Having a good product offering isn’t enough. It needs to be exceptional. Customers are bombarded with choices, and your product or service needs to stand out to capture their attention and loyalty.
But what exactly makes for a good offering? Is it being a “jack of all trades” or should you specialise in one area? The market is filled with thousands of different business models — and that makes everything a confusing mess.
Don’t worry; in this article, we’ll explore the key ingredients that transform an idea into a compelling solution that resonates with your target market.
The power of simplicity: Do one thing and do it well
Ever been in a restaurant that has a menu with hundreds of dishes. It’s overwhelming, right? This ‘choice paralysis’ also goes for your solution offering. When you try to be everything to everyone, you risk diluting your message and failing to connect with any specific customer segment.
A good solution offering excels at doing one thing brilliantly. It solves a specific problem your target customer faces in a clear and effective way.
This laser focus means you give:
- Clarity: Customers instantly understand what your offering does and how it benefits them.
- Expertise: Focusing on a specific area allows you to develop deep expertise, making your solution more effective.
- Focus: Resources are directed towards perfecting your core function, resulting in a more polished and reliable product offering.
Unearthing your unique selling proposition for market launch strategy
So, you’ve nailed simplicity, but what sets you apart? Every good solution offering has a unique selling proposition (USP) — that key ingredient that makes you stand out from the competition. It could be a unique product feature, unbeatable value, or superior customer experience.
- Identifying your USP requires a deep understanding of your target market and their needs.
Research your competitors, talk to customers, and identify the gap you can fill. Your USP is your secret weapon, the reason why customers will choose you over the rest.
The art of messaging
Simplicity and uniqueness are powerful, but they can’t work their magic if no one understands them. Clear and concise messaging is critical for effectively communicating the value proposition of your solution offering. But here are some common mistakes that everyone makes.
- The first, and probably most common is the “And” trap. Resist the urge to list every single feature your offering possesses (i.e. ‘we do this, and this, and this…’). Focus on the most compelling benefits that resonate with your target audience.
- Many businesses also overload with jargon. As tempting as it might be, avoid technical language that alienates potential customers. Use clear, concise language that everyone understands.
- Finally, focus on value, not features. Don’t just tell customers what your product offering does; tell them how it will benefit them.
The commercialisation challenge
Having a great idea is just the first step. Transforming that idea into a real-world solution offering requires careful commercialisation. There are several key considerations to take into account here:
- Scope: Define the exact parameters of your solution offering. What will it do, and what won’t it do? What are its core features? How will it be delivered (e.g., consulting services, software as a service)? Once you have this foundation laid, you’ve got a starting point.
- Go-to-Market strategy: How will you reach your target market? This involves considering channels (online, offline, partnerships), pricing strategy, and marketing tactics. Remember, something that works for your competitors might not work for your business. You need to consider what will work best in the context of your business, what you offer, and who you are targeting.
- Driving adoption: Once your offering is out there, how will you encourage widespread use? Consider how customers can trial what you have to offer, customer education programs, and loyalty initiatives. There’s a wide variety of strategies that can drive more customers to you.
Commercialisation can be a complex process, so think carefully about how your offering will be structured, resourced, and operationalised to ensure a smooth and successful launch.
Turning value into revenue: Monetisation in your market launch strategy
Ultimately, a good product offering needs to be financially sustainable. This means understanding your value proposition and developing a clear strategy for monetisation.
Don’t undervalue what you do. Always make sure to conduct thorough market research to understand your true worth and be confident in your pricing strategy. Proper research will give you a good idea of where the sweet spot is for your offering.
Now that you know your value, be bold with how there is clearly an argument for gaining ‘mind share before market share’. While gaining market awareness is important, don’t undervalue your product offering to the point of commoditisation. This can erode your brand value in the long run.
- By way of example, we developed a new Product Business Plan for a software company that had initially planned to not charge customers for integrating their product with the CRM vendor.
They’d invested a considerable amount of money in developing the integration (which they’d need to keep investing in as they add more features) – let alone the ongoing investment needed to continue to build new features, as well as motivating the Vendor’s sales team to promote their offering.
In the process, we helped them devise a pricing strategy that enabled them to get in market quickly, as well as plot a path to recovering the ‘sunk’ development costs, and think about how to fund and scale the product business.
Final thoughts
Your offering can make or break your business. The Get There team has successfully guided numerous companies — from pre-revenue startups to large-scale multinationals — through solving these challenges.
We can help you stand out from the crowd, streamline your value to your target customers, or create sustainable, scalable revenue streams.
