So you’ve had an idea and are at the stage where your invention is actually looking functional and you are thinking it may be time to take it to the world.
But how do you go about doing this? It is one of the most common stumbling blocks as you generally don’t need to be knowledgeable about marketing to be a good inventor but you do need this knowledge and these skills to be a successful entrepreneur.
Be Aware Of The Problem The Invention Solves
Your invention solves a problem, of course it does otherwise there wouldn’t be any point to inventing it. The first key consideration in marketing anything is to be aware of what you are marketing does for the customer.
Maybe it makes an existing task easier, perhaps it solves a situation with no previous solution or maybe it just solves the problem of boredom or how to kill time. If you cannot figure out what problem it solves it might not be a marketable commodity.
Plan How This Becomes Profitable
This is basically a simple calculation in essence. You need to work out the cost of production, add in the cost of marketing (more on this later) and a share of general overheads and then see if the potential customer is willing to pay this plus your profit needed, if the answer is yes then you have a marketable invention.
Protect Your Intellectual Property
Before you take any real steps to put your product out there it’s important to protect your intellectual property to ensure all your hard work is not taken away from you.
You can always trademark a product name for roughly $970 or if your invention is unique you may want to apply for a patent to protect the unique features of it.
Identify Your Target Market
Who is going to benefit from this invention? These people are your target market, every invention or product has one and it’s not to say you won’t get other customers as well but the main target market if the one where you will concentrate your advertising and marketing.
Know Where To Reach Your Target Market
This is where a little market research is important. What age, location and earning bracket are your customers? Do they use social media a lot?
If so then it’s a good way to get exposure. Are there places, events or publications that it’s better to advertise in? If you don’t get this right then you could be working much harder then needed to bring customers in.
Figure Out How To Scale Up Production & Bring To Market
You no doubt have made your initial runs or test products either at home or in a small premises but if you are to really make a success of this it’s likely you will want to move beyond the cottage industry stage and scale up production.
You may want to seek advice or even get investment in the business from an angel investor, as you might have seen on TV shows it can be beneficial beyond the cash injection to get such an investor if they have the experience and expertise in the area you are working in.