What is a New Product Proposal?

A new product proposal is an appealing, cohesive, and well-defined document that provides an enticing statement to convince clients or the management to give the approval of the initiation of a specific new product development project, a renewal of an existing product, or an introduction of a product in a new market. It is composed of the new product development project summary, company or product development team profile, new product project scope requirements, budget, new product development project timeline, and other major aspects. As a powerful project management tool, it helps business owners, project managers, new product development managers, software developers, content production specialists, food product developers, product marketing specialists, and other professionals in the new product design and development industry  to create and develop revolutionary and state-of-the-art products. 

According to a 2019 product manager survey, only 55% of all product launches take place on schedule. Product managers who usually launch their new products at the right time have a greater chance of reaching their internal targets within a year of new product launch. While there is about 20% on average of new product launches from the 45% of the delayed launches that fail to attain their internal targets. A new product launch may not be successful because of some factors such as lack of formal launch processes, product development delays (bugs, errors, and/or feature creep), failure to achieve customer preferences and requirements, product quality or supply issues. It is integral for product managers and developers to be conscious in knowing and understanding the overall situation so that they are able to prevent and resolve potential risk factors that may affect their future product launches.

Thus, if you are currently developing a new product, or revamping an existing product, or introducing a product or a new market for your brand, company or organization, the first thing you need to do is prepare a compelling new product project proposal. Doing this will help provide necessary information to your prospective clients, investors and stakeholders about your new product development project. Plus, your proposal will allow you to showcase an edge in your field and persuade your potential clients, investors, and stakeholders to accept your new product development project and make it come true.

Different Types of New Product Development Projects

A survey report shows that 46% of product managers said that they are responsible for managing the planning, development and introduction stages of a product. On the other hand, 39% of survey respondents said that developing a new product strategy and planning and structuring product roadmaps were crucial responsibilities. Stephanie Baghdassarian, a senior research director at Gartner, said: “The product manager role is one of the most cross-functional in the organization. This is especially true at the product introduction phase when other functions which include marketing, sales, sales enablement and finance come into play.” If you are an aspiring or a new product manager in your company, learn and understand some types of new product development projects that exist in various fields and industries.  Below are different types of new product development projects:

1. New Food Product Development Project

Currently looking for unique ways to offer consumers more nutritious food products? New food product development project is a project about developing and commoditizing new food products and production processes for the contribution and promotion of nutritional health to the public. Food product managers and developers with their team work together to make the new food product by procuring ingredients and producing a “gold standard” of the new product. They do some formulation methods like determining sourcing ingredients and ingredient costs and product shelf life. Then, they conduct the scaled up processing through pilot plant testing, quality and proximate analysis testing, processing efficiency experiments, and many others. After the successful development of a new food product, it will undergo commercialization, and market success evaluation. A product development team for this project consists of product developers, engineers, production managers, package designers, food safety managers, product regulatory specialists, and marketing and sales professionals.

2. Contents for Brand Marketing New Product Development Project

43% of marketers revealed that their organization’s content marketing budget has grown since 2020 as stated from the 2022 report published by Content Marketing Institute. Moreover, 74% of marketers say that their campaigns were more successful compared to one year ago with 66% anticipating their content marketing budgets to continue to increase. Creating content for brand marketing of a new product is fundamental for successfully building brand loyalty. Working on this new product development project enables content marketers to focus on solving the concerns of their target audience, and  to connect with the audience on multiple platforms. To be effective in this project, content marketers and product developers need reliable data, brainstorming, alignment with the consumer journey, and constant monitoring of key metrics. They also need to publish high quality and variety contents consistently and quantify value to business measures.

3. New Product Concept Development Project

Business Queensland defined a product concept as a detailed description of an idea which a person can describe from the customer’s perspective. In a new product concept development project, product managers work on defining their new product concepts and testing them with their market. This will help them to determine whether their new product idea will reach flying colors. It is important to carefully calculate and evaluate all aspects involved in the product concept, run focus groups and surveys for customer market research, refine your customer targets, examine intellectual property (IP) issues, and take your time wisely.

4. New Product Development and Assessment Project

Every product manager needs to perform a product development assessment so that they are able to have a high-level look at the product development process of their company based on a clear objective, process driven viewpoint. Due to the difficulties of many manufacturers and service providers to connect business strategy with product development operations, a product development assessment is essential in detecting strategic and operating gaps and setting recommendations for reconstructing processes throughout the product development lifecycle.

Basic Components of a New Product Proposal 

In this section, you will learn how to craft a proficiently-written new product proposal so that you are able to catch the interest of your prospective clients and stakeholders. However, a proposal has different components. Include the following elements for you to create an impressive document:

Cover Page: One of the fundamental aspects of a new product proposal is the cover page. It is a striking component of the document which emphasizes the key concept, or idea of the new product proposal, as well as to gain the attention of the clients, investors, stakeholders or the committee to read and accept the proposal. Abstract/Introduction: Describe the well-defined product launch and development goals, objectives and anticipated outcomes that are crucial in order to execute the overall new product launch and development fully well. Explain how your product development team will fulfill the goals and objectives of the new product. Scope of the Proposed New Product: This section is composed of a comprehensive and integrated scope of the new product launch and development project which includes the product launch and development strategies, tools, methods, and solutions that will be utilized while implementing a new product. Another aspect to add in this section is the significance or benefits of the new product to the target consumers or market. Timeline and Budget of the New Product Development: Construct a clear and detailed timeline of the activities, and methods of the development and evaluation stages of the new product launch. Use some graphs, tables, and other visual diagrams to depict the status and performance of the new product project. Then, add the budget that will be needed for the launch and development of your proposed product.

How to Create a New Product Proposal

A survey report published by Product Management Festival showed that competing objectives in the organization (56.4%), lack of time (50.8%), and lack of role clarity (35%) are the top challenges for product managers. A new product project proposal can effectively outline the major dimensions and elements of your new product launch and development project. In this matter, we suggest that you follow the simple steps below while freely using one of our sample new product project proposal templates in this article:

1. Identify Goals and Objectives

Conduct a comprehensive consumer market research so that you are able to identify definite goals and objectives for your proposed new product. Contemplate about the major aspects you and your target consumers or prospective clients prioritize in the new product development project, as well as the vision in fulfilling the new product project goals and objectives. Doing this step allows you and your product development project team to guide your prospective clients, investors and stakeholders to recognize and decipher what kind of new product you will be developing and why you will work on that particular new product launch and development project.

2. Write a Captivating New Product Overview or Background

Your new product development project proposal should include a simple yet captivating overview or background of your new product. Construct and link your ideas into a compelling story while conveying your readers the goals, objectives, and anticipated outcomes of your new product project in a creative yet formal way. Think about your clients and target consumers when you outline the new product launch and development project schedule, budget, resources and status.

3: Include the Company or New Product Development Team Information and Project Summary

What is the main purpose of your product development team? What specific problem are you and your team trying to solve? What type of new product and services does the company or your team offer? What specific industry and market(s) does it operate in? Who is the internal new product development project lead(s)? Who are the major clients, investors and stakeholders of your proposed new product? Add a systematic overview of your company and/or product development team as you make clear how your company and/or product development team works, your core values and many others. For the project summary, describe the new product, the target consumers of the new product, and the significance or value of the new product project.

4: Set the New Product Development Timeline and Budget

Ask your clients and stakeholders, as well as target consumers the new product launch and development project requirements, particularly their needs and preferences. Then, calculate the financial budget of the new product launch and development project that you need so that you can initiate the development and implementation of the new product.

5: Prepare the Final Draft

Integrate all the key points while preparing the final draft of your new product launch proposal. Attach any supporting documents for the new product and development project. Schedule a meeting with the members of your product development team and/or the prospective client or company/organization who will receive your new product proposal. Then, proofread and revise your document so that you can successfully submit your new product proposal.

FAQs

What are the essential stages of the product development process?

The essential stages of the product development process are fuzzy front-end (FFE), new product strategy, customer market research, idea generation, screening, concept testing, product design, business analysis, product development, product implementation, market testing, commercialization, and fuzzy back-end or evaluation. Fuzzy-front end (FFE) is the first stage of the product development process which is the set of activities used prior to the more formal and well-defined requirements specification is completed. Screening is a method of condensing the number of brainstormed product ideas from the idea generation stage. Product design pertains to both the high-level and detailed-level design development of the product. Product implementation is when the product undergoes the later stages of comprehensive and in-depth design and test process to make sure that the prototype actually reaches all major product design specifications.

What are the conceptual models generally used in the development of a new product?

IDEO approach, BAH model, stage-gate model, lean start-up approach, and exploratory product development model are the conceptual models generally used in the development of a new product. IDEO approach is a five-step procedure which includes understanding and observing the market, synthesizing the collected information, visualizing new customers using the product, prototyping, evaluating and improving the concept, and design modifications and revisions implementation.

What are the main components of a new product project proposal?

The main components of a new product project proposal are executive summary, company or product development team profile, new product development project summary, problem summary, product development success criteria, functionality, use cases examples, stakeholders, new product project scope requirements, budget, project timeline, pricing model, and maintenance and support plan.

What are some examples of new product project proposals?

Some examples of new product project proposals are content marketing for new product development proposal, new food product proposal, internship proposal new product offer, new product development funding process proposal, proposal for research paper new product launching, new product concept paper & proposal, new product proposal & author guidelines, and proposal of an assessment model for new product.

Michael Z. Brooke and William R. Mills stated in the book New Product Development: Successful Innovation in the Marketplace, CEOs and product managers should exercise intelligent vision on three levels: the broadest long-term strategy, the strategy for product or service supremacy and the tactics for maintaining the lead in order to maintain an effective flow of new products. So, writing a clear and thought-provoking new product project proposal is a dynamic tool for product development in order to effectively persuade your clients and readers about the new product development and let them know and understand the new product ‘s overall development and process. We suggest that you follow the aforementioned tips and steps here so that you are able to craft an exceptionally-written new product proposal. Plus, download our sample new product project proposal templates here today including content marketing for new product development proposal, new food product proposal, internship proposal new product offer, new product development funding process proposal, proposal for research paper new product launching, new product concept proposal, and other new product project proposal templates, and more!