Smart Timing for Product Launches

Smart Timing for Product Launches:from Business 2 Community by Rodica Ceslov
Timing a product launch can make all the difference. Look at Friendster vs. Facebook. Nokia Lumia vs. Apple iPhone. Of course, a myriad of factors can impact the success of a launch, but bringing a product too early or too late to the market can impact how well it gains traction among consumers, investors, and the media.
One key to smart timing is making sure your product is ready for the market and its features clearly benefit consumers now—more so than the competition. If a product still has kinks to work out at launch time, it will lead to bad publicity across media and social channels across the web. Conversely, if you wait too long to launch a product, your market segment may lose interest or have already fully adopted a competitor’s product. This can be especially true for technology products given the fast-paced tech industry.
The ideal situation is to have your buyers in great anticipation, your channel partners requesting product shipment, and both online and traditional media wanting to cover the launch. The timing of your launch event may be predetermined by an important industry trade show or other major event.
Even a small company with a limited budget can get great results if it times a product launch wisely. It is important to identify the time(s) and location(s) that provide the maximum leverage to maximize launch results.