Do you have an idea, product, or service that you want to validate in the market? How would you go about creating a new brand and find out if there’s interest in buying your product and / or service?
Having been in sales and product development for over 25 years. I still remember the days when the processes I describe below required significantly more effort, multiple skills, weeks or months f and 10 to 100 times more financial resources than necessary today.
I am truly amazed by how technology is evolving. Even though I deal with it daily, I am always surprised at how quickly new tools are developed and brought to market. By the time I finish this article, I’m certain that dozens of new sales and marketing tools will have emerged from nowhere.
I have three simple rules that drive my curiosity:
- If I think about a problem – „How can I resolve this or that?”- I can be almost 100% sure there’s a tool out there to solve it. I just need to search for it.
- If I feel comfortable with a tool I’m currently using, I regularly remind myself to check if there’s something better, faster, or cheaper.
- Ask Gen-Z, they are incredibly quick at adapting to new tools. I often consult my Gen-Z colleagues to find out if they are already using something innovative.
Let me share my Top 10 steps and tools for taking a new product or service to market. You may already use some – or even all – of them, but I hope this will provide a solid flow and give you some new insights.
- Name Your Product
Finding a good name for your product is essential. Registering a domain is straightforward and costs no more than €10/year. Working with AI can be fun – I describe my product or service to the AI and start iterating until I find the perfect name. This process usually takes less than an hour.
Even if you already have a product , it sometimes makes sense to create a completely new brand for your new product or service- something “powered by” your existing brand. Take the example of Simple by OTP. It started as an experiment without direct links to the parent company, the brand was different, the colours were orange. Once it proved successful, they integrated it back into the parent brand’s identity and turned it green.
- Create a New Email for Your Domain
Most smarketing (Sales and Marketing) tools connect natively with standard email service providers. For a new domain, it’s highly recommended to create dedicated email addresses for sequences and scouting activities, so if you mess up something you will not harm your primary domain. Personally, I like Google Workspace for small businesses – it’s reliable and straightforward to set up.
- Landing Page in 2 hours
Until recently, I thought WordPress was simple, but one of my Gen-Z friends introduced me to Carrd.co. It’s extremely easy to use and very affordable. For around €10/year, you can create up to 10 separate landing pages. The templates are fantastic, and it took me just two hours to create a landing page for my most recent project – including writing the content, which consumed most of my time.
- A Good Brand Needs a Good Logo
A few years ago, creating a logo for one of my projects took three to four weeks, with several iterations between me and a designer on Fiverr. The result was great, but today, you can do it in just a few minutes with the help of AI. Tools like Looka are specialized in logo design and can help you create a full brand identity, from business cards to social media graphics.
- Color Palette
A good brand starts with harmonious colors. Five to ten years ago, I had to buy books explaining color theory and spend hours experimenting. Now, tools like Coolors.co or MyColor.Space allow you to create your own color palette in minutes and test its visual appeal instantly. Most of these tools are free.
- Populate Your Brand with Images
I remember the days when sourcing images required reading copyright policies for hours. Today, apart from AI-generated images, platforms like Pixabay, Pexels, and Freepik provide great, free resources for high-quality visuals and icons. Freepik is my go-to for icons and AI-assisted illustrations.
- Design Thinking
No startup today functions without at least one design thinking tool. Platforms like Miro and Mural help me put our thoughts on a digital “paper” and collaborate with my team. These tools can be used for brainstorming, planning, and organizing ideas into actionable steps.
- Outbound Scouting
Here’s the juicy part. A few years ago I used, some friends even today still use Word or Mailchimp automations to scout potential clients. Today, there are excellent tools like Apollo.io, Lusha, and FindThatLead that automate these activities. Depending on what tools are you using for deal management different tools might be best suiting your needs. If you have simple pipeline management then Appolo.io can automate lot of scouting activities if you have something more sophisticated for creating sequences, then Lusha might be better as it has very accurate customer data. All of these tools offer contact details, and while I don’t know how they gather such accurate phone numbers and emails, they’re extremely effective. On average, the cost of one contact is around €1, but the value is worth it.
- Deal Management
Depending on your business type, there are numerous pipeline management tools to choose from. For smaller-scale B2B setups, ClickUp is a solid choice. For something more advanced, HubSpot is unbeatable. I’ve used many tools over the years even the biggest ones, and HubSpot stands out as the most sales-centric platform, I am sure that those who are developing are all having sales experience. It’s free for small teams, but as your needs grow for example if you need sequences or more insights from dashboards then you need to pay. The professional tier becomes quite expensive – though it’s worth every penny.
Using sequences is a must, but don’t expect high conversion rates from them alone. From my experience, a 3–5% response rate is average. Use at least three steps: the first contact, a polite reminder, and a final message introducing scarcity mentioning that you will not bother them anymore. Scarcity-driven messaging often gets the best results. I also recommend using A-B testing instead of relying on a single approach or wording. Always challenge yourself to explore what works best with your potential clients.
- Task Management
I’m a huge fan of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), a method that focuses on defining and achieving goals efficiently. Tools like Trello, TeamFlect, or ClickUp are great for this. Many people use Microsoft Planner, but I find that alternatives like ClickUp deliver better performance. It’s very flexible, sometimes even too flexible so I always recommend the teams to start with easy steps and once they get comfortable only then go to the next level.
Final Thoughts…
If these tools aren’t enough or you don’t like them, explore ManyTools.com. It’s a fantastic resource for discovering new tools to streamline smarketing activities.
Once you’ve completed all the above steps, all that’s left is to:
- Create a pricing model.
- Design a simple order form.
- Integrate a digital signature solution like DocuSign.
Then, start scouting for potential clients. With these steps, you’re well on your way to launching and scaling your product successfully.
Start implementing these steps today and let me know how they work for you! If you’re using any other great tools, I’d love to hear about them—I’m always eager to discover and learn something new.
AUTHOR: Achilles Georgiu – STRT resident entrepreneur, innovation expert