Launching a new product Mid recession.. How to go about it…

Sometimes you can’t wait so strategy is everything.

What you really need to know for whether you can right now is how strong is your product + marketing capability with tighter restraints.

Main thing, don’t cut corners on either, just to get it into market.
If your budget can’t deliver, it may be a signal to pause because both have to deliver.

But…if your team has the guts, workmanship, & discipline in the right areas, you can get your product to market looking right, on brand, & ready for your customer.. in a recession.

Market research & strategy

• Is your product a need or a nice-to-have? Be realistic so you know what benchmark to work to.
• How price-sensitive is your customer really? How small does this market become when many are pushed down a tier.
• Understand your product costs & risks – development, production, & launch.
• Talk to customers & stakeholders – learn what triggers them to buy with less $.
• Review the market – watch for changes & small opportunity gems.



Market entry

While it can feel gung-ho at the start, a clear plan keeps rollout steady & builds momentum in the right-sized steps.

• Build customer awareness during development? It opens IP risk but get artful.
• Instead of expensive PR, collaborate creatively with retail partners - take control.
• Retailers: reduce risk with smaller orders or consignment while staying margin-flexible & protecting your brand - make deals that don’t cost, but tie them in.
• B2B: offer value they can’t ignore with smaller orders, added services, or flexible terms so they can do business still.
• Direct-to-customer: bring them on the journey, stay connected without oversaturating. Adoption may be slow, but something new can drive sales of existing products.

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journaldd.com helps founders & businesses design, prototype, & prepare products for market, even in tough climates.

If you’re looking to bring a product to life but aren’t sure where to start, or need a hand with design, get in touch. We can sit down, give you a ballpark on your idea, & map out realistic steps to get it moving.

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journaldd is also an IRD-approved R&D provider ; keeps you more cash for development by the NZ Govt

The most powerful tool in product development isn’t software…. This is the technique for dev managers + entreprenuers.

If you really want to push your team, get them aligned & pull them off the computer.

What is the real pain point for most design teams, is that a single idea discussed in a meeting turns into two or three people spending days in CAD trying to visualise it, each coming back with a slightly different interpretation. This is one of the biggest hurdles to fast development cycles.

.. & the best way to really save your business money- which is key right now not just because of the economy, but also due to global supply & logistics pressures, is to improve efficiency & communication. When your team can communicate better & faster, it saves incredible time across the project, & improves your team’s overall success by a huge factor.

Get them sketching & visualizing their ideas before jumping into CAD. Even if some struggle with it at first or aren’t confident sketchers, you’ll notice huge improvements within six months if you make this a core part of your design process.

Here’s what you’ll see:
• Faster development cycles
• Clearer communication across the team
• More viable concepts
• Shorter time to testing
• Less expensive prototypes
• Fewer CAD mistakes & unnecessary revisions

Sketching allows your team to align correctly with what actually needs to be built before ever opening the software, as well as what should be paused.

A sketch like this might take 15 to 20 minutes for one designer, or a couple of hours for another but it will save days of work.

This drawing was used to communicate second-phase improvements to a product in market & helped the key stakeholder decide instantly which method was suitable, based on their knowledge of the instal teams in field.

If you have similar experiences please share.