95% of new products fail

You came upon something that's different or groundbreaking and you know it has tons of potential. You've done it before, introduced an awesome product without capturing your customers' attention. How do you achieve your product's potential when up to 95% of new products fail?

Several juggernauts have failed at introducing different products:

1. New Coke and Crystal Pepsi both tanked because nobody wanted these products in the first place 
2. Kevlar automotive tires failed though they were far superior—much stronger and lighter than steel belted radial tires—but the common person associated the word "steel" with strong
3. Betamax was in many ways superior to VHS but failed because it didn't embrace the pornographic industry and could only hold 1 hour of video
4. Zune was too little, too late
5. Colgate frozen entrees didn't sound appetizing
6. Apple launched Newton in 1993; it was a very innovative PDA, but it was too expensive and complicated to become mainstream

I will translate these failures into lessons:

1. Either address or create a need. Coca Cola consumers didn't want a new flavor and Pepsi consumers were not health-conscious.
2. Learn what your competition's brand evokes. Steel is trusted and still sounds strong today; before trying to dethrone it, make sure that you can combat "common sense" and have the budget to defeat it.
3. Make sure your clients can use your product as they wish. Betamax had 2 clients; end consumers and film studios. Consumers wanted adult films while film studios didn't want to edit their movies to fit into 1 hour.
4. Is your entry disruptive enough? Does it distance you enough from competitors? Small MP3 makers couldn't build an iTunes store but Apple certainly could catch up to the Zune's video and internet capabilities. The Zune wasn't set apart from the iPod and it failed terribly.
5. What does your own brand name evoke? People don't eat toothpaste and Colgate should've rebranded entrees if they were interested in that market.
6. How do you "cross the chasm" from enthusiasts and early adopters to mainstream buyers? The Newton was expensive, the market didn't understand the benefits it provided, and it was hard to use. It was the first in its category, a first mover. Palm came 3 years later; this late comer identified the weaknesses that Apple failed to see, took Newton out of the market and dominated the PDA space until smartphones emerged.

You want to reach the Early Majority with a product introduction, or have very streamlined processes. If you don't your product or, worse, company could fall into the infamous chasm.

So, does this mean that if you take all these lessons into account you will succeed without fail? No, according to Forbes, 95% of new products fail every year. Even if you've figured out how to "cross the chasm" and make a product mainstream, you can still fail (RIM's BlackBerry is on the verge of doing just that—their innovations have been very stale). It means that if you fail to prepare for these issues and can't understand why you've failed to market your previous innovations, you will definitely have offerings in the 95% that fail.