from the financial perspective. Decide, for example, what customer groups your company should aim to reach and how you will locate the product in your company’s product range. Find out what risks are associated with the launch.
Implement realistic policies connected with marketing to make your product a success. Settle on a price for the product, select the marketing channels and plan your marketing strategy in such a way that it speaks to the customer groups you are trying to reach.
Consider very carefully whether it is financially viable to continue the launch. If you want to continue, make a definitive launching plan and stick to it. Monitor the launching process closely, so that you can correct any problems immediately.