There are “firsts” everywhere in life. Do you remember your first kiss? How about the first time you sold a product? What about your first paycheck? These firsts are special to use because they mark important situations in our life, and this can also be applied to your business.

Modern companies are going to be remembered for everything they’ve done. In the past, it was hard to keep records due to the lack of real archival technology. Nowadays, it’s easy to save a website or a news article that describes a company’s very first product. It’s more important than ever to get your first product right on the first try, so here are some tips to help you start a successful business.

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Creating a unique selling proposition

First, make sure you’ve got a good product on your hands. It sounds vague, but a “good” product is typically something that fills a need, follows a trend or offers fantastic value. Your unique selling proposition needs to resonate with the audience, so don’t neglect it. Whether it’s great value you offer or something sturdy and unique that the market hasn’t seen before, it has to stand out and create waves of excitement. A great place to start would be looking at market needs. Whatever your industry needs, try and match that requirement by designing a product that can fill a gap in the market.

Keep it simple the first time around

Your first prototype should be simple because it has to prove your concept. The initial design should look terrible because it has to be functional before it looks good. A proof of concept is what you’ll pitch to investors, and it’s also going to be the first working prototype that you can test and give feedback on. Once your product is refined and starts to work the way you intend it to, you can start to think about the design, marketing materials and a proper name for it.

The more you boast, the more you fail

During these early stages, it’s important to keep your mouth closed for two reasons. First, you don’t want competitors to pick up on your ideas because they will prepare something similar to fight against your product. Secondly, you don’t want to boast to people over social media or even friends and family. The more you boast, the more it will hurt if you fail. Focus on delivering a product, research as much as possible and keep your head down instead of trying to excite people your product.

Test multiple times and iron out problems

Once the final product is finished (or nearing completion) it’s time to test it. Don’t just test it a handful of times, put it through stress tests and put it into the hands of early adopters, investors or family members to try out. Of course, the trial periods will last different lengths of time depending on what it is you want to invest in, but it needs to happen before you release it to the public. There’s a good chance that releasing an unfinished product could cause a massive backlash, and that’s the last thing you want to be associated with your first product.

Tighten your quality control criteria

If you feel like the testing isn’t thorough enough, then make sure you tighten up the quality control as well. Everything from the product itself to the packaging should be pristine and free of any noticeable defects. The product should work as intended and you should not ship a product that has even a chance of failing. For instance, you want to use the best wholesale containers available if you’re selling something hazardous like paints or cosmetics. If you use low-quality containers, then there’s a chance they could burst, leak and cause a mess in the future.

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Take plenty of pictures

Now comes the marketing part. Make sure you take lots of flattering pictures of your products. Use different angles, lighting and even backgrounds to shoot a whole collection of beautiful images that represent your product. If possible, try and get shots of your product in use to clearly demonstrate what it is, how it’s used and how it can be helpful to the crowd. Many of these images should be marked as royalty free so that media publications and bloggers can freely use them when talking about your new product.

Write up a fantastic press release

If you want to grab the media’s attention, then you need a press release for your product. You could always rely on a content writing service to write your press release, but you can always write it yourself. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Write the press release at the optimal time. Don’t write it when your product is already shipping to store, but don’t do it when you don’t even have a working proof of concept either.

• Target certain media publications. If you want to get the most exposure, pick and choose the media publications you send your press release to. Try and aim for bloggers as well as news websites.

• Who, what, where, when, why, how. Who are you? What are you selling? Where will it be? When does it release? Why are you making it? How did it all get started? Make sure you answer these questions in your press release.

• Use a catchy headline. You won’t grab attention without an attention-grabbing headline to attract readers.

• Include your details. How else are the media or bloggers going to contact you for more information?

• Describe one product per press release. Unless you have a range of similar products, it’s best to write a separate product release for each unique product you have.

With these following tips, it will be easy for your business to go from zero to hero. The most important part is ensuring that your product is actually worthy of being on store shelves or being spread over social media. Make a quality product, revise it so it’s perfect, then release it for the world to see.