DEVELOPING AND LAUNCHING A VEHICLE

Understanding the profile
If both sales and marketing are in the room from the beginning, a lot of R&D time can be saved by profiling the ideal customers for your vehicle. You may have all the data at your disposal, however, without first-hand knowledge of your customers’ and their challenges, your data is worthless.

If it’s unique brand it
When you develop a game-changing innovation, before you apply for the patents make sure you’ve given it a catchy name and it has its own identity. Others will try to copy you, but the market will know it by your name. It pays to be first.

Bring your advocates in early
Testing your new vehicle in your own environment and proving grounds will take you a long way. However, by introducing a small, trusted group of customers and asking them to put it through its paces, their real-time feedback will be invaluable.

Bring your dealers in early
If you rely on dealerships to sell your products it pays to involve them early. The age old manufacturer / dealer dynamic is well worn, it therefore pays to share insights with dealers. Their feedback could be invaluable.

Less equals less
It’s quite staggering how some OEM’s will spend millions to develop a vehicle, only to hand the marketing team a miserly sum to launch it. This goes back to marketing being in the room from the outset. Give your product a chance, or your disappointing figures will be well deserved.

Timing is everything
If your vehicle is used on a seasonal basis, it pays to launch just before the season begins. Your target audience still has time to attend your event. It’s human nature that people will make a comparison of your product against what they currently drive, when they are driving it. Your follow up marketing serves to pose further questions.

Your demonstration event
Check, double-check, then check again. A vehicle going ‘tech’ during a demo event can spell disaster. Leave nothing to chance. We know of one product that bombed in France due to a hitch at a demo event.

Leave them wanting more
This applies to many aspects of marketing today. Because we live in a ‘box set’ world, many brands have forgotten the art of suspense. In the run up to your vehicle launch use a little intrigue, we are wired for excitement and curiosity.

Redefining and reimagining is for the unimaginative
The trap door is open! Avoid nonsensical jargon. Plain language that offers simple explanations and very clear messages requires much distilling, until it’s a simple as simple can be. Like the best distillations, great things happen when you make friends with time.