11 Things to Do BEFORE Launching Your Product
Updated: Oct 19
If you run a natural or organic brand, chances are you are hoping to design, create, and launch a product. It may be your first one, or it may be part of an ongoing collection in your brand. Be it skincare, cosmetics, clean beauty, herbal, aroma, tea-and-coffee, chocolate, or organic food & beverage, your product launch must include these KEY STEPS in order to get the success your brand deserves.
After launching and selling wildly successful physical natural & organic products (in addition to online and digital products), I'm happy to share with you 11 key things you MUST do PRIOR to tackling that big product launch. Salve or ointment? Check. New tea blend? Yes. Skincare or clean beauty star? Most definitely. Follow these steps.
Before you launch any new product -- especially a new food, beverage, lotion, soap, tincture, or package of organic goodies -- follow these steps. These are extremely useful things I've gleaned over my career as an herbalist and entrepreneur that will save you time and money and will ease the frustration and stress that can come with delivering a new star for your brand.
What Should I Do BEFORE You Launch Your Product?
First, download the FREE planner above. It will walk you through everything you need so you don't forget any steps while you're in the heyday of launching your new star product.
While you're filling out the planner with dates and to-do action steps, explore these key 11 steps you need to take before birthing your fantastic product out into the world. Remember: if you need more guidance, I'm here with 1:1 coaching.
Identify your ideal customer
You don't want your product to be for just everyone. A broad audience leads to poor sales and confused customers. You want customers to feel as if you are speaking directly to them and that you understand their challenges and needs intimately.
Determine your ideal customer (sometimes called an avatar) as one of the first things you do, so that you know exactly who you're talking to with your marketing and package design. Being specific with who you serve--and why--will help you refine your vision for what you make and how you market it. You'll cover ideal customer alignment through 1:1 coaching with me or when you enroll in Launching a Natural Products Business.
Decide retail or wholesale
Will you sell direct to customers (B2C)? Or will you hire a distributor to take your products to bigger stores and sell at wholesale rates?
Trust me, especially for young brands, it's very difficult to do both at the same time. They are very different animals! Retail involves a lot of face-to-face time with your customers and you tend to get wonderful feedback that answers many of your own questions. Wholesale, on the other hand, involves communication with a distributor or maybe with store owners. You get very little face-time with the people actually buying your products. It is also very difficult to make a profit selling artisan, hand-crafted products wholesale, whereas brands selling mass-produced goods often fare better.
In my course, I'll help you decide which method works best for your business, or when you'll be ready to tackle both. And it's no simple decision--in fact, deciding whether you'll sell retail or wholesale will impact your catalog, pricing structure, delivery methods, warehousing, labeling, and taxes. Be sure to address this question early.
Identify your brand’s environmental or social mission or purpose
You aren't required to have a mission or purpose, but customers are increasingly more loyal to brands that do. Especially Gen X and Gen Z, who strongly favor brands that are transparent about their environmental and social goals.
Often a company develops a (positive) reputation based on their commitments. It's a strong way to show what you believe in... and how you intend to act on your beliefs.
Don't know where to start? I explain dozens of commitments including certified organic, fair trade, cruelty free, climate positive, ocean friendly, women- and minority-owned, and many more through my coaching and through online courses provided to my coaching clients. You'll learn how to determine what is most relevant for your brand, how to inspire your team to "own" these commitments, and how to tackle them authentically without green-washing.
Set up your business legally
It's important to make sure you've set everything up legally and correctly. Mistakes are costly and every state has different requirements. This means making sure you've set up as a sole proprietor OR a single-member LLC OR a partner LLC OR a corporation (which can include a B Corp). There are many choices and while they're not extremely complicated, the way you initially set up your business will impact everything from taxes to vendor relationships to growth and scale.
Learn how to decide if your business should be a sole proprietorship, an LLC, a corporation, or even a benefit corporation. It even covers trademarking a product (and it's available as part of our course). Another great resource is the SBA: Small Business Administration.
Get certified organic, or know how to vet organic ingredients from your suppliers
You may want to certify your entire product (or line, or brand) as organic. Or not: this is a big step.
Perhaps instead of getting your final product certified organic by the USDA, you'll purchase organic ingredients that go into your product. Here's the question: How do you vet your suppliers?
How should you include organic terms on your labels and website? What can you claim, and what terms or claims must you avoid? Customers look carefully so you must know your way around the organic world.
Identify which vendors/suppliers you’ll use and set up an ordering process
Is your head spinning with all the vendors you could choose from? Where will you get your ingredients? Your packaging supplies? Your labels, jars, lids, ingredients, mailers, boxes? Whom can you trust? Whose shipping policies are most favorable?
You'll need to establish a process for identifying your vendor partners as well as re-ordering, shipping, warehousing or storing, and keeping supplies safe and clean according to proper standards.
I recommend selecting vendors and suppliers who share your values and beliefs; this is what your customers are looking for and it's up to you to provide it for them. Look for value statements and even certificates; but place a lot of emphasis on customer referrals and testimonials.
Compare your product to your competition
Your product will not exist in a vacuum. Your customers are VERY aware of your competitors and their products and they will compare you against them. Be proactive by checking out your competition (even if you're "not a competitive person") to ensure your own product is strongly positioned and exactly the way you want it.
You put too much time and energy into designing and birthing your product, don't ignore how others are creating (and marketing) something similar. By going through the steps we outline in the course, you'll be able to determine how YOUR business compares, what you do differently (as well as better and worse) and where you have the opportunity to make your business (and your PITCH) unique and compelling.
Learn how to comply with FDA Labeling Laws
Before you print a single label or design a webpage for your product, make DOUBLE sure that you won't incur the wrath of the FDA. Every year, the FDA sends warning letters to maker businesses of all sizes that can lead to legal trouble and tremendous expense.
Especially if you produce food and beverage, or if you produce herbal or cosmetic products, you'll need to have a strong handle on what the FDA deems acceptable.
Learn what you can and cannot include on your labels (and what is REQUIRED to be there!), and see helpful examples in our course or through 1:1 coaching with Holly.
Decide a Pricing Method
What will you charge?
What is your product worth and (especially) what are your potential customers willing to pay?
It's a complex set of questions that can make it or break it for your brand. While you can sometimes change your price later, changes can lead to misgivings by your customers, and printed materials must be revised. It's best to develop a strong pricing strategy in advance. (I can help you with this!)
I teach my coaching clients a strong strategy that is time-worn and proven. It involves money management skills as well as a positive money mindset, along with a healthy dose of reality and spreadsheet data.
Don't let pricing kill your darlings; use pricing to your advantage to ensure your product catches the eye of potential customers and inspires them to purchase... again and again.
Establish GMPs for yourself & your team
Once you start actually making your product, you've entered the world of GMPs. Whether you craft products in your home, a studio, or you have a dedicated manufacturing facility, you must follow good manufacturing practices (GMPs) so that you comply with federal, state, and local laws, maintain hygienic standards, train your team (employees, apprentices, or interns) properly, keep appropriate documents, and store materials and ingredients safely.
How do you do all this? It's not easy, but it's not difficult either. Actually, it is part of a system or process that I teach my coaching clients to develop and then train your team in abiding by it. My course Launching a Natural Product Business goes into detail about how to design and maintain a functioning, well-executed strategy and system.
Don't skip this step--local boards of health can inspect your premises at any time. Plus, your team members will feel increased loyalty and competence when they witness your diligence about keeping strong safety and cleanliness standards. (And this is where product or liability insurance comes in.)
Create a planner or calendar to Prepare for Your BEST Product Launch
No matter what stage of the process you're in, you want your product launch to be wildly profitable, smooth, and successful. Download our FREE Product Launch Planner designed especially for natural and organic brands, including skincare, cosmetics, clean beauty, herbal, aroma, chocolate, coffee and tea blends, and organic food & beverage.
Whatever product you're launching, our FREE Product Launch Planner Template (available as an Excel spreadsheet) will keep you organized and prepared as you approach launch day. You can share this tool with your whole team so everyone is ready with expectations and a solid timeframe of deliverables.
Click here to download this free Planner and prepare for your next (or first!) product launch.
The Launching a Natural Product Business Course
You don't have to go it alone! Herbalist and award-winning entrepreneur Holly Bellebuono shares essential tips and a ton of wisdom in her online course, and they're available HERE.
This course is really 3 courses combined and is a wealth of information, guidance and wisdom to support you and your brand as you grow. It is video-based, online, on-demand (asynchronous) and is packed with helpful Student Workbooks, materials, templates, checklists, case studies, and resources that are yours to keep.
The course is available at a 20% discount off tuition for Holly's coaching clients.
Brand Business Coaching
Get brand expertise and consulting you can't get anywhere else. Get 1:1 customized coaching to explore strategy, planning, pricing, leadership, product design and launch, and more with Holly as your dedicated guide.
Join as a coaching client yourself or invite your team members or business partner to join, too!
Find out how coaching with Holly can help you and set up a free call.
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