What role do public relations efforts play when new product launches fail? Can public relations be the sole cause?

How significant a role can the public relations strategy for a new product launch play in mitigating other launch-related issues?

And what can a public relations professional do to play a more active, strategic role to contribute toward new product launch success even if problems surface in other support areas?

These questions are all part of a talk I’m presenting at the PR Consultants Group annual conference in Kansas City. Chaired by good friend, Alex Greenwood, of AlexG PR, the session will focus on how public relations professionals can hone their strategic, creative, and innovation-oriented skill sets to be more effective with product launches.

You Tell Me the Strategic Thinking Exercises to Cover!

And in what has become a typical presentation technique for me, the strategic thinking exercises for PR consultants we’ll cover during the session will ALL be chosen by the group as the presentation progresses.

Yes, that means when the presentation starts, I’ll have no idea what specific topics we’ll cover!

I’ve been using this presentation technique more frequently since a “you decide what matters to you and we’ll go there” presentation strategy tracks with the Brainzooming brand promise of being highly flexible and interactive when developing successful market strategies.

The presentation draws on ideas about why product launches fail from a Harvard Business Review article titled, naturally enough, “Why Most Product Launches Fail.” I’ve reshaped the article’s list of forty reasons for why most product launches fail to a manageable list of twelve reasons with ties to public relations. Even though the audience is comprised of all public relations consultants, the presentation topics will be valuable to anyone involved in developing successful product launches.

In that spirit, here are links to numerous Brainzooming articles on how being more strategic, creative, and innovative can help address the reasons for why new product launches fail.

Developing a Strategic Business Perspective

Being More Strategic

• A Simple Strategy Check
• Great Strategic Questions – A 3-Step Strategic Question Formula  
• BrainzoomingTM - First Questions
• Tactically Influencing Strategic Situations

Being More Creative

• Sharing a Creative Perspective
• It's All Invented
• A Poor Question for Valentine’s Day: “Can You Change Your Look?”
• Unwrap New Insights this Holiday Season!
  
• One Way to Be More Creative Each Day
• Strategic Connections – 3 Tips for Identifying More Opportunities 

Being More Innovative

• Creating Change and Change Management – 4 Strategy Options
• Managing Clients Who Love Their Creative Ideas
• Improve the Success of Your Letters to Santa - Guaranteed!

How PR Can Address Reasons Product Launches Fail

Unclear or Wrong Audience / Market

• An Example of a Persona to Clarify Audience Members

• Using Think-Know-Do to Generate Stronger Messaging Ideas

Little Market Research or Unclear Differentiation

• Brand Strategy and Brand Promise Definition Background
• Developing Conclusions with Few Insights

Product Is Too New or Too Different

• 1 Tool to Change Your Tired Old Perspective – Trait Transformation

Bad or Weak Product Claims & Advertising

• Identifying Who Else Does What You Do

• Winning New Business by Being a Nuisance Competitor

Product Priced too High

• Strategy Ideas for Dealing with Lower-Priced Competitors
• Creating Greater Value from Brand Attributes

Crisis Issues: Product / Quality Supply / Regulatory

• Strategic Thinking Exercise – Black Swan Events in Your Plan
• Brand Kidnappings and Social Networking – 5 Ways to Prepare

Not Enough $ for PR, Marketing, Launch and/or Sustaining Sales

• Identifying the Best Leftover Ideas

• Guerrilla Marketing Questions
• Activating a Social Media Effort
• Increasing Memorability - Even with Few Dollars

Everything Depends on PR

• Ted Williams – A Voice for Focusing on Your “Happy Zone”
• Social Media Metrics - A Whole Brain Strategy

Too Much or Little Social Media

• The Two Biggest Mistakes in Social Media
• The Brainzooming Social Media Strategy Framework

• 26 Pieces of Advice for Relationship and Social Media Success

The In-house Marketing Campaign Isn’t Objective

• Do You Have What It Takes (for a Marketing Plan)?

Spokesperson Issues

• 6 Reasons a Brand Manager Wouldn’t Do the Ford “Focus Doug” Campaign – and Why They’d Be Mistaken

Sales Buy-in or Knowledge Lacking

• New Year's Resolutions - Be More Derivative, Creative, Fun
• Reaching Employees by Advertising to Customers

Lack of Influencers Supporting Launch

• You Find Experts Everywhere You Look
• Incorporating the Expertise of Lead Users

Mike Brown

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If you’re facing a challenging organizational situation and are struggling to maintain forward progress because of it, The Brainzooming Group can provide a strategic sounding-board for you. We will apply our strategic thinking and implementation tools on a one-on-one basis to help you create greater organizational success. Email us at info@brainzooming.com or call 816-509-5320 to learn how we can help you figure out how to work around your organizational challenges.