Website Commercialization Strategy

1. Setting Realistic Objectives / Goals

As a business, one of the most challenging phases you’ll experience is product development. Identifying market needs and putting in the effort to meet those market needs is a massive undertaking. The only other phase that is as challenging as product development is the same phase that comes right after it – commercialization.

Commercialization is defined as the process of presenting the market with a new service or product. This is where you develop a marketing plan for your new product, determine the advertising mediums to use, chart out promotion strategies, and identify distribution channels etc.

The commercialization phase is where you’ll likely be spending most of your resources and therefore, it is of great importance that you set realistic objectives.

So, what kind of objectives does a business set when developing its commercialization strategy?

Well, for starters, a business must determine if the product is in line with the other core areas. Does the product leverage the business’s competencies and strengths? Does it share the business economy?

When we say shared economy, we are referring to aspects such as the product’s intended customer base. Does it cater to a new set of customers or the same ones? Similarly, the business also needs to determine if the competitors are the same or not and whether the cost structure to manufacture and market the product is the same or not.

The next objective is to identify the target customers. It is necessary to know who is likely to buy your product and why they would. It is also important to be aware of the fact that a newer set of target customers are likely to evolve as more marketing is done.

All this needs to be assessed in order to optimize your commercialization strategy. Your strategy will be shaped based on knowing why a particular group of customers is the one that you should be aiming for.

The third objective is to come up with a business or value proposition. The proposition must explain what makes your new product unique and what it can offer that can’t be offered by other similar products in the market. The focus must be on the specific benefits offered by your product. However, never let your message be cluttered.

Your proposition must address the needs of the customer, not the product or the technology that goes into it.

Next up is determining the value chain. Here, you will need to decide who’s going to sell the product and that means aligning the sales team with the value proposition. Your sales team must be dedicated to understanding how the product meets the customer’s needs.

You will also have to determine where the product will be sold and how it will be distributed. Think about the various distribution channels that are likely to work for you. As for where the product will be sold, go with the most logical areas.

There must be an alignment of your business processes, value position and value chain. The better the alignment, the more possible it will be for your commercialization strategy to succeed.

Ultimately, we come to the most important objective – marketing. Here, you will need to determine who will offer and plan the marketing activities. You will also have to determine who will monitor the marketing activities from the inside. Think about the communication strategy that you will need to use in order to get the message delivered to the target customer segments.

As you can see, commercialization is quite a complex procedure and we’ve only discussed the tip of the iceberg. If you’re a business that’s just learning the ropes, commercialization can prove to be tougher than it actually is.

Globibo Media understands the importance of the commercialization process well. We know how important it is for your product to achieve commercial success. That’s why we leverage our sales and marketing experience to help our clients with their commercialization requirements. We don’t end our engagement by satisfying just the technical requirements.

We get involved in the deeper aspects of commercialization. We work with our clients to realize objectives such as regulatory compliance, market section, quality control, and the installation of manufacturing units etc. Our experts work with clients as dedicated assets, assisting them in carrying out their commercialization activities.

2. Website Commercialization Options

One of the key aspects of a commercialization strategy is to decide how you’re going to present the product to your customers. There are several methods you could look at and each of these methods comes with a set of pros and cons. Some methods may work for you more than others.

For example, we have the direct sales method, where, a business will chooses to sell the product directly to the consumer. It’s quite different from other strategies such as retail sales, where the product is first sold to distributors and then from there, it usually moves into select retail outlets.

The direct sales method offers a wide range of benefits that you could consider as part of your commercialization strategy.

For starters, direct sales can allow your business to have direct contact with the customers. As a result, you can build stronger relationships and have greater control over them in terms of management. Many experts state that the direct sales method is a way for businesses to engage with the customer on a more regular basis. Your business gains the ability to build relationships that are far more meaningful and valuable.

For example, you learn to understand your customer’s needs better and work towards creating an environment that fosters their loyalty.

Similarly, the direct sales method also allows you to have greater control over your sales team, which makes it easier to coordinate your sales strategy with other aspects of your commercialization strategy such as production and marketing. You can ensure that your sales team uses methods and approaches that are in line with your overall advertising and marketing strategies. As a result, your marketing messages are reinforced with your customers.

The direct sales method also makes it easier for you to collect feedback directly from customers, allowing for a better assessment of marketing campaign efficacy. Additionally, you gain information that can help you tailor future products/services to meet exact customer requirements.

Then, there is the benefit of greater control over pricing and distribution. This helps you verify whether products are competitively priced or not. You can even ensure that those representing you are kept informed and updated about your products and other strategies. You are not dependent on retailers to help you out.

In fact, studies have shown that this particular feature of the direct sales approach allows businesses to negotiate better with sellers. Naturally, the end result is a larger profit share from sales.

Another key advantage with this approach is that businesses gain access to a larger customer base that may not be accessible through other methods. Though advertising through traditional and digital media channels is highly effective, it may not suit all businesses. Sometimes, a direct sales approach is the only way to go if you’re looking to reach out to certain customer groups.

In fact, some small businesses even take advantage of social connections in as part of their direct sales strategy. They get their sales team members to market and sell the products to near and dear ones.

Even customers benefit from a direct sales approach. For starters, a lot of businesses offer trial periods where customers can test out products. Other than that, the close interaction between customers and businesses leads to the creation of environments where customers can enjoy a tailored experience. There is also the possibility of a highly personalized buying experience.

The direct sales approach is one of many sales methods that you can incorporate into your commercialization strategy. But, as we stated earlier, it’s a method that may not work for every business out there. So, how do you decide which is the best approach for your business?

Well, Globibo Media can help you out. We’ve helped a range of businesses develop commercialization strategies and we continue to do it even now. As experts who understand the intricacies of the market, we can work with you to determine which sales approach would work best for your business.

We have effective tools and solutions that help us test out multiple approaches and identify the most effective one. Once we identify the methods that suit your business, we’ll even advice you on how to move forward from there.

3. Website Commercialization Legal Considerations

When developing your commercialization strategy, it is of the utmost importance to focus on legal considerations as well. Since you have, most likely, designed and developed the product all by yourself, you must protect yourself using intellectual property rights. The simple result of not doing so is the theft of your idea and thereof, the application of it by other parties. To put it simply, your idea for a product can be stolen by a rival business and marketed as being their own. You obviously don’t want that to happen.

So, make sure all legal aspects are taken into consideration and worked on.

This could possibly include the submission of various documents for the acquisition of trademark, patent or copyright. The idea here is to prove and authenticate that your business is the sole owner of the product and the concepts used to develop it. In fact, you must do this in the conceptualization stage itself.

Once you have established ownership of the idea and the product, you can proceed with presenting the product to the market. In a way, legal considerations occupy the first phase of your commercialization strategy. Intellectual property rights cover all aspects of the commercialization process including internal production and even licensing requirements in the case of third party involvement.

There are several tools you can use to protect your product and ideas. Let’s look at a few of them.

The first is called an NDA or Non-Disclosure Agreement. This is a type of legal that needs to be signed by anyone working on developing the product and commercializing it. IT ensures that they respect the confidentiality of your work. It can either be mutual or one way. A mutual NDA ensures that you and the teams involved accept to keep all information a secret and not share it with third parties. In a one-way NDA, you have the exclusive authority in ordering the other party to agree to your terms of confidentiality. It is also wise to seek NDAs with indefinite periods as this prevents the theft of your ideas permanently.

Similarly, you can also opt for a non-compete agreement. Here, a third party signs an agreement that prevents them from starting a business that directly competes with yours within a given area.

Then, you have what is known as a work-for-hire agreement. This is to protect your ideas from stolen by someone who has been exclusively hired to work on your product. You have ownership rights over even their ideas. Though you can credit them as co-inventors, they will still not hold rights to the entre idea or product.

Protecting your ideas and concepts is very important in a competitive market. You cannot always hide your ideas, especially if you are dependent on others to bring them to realization. You are likely to work with third party experts and others to develop and evaluate your products. In fact, even your own employees can prove to be a liability.

The legal arena is complex one, especially when it comes to intellectual property rights. Most companies avoid it for the same reason and risk losing their business. Don’t be that business.

At Globibo Media, we have legal experts who can advise you on what needs to be done. We can take up the challenge for you and present the most viable solutions. We have helped several businesses in the past overcome legal challenges associated with their respective commercialization strategies.

So, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our experts at Globibo Media for legal assistance.

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