Browsing Tag
Product Development
19 posts
A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing a Killer Business Plan
A business plan is as important to a new business as a map is to a ship, or blueprints are to an architect. A written business plan will guide your actions and keep you focused on your short- and long-term goals. Your business plan puts your aspirations into words (and charts), demonstrating to partners, investors...
How AR and AI are Driving Innovation Amid Social Distancing
AR and AI tools are a goldmine for retailers that can gather customer data to improve marketing, product development and personalization. Read how AR and AI work together to drive trendy new innovations like touchless makeup trials that make distance shopping easier. Theresa Novicky knows makeup. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Novicky, a beautician, loves...
Building a Mobile App? Here’s Why an MVP Will Benefit Your Business in the Long Run
If you’re an entrepreneur with a fantastic new product or service, there’s often nothing more tempting than wanting to release it into the world in its full glory. But, from a business perspective, this is rarely the right thing to do, for a number of reasons. Primarily, it’s important to ensure that you’ve honed your...
5 Common Obstacles to Overcome When Launching a New Product
Launching a new, physical product is definitely challenging. You probably know there are a lot of obstacles to bringing a new product to market, but what are they exactly? And more importantly, how do you overcome them? In this article, I’ll share with you various ways to surpass the biggest obstacles in your path to...
Former Chick-fil-A Chief Marketing Officer on Innovating to Maintain Brand Relevance
The following is taken from "Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A: How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand" by Steve Robsinson Copyright © 2019 by Steve Robinson. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com. Innovation has always been key to Chick-fil-A’s success, beginning with the creation of the sandwich itself. We continued to engage in...
How to Protect Your Products in a Competitive Market
Startups thrive on innovation and disruption, finding new ways to tackle challenges and devise solutions. However, many new businesses don’t have a strong understanding of how to safeguard their innovations in highly competitive markets. This is where design patents and trade dress rights can play an important role. Even in the earliest stages of product...
3 Ways to Build Marketing Into Your Startup’s Product
We’ve all heard of product development. When it comes to making an awesome product, there are numerous things to consider, from feature set to design and more. But in today’s digital world, there's another aspect of product development that most of us look over: virality. Did you know that product development is also a function...
Developing a New Product? Get an Outsider’s Opinion First
Startups and entrepreneurs creating innovative technologies are understandably protective of their processes and soon-to-be-released products. Giving away their competitive advantage would have devastating effects on their business. This secretive nature can result in a very guarded culture in which insiders are the only ones trusted to discuss the details of their company. These beliefs, although...
The 5 Costs You’re Most Likely to Underestimate in Your Business Plan
One of the most important purposes of a business plan is to give you a clear understanding of your financial trajectory. However, without an accurate analysis, those projections can easily be misleading. Entrepreneurs often underestimate the true cost of certain expenses, which can eventually prove to be problematic when it comes to execution. Common expenses...
Dos and Don’ts for Successful Millennial Entrepreneurs
Building a business from the ground up is no easy task. As an entrepreneur, you have multiple hats to wear in addition to being the ideas guy (or gal). You need to know how to think critically, lead others and use funds responsibly in order to succeed. It doesn't hurt to know how to work...
Make it Minimal and Marketable: How Startups Can Build Better Products
We’ve all heard the saying: faster, better or cheaper - pick two. It’s an unfortunate reality of every business, from startups to large enterprises. You can’t have it all. Especially when it comes to product development, all companies face the same restraints around time, resources and money. For startups specifically, with their often smaller budgets...
Activating on Ideas to Build Your Startup’s Products and Ventures
The following is excerpted from "Born to Build: How to Build a Thriving Startup, A Winning Team, New Customers and Your Best Life Imaginable" by Jim Clifton and Sangeeta Badal, Ph.D. Copyright 2018 Gallup, Inc. Reprinted with permission from Gallup Press. All rights reserved. Action matters more than ideas. Your future depends on your actions....
Treating Content Marketing Like a Product for Higher Conversions and More Sales
The landscape of content marketing is changing. While it still can be a cost-effective way to generate leads and sales, it’s getting tougher. Part of this is because of oversaturation; to put it bluntly, everyone is doing it. According to data from 2017, 88 percent of B2B marketers in North America use content marketing. Not...
Entrepreneurs, is Your Product Fit For the Market?
As an entrepreneur, you may think that some of your ideas are pure gold. In these scenarios, it's easy to jump the gun and start planning your product's name, marketing campaigns, various features, etc. But before putting in any of this work, there's a crucial step that needs to be taken: determining whether there's a...
5 User Testing Mistakes That Even Experienced Startups Make
"We had a big idea and we freaking went for it," Kash Shaikh, Besomebody CEO, wistfully told the company's community earlier this year. The Boston-based business, Shaikh continued, would then shut its doors the very next day. It's a story that no startup wants to hear. After appearing last November on ABC's "Shark Tank," Besomebody briefly gained fame...
Selling to Wal-Mart: The Do’s and the Dont’s
After returning from Bentonville last week, I realized what I had just done was the most exciting thing an inventor/entrepreneur could ever do. Walk the hallways of the buying office at the headquarters of Wal-Mart.... The blue and gray walls signify America, and the American dream of most product developers; to place their products into...
Specialty Retail Entrepreneur Expo & Conference, You gotta go!
Want to start your specialty product business this year? Then you MUST attend the (SPREE) Specialty Retail Entrepreneur Expo & Conference. Be part of the world's largest event for the $12 billion specialty retail industry! No matter if you are a retailer, or prospective entrepreneur looking for the newest concepts, or interested in starting or...
Powerful Partnerships!
As a retail product expert, and working with the industry leaders in the field of placing products on retailer’s shelves (or on TV), I am honored to be partnering up with one of those industries experts - Jim DeBetta. Jim and I have decided to join forces to help budding entrepreneurs get the education and connections necessary...
How to Tell if Your Product is Great
Product development is a crucial step in building a company that will produce top sales. Through the years, innovation has been at the core of creating successful business models or new products. The question you must ask yourself is, “How can I tell if my product will satisfy customer needs in innovative ways that lead...