We know from working with 100’s of brands that creating the “perfect” formula can feel like an overwhelming task.
How can you be sure that your product is going to be competitive in your market?
How do you know if you’ll get good reviews?
Can you be sure that your product is going to perform as expected?
I know that it can feel like getting the exact dosage of every single ingredient perfect in your formula will make or break your brand.
While you do need to have a formula that performs as expected for your market, the good news is, it doesn’t have to be a grueling process.
I was working with a brand owner who was getting started with a preworkout for 18-24 year old bodybuilders…
He had a lot of concerns about his product’s formula because that market can be particularly critical of ingredients and dosages.
We went through a process of creating his formula that checked all the boxes.
- We evaluated top performing products in the space.
- We reviewed literature regarding effective ingredients and doses
- We paired effectiveness with market viability (is it still practical for a consumer and profitable for the brand).
But he was still concerned and unsure about his formula…
The bottom line is that there is no way to be 100% sure before bringing your product to market.
While that may not be comforting to hear at first, hang in there with me, and it will all make sense.
So how do we know if the formula is perfect?
Before going into that, let’s first talk about what most of the biggest brands in the market do…
Some of the biggest brands in the market have changed their formula 10+ times over the years.
What if I told you that a HUGE brand has changed its formula 52 times since launching? (one that you’ve likely heard of)
So how are the biggest brands in the market not “getting it right” the first time.
The answer is the market moves and you will likely change your formula at some point.
- Research reveals new answers about ingredients and doses
- New ingredients become more widely available
- Market spending behavior shifts
- Market desires change
The big brands know that the most important point of the business is getting to know your customers.
“So you’re telling me I’ll have to change my formula – but where do we start?”
When you’re deciding where to start, as long as you’ve evaluated the points outlined above, the goal should be to create a formula that is good enough to earn reorders.
If you’ve done that, you’ve given your brand the chance to launch and grow.
An important consideration behind this point is that you don’t know who exactly your market is yet until you start selling!
No matter how much research you do, your market will always surprise you a little bit.
You’ll likely be surprised about who exactly they are, what they want, what they expect, etc.
This is the key that the big brands know, which is why they are okay with launching a product knowing it will change later.
Only once you have a product on the market do you get a chance to get to know them better and deliver a product to them and create a community for them.
Going back to the story above about the brand owner with the preworkout product…
Once we had this conversation, he felt confident that we had done all that we can “pre-market.”
He learned that the rest of the work starts once you actually have a product on the market, and that is when you get the opportunity to shift and connect with your community.
While this particular brand owner hasn’t changed his original formula yet, he did launch a second product that is a slight variation of the first one to cater to the specific requests of his community.
The second SKU wasn’t even on his radar before putting the first one on the market.
He now has 2 SKUs with multiple flavors each that are all selling well.
I’ve seen this scenario play out many times where the next products launched based on customer feedback actually become the best sellers for the whole brand!
Don’t tie yourself in knots trying to be perfect for your launch!
Make a product that you believe is good enough for your market and get in the game!
The longer you stay on the sidelines just “thinking” about your product, the more time that goes by that could be spent connecting with your customers.
Your customers ARE your brand – not your products.
Get started now and get to know them!
We’re always here to help you adapt to customer feedback and make the appropriate changes or pivots for your brand.
To your success,
Rush Ricketson
CEO, Pure Private Label
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