Inspired from 17 Steps to Take Before You Launch a Product of Service – via Forbes / Forbes Agency Council

As you know (that is, you better know…), the Soup 2 Nuts Game is launching very soon. As a company we are incredibly excited (and nervous) as we near getting this thing into the marketplace.

(pre-orders are now available!)

In our research we came across the above-referenced article from Forbes and thought, what an interesting exercise to take our thinking though! Go ahead and take a read below, I hope you learn something.

We definitely did!

Below are 17 Steps to Take Before Launching a New Product – and thoughts on each.

1.      Define Your Target Audience

The target audience for Soup 2 Nuts is adults (well, people 17 years +) who enjoying laughing at slightly inappropriate things with their friends and family. Our audience is in a similar vein to Cards Against Humanity lovers and we are following a trail they blazed with their outstanding success.

Who would a customer be? Perhaps our mutual friend Hospitality Harry:

Harry is in his late 20’s and loves having friends over for food, drinks, and games. He also loves showing up at your game night with a game you haven’t played yet. Laughing until you cry is a common thing at these game nights and people love to outdo each other with crazy-funny answers and antics.

Harry knows these experiences are good for the soul and loves to foster them within his circles.

 2.      Know How To Reach Your Audience

Right now we are focused on Social (Facebook and Instagram) and our website. We are just starting to get into video as well. Some digital ads have been awesome in getting page and post likes – and I am sure there is more that we could do.

Our audience will also be Amazon customers and we will be purchasing ad-space get Soup 2 Nuts showing up when people search for any adult party games or party card games (among other keywords_. We will also be indexing against the other popular games in this genre.

I’m sure there are 1,000 things we are missing here as well. Got some ideas? Drop us a line!

 3.      Know The Problem You're Solving

We are solving the problem of what to do when a group of friends and/or family get together. It can be hard to find a game that everyone agrees on. Soup 2 Nuts is that game. We are combining everything you love about party games into one party game. No one shall feel left out and everyone will fall in love with AT LEAST one of the meal courses.

4.      Understand The Buying Journey

We hope for lots of buzz from the early purchasers. Word of mouth is what will ultimately carry the game and people playing it, having a great time, and sharing it within their circles is key.

The novelty of the can and fantastic design will also help push sales. If we can get the ads in front of the right people it will be an easy and quick purchasing decision. My gut tells me that a lot of party game purchases are somewhat impulse decisions or based on a friends recommendation.

We will also be up on Amazon soon and hoping for some great reviews!

5.      Secure Your Online Identity

We have our websites and social media accounts and are building the personality of the brand (at least on Facebook).  What are we missing?

6.      Validate Your Product

We have held several play-tests of the game and received very positive reviews each time. There have been a few minor changes, though the core of the game has not changed. It appears more people than just us think it is fun.

And this will continue.

One of the beautiful things about keeping full control of the game and it’s manufacture/distribution is that we can quickly adjust and make changes if we learn new information.

 7.      Know Your Competition And Be Different

We know our competition in terms of what is out there, though not a ton about their marketing strategies and structures. We are different in having a chef/meal themed game with a great name and the entire product coming in a sealed can. This will add some wow-factor when people see the game online and on shelves.

With a  few good reviews we will stand out against the competition and be a desirable product as people come across the game.

 8.      Make Sure It Hasn't Been Done Before

Well, in some ways it has been done many times before – and a lot of businesses who have catering to this audience have done really well. And there isn’t really anything close enough to Soup 2 Nuts to feel like we’re coping anyone.

9.      Create A Free Trial Or Demo

We have thought about this. Many games offer a ‘print-your-own’ copy model where someone can download your card files and print the game yourself (for free). We are not fully decided on this yet though we might make at least a few cards available for download for free.

What do you think? Does having a print-yourself-for-free option make you more interested in a game?

10.  Lay Out A Comprehensive Strategic Plan

Well, not sure that we have this…

We are launching through a heavily promoted local launch party (11/17) social media, Amazon, and soliciting some local game shops. Based on the initial results we will adjust our operations/manufacturing strategy from that.

 11.  Get Everyone On The Same Page

I reckon we are indeed that. There are only a few of us.

PS - want a job? Shoot us a line! (but we can’t pay you anything yet)

12.  Create Brand Voice Guidelines

While these aren’t written down, I believe that we are very on-brand as we build out our companies presence. We are still creating what our brand and voice is.

13.  Offer Early Use Incentives

We are offering pre-orders which are cheaper than the game will ultimately retail for. We are also thinking about getting some complimentary copies to local game shops and bars.

The idea of a social media promo where people take pictures of themselves playing the game for some sort of incentive is interesting as well. What do you think?

 14.  Keep Testing It

Oh yea, we certainly will and are. We hope you can be apart of this too!

15.  Know What You Don't Know

Huh? Good luck with that… silly question.

16.  Know Your Story

Our story is based around two local family guys opening a business that promotes more gaming with friends and family. Part of that vision is entrepreneurship and part of it is getting off technology to do enriching things with the people in your life, in person.

17.  Start Planning The Next Version

Ha! Yes! There are already Christmas and 80’s expansion packs in the works and a little library of partially baked games ready to follow on the coat tails of Soup 2 Nuts!

So, if you made it this far through the blog – Thank you! Awesome! What do you think?

I’m sure we are missing 1,000 things you should do when launching a new product. We could also be doing certain things differently. We are learning.

If you have some ideas please share them below. And thank you for being a part of our journey!