Launching Your Products and Services; it’s a Process

Welcome!

Here at M. Colleen Wietmarschen we are working towards launching our expanded services and new products. This process may seem confusing to some of our readers so we thought we would explain it as we go… Launching products and services is a process; it doesn’t happen overnight! Our goal is to write a blog about the steps we’re taking leading up to the launch of our product/service. We welcome you to follow along and learn or be reminded about some processes to make your launch a success.

Since we started a few days ago, the first post will catch you up on what we have completed already.

In the beginning we had an idea about the direction of our program. In May, Colleen received the Jan B. King Memorial Scholarship (!) to become a Certified Virtual Author Assistant. So that’s where we started…

Steps to launching your product or service:

Naming your product

While we are not ready to announce the name of our author assistant program, naming a product/program/service can take hours, days, or longer. When naming your product/program/service, think about your personality, your target audience, and your brand. The name of your product should be unforgettable and grab your audience’s attention. Our list had over 120 names!

Here are a few suggestions on choosing a name: At first, you may not be in love with the name, but over time you can add dimension to it with a logo, colors that fit your brand, and the main thing is don’t become paralyzed when choosing your name and do nothing. Keep a pad of paper with you or a note app on your phone and when you think of a name that might work, write/type it.

Work on your business plan

Business plans can make most business owners quiver but they are one of the most important documents when launching your product, service, or business. If you don’t have a plan in place, ultimate failure is almost certain.

Questions to ask yourself and put in your plan: What is the program designed to do, who is your target audience, what services do you offer, what types of marketing will you use – social media, press releases, e-Newsletter communication, etc., and do you need financing to start your business? There are several books to read on writing a business plan. Below are two we’ve done some research on:

• Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies
• The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan: A Pro Shares a Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Plan That Gets Results

Both of these references are available at Amazon.com. Also, you can contact us for a short or long business plan template. We’re here to help!

Our next blog discusses building your team so when you’re ready to launch you’ll be able to fill the workload. We’ll also talk about how you can brand your product/program/service talking with a graphic designer or brand consultant.

We look forward to you following this series. What is one process you’ve struggled with when launching a product, program, or service? We can’t wait to hear from you.

Peter M. Wietmarschen
Colleen Wietmarschen