What Makes a Product Sell Effectively?

Congratulations: through hours of hard work and perseverance, you really have built the better mousetrap—or designed the warmest wearable blanket yet, or perhaps formulated a new sauce that’ll be sure to change the way we think about chicken tenders. Now you’re finally ready to take your new product to the crowded marketplace.

But as impressive as your innovation may be, very few products in this world can sell themselves. You need the sizzle as well as the steak: flashy designs, aggressive campaigns, and, most of all, delighted customers who are happy to do the marketing work for free. Every creator or entrepreneur deserves an opportunity to succeed, so get some insight into what makes a product sell effectively.

Marketing Expertise

To spread the word beyond your inner circle and around the world, you’ll need to draw upon the resources and experience of marketing professionals. Whether it’s an industry titan or a boutique agency, these strategists, copywriters, designers, and media buyers will devise a plan that will create maximum exposure for your product.

Design That Stands Out

Whether the market is physical or virtual, there’s a good chance your wares will have to compete for consumers’ eyes with similar products. Your product should stand out from competitors, and if you can’t prove visually that your product is better, you can at least prove that it’s different. Consider using a size and shape that’s out of the ordinary. On a crowded shelf, an eye-catching label can make all the difference. Vivid colors, clever copy, and solid design fundamentals will help you win eyes. From there, you can start winning hearts.

Word of Mouth

Marketing professionals can be highly creative and diligent in disseminating information about your product. They can certainly take you from Point A to Point B. But when it comes to going from Point B to Point C, you need people who have received an old-fashioned personal recommendation from someone they trust. When it comes to what makes a product sell effectively, there’s simply no substitute for word of mouth for taking a product’s success to the next level. Of course, high rewards carry high risks, and the word-of-mouth approach has one frustrating drawback—the extent to which satisfied customers pass along the word is largely out of your hands. But there is one way you can influence word of mouth: create a product with a level of quality that is simply undeniable and too good for consumers to keep to themselves.