Photo Drive Testing and Market Research

The Photo Drive Plus should be tested prior to launch, to ensure that the product is commercially viable. To fail to perform market testing would be taking a significant risk, given the amount of money that it takes to produce the product and execute the launch strategy. There are several different approaches to market testing. One is to make a prototype and test that with members of the target audience, another is to visit trade shows, and another is to simply compare the product to others on the market (No author, 2012).

Comparing the product to others on the market is not a viable strategy when there are no direct existing competitors against which to benchmark. The Photo Drive Plus is a unique product, and while that can help it in the market, this also makes it more difficult for the company to determine whether or not the product is truly viable. Additional testing is going to be required. A trade show is an interesting idea, but for a new company there is significant risk that if the idea is good, all potential competitors will know about the product and move with their own versions quickly. Building first mover advantage is going to be critical to the success of the Photo Drive, and any strategy that reduces this advantage should be avoided.

Thus, the best strategy for testing the Photo Drive is to create a prototype and test it with a small group of target market members. This group can be quite small and local, but it should include both vendors who would sell the product and end users who would buy the product. This is because both groups are going to be involved in the process of making this product successful, and because these groups will be able to give different types of...

There are several key pieces of information that will be required. The first is whether there is any interest in the product at all. It is essential that the company has a good sense of what the interest level is. Another group that could be involved in the market research phase is photography customers outside of the target market. The assumption right now is that the PhotoDrive is going to be a niche product, but if it turns out that there is a broader market for it, that is something that the company will want to know.
The market research also needs to gather information about the price points, the likelihood of retail channels stocking the product, and likelihood of online purchase and the degree of desirability that the product has. In addition, information gathered should include some open-ended questions about product features (Inc., 2012). These questions might not cause the company to redesign the original Photo Drive but they can help the company with the next iteration of the Photo Drive. Ideally, the second iteration will hit the market right about the time that competitors are launching their first versions, allowing the company to retain its competitive advantage by staying ahead of the competition.

Launch Strategy

The launch strategy for the Photo Drive is going to be built around the fact that the target market primarily consists of people who in the photography industry are early adopters. Thus, this market can be launched with a campaign that combines focused marketing efforts and a viral campaign. The conventional media strategy is going to employ marketing to store owners, who will then sell the device to the target audience,…