How to Connect with Inside Contacts so They Help You

by

You don’t need to go with your hat in your hand when working on an inside contact, they actually gain as much as you do when they present the project, in fact it is a win-win situation for them. If they bring the project to the company and the company successfully introduces the product, the inside contact looks like a real go-getter that is helping the company advance. If the project doesn’t go through, they still look like a go-getter, an image that will help them at some point in their career. The following steps will usually get you an inside contact with a potential partner company. [Read more…]

How to Identify the Right Target Market For My New Product

by

Identifying the right target market can often be the difference between success and failure for new products. The right market will be more willing to accept, and ready to pay more for, the right product, and the wrong market will be slower to accept your product and will require more marketing efforts, cutting down on your profits. So choose your target market carefully. There are many factors that determine the right target market, and this newsletter will cover three important factors: market size, pricing and your ability to meet the right contacts. [Read more…]

How To Quickly Introduce a New Product to Market

by

1: Identify the Right Target Market

Identifying the right target market can often be the difference between success and failure for new products. The right market will be more willing to accept, and ready to pay more for, the right product, and the wrong market will be slower to accept your product and will require more marketing efforts, cutting down on your profits. So choose your target market carefully. There are many factors that determine the right target market, and this chapter will cover two important factors: market size and pricing. [Read more…]

How Narrowing Your Target Market Can Lead to More Sales

by

So you’ve got a new product and know just who to market it to. Here’s what to do next.

What’s a pair of thrill-seeking snowboarders to do when there’s no snow on the ground and no clouds in sight? If you’re Jason Lee and Patrick McConnell, you invent the MountainBoard. With a deck similar to a snowboard, all-terrain wheels, and a suspension system that can be used to go down a single trail or track on a mountain, the MountainBoard hit the market in 1996 and the company, MBS of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is still going strong. [Read more…]

Where to Find Your Million Dollar Idea

by

Where is the next million-dollar idea hiding, just waiting to be discovered? In many cases, it could be right under your nose–at your place of work, or perhaps as part of your favorite hobby. Inventors who work ideas gathered from jobs or activities they’re familiar with are most likely to find success, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the inventor really understands what target customers want because he or she is also part of the group. Second, because the inventor is already familiar with the products currently on the market, he or she can usually introduce a product that doesn’t have much competition. And finally, when selling the product to customers, potential buyers perceive the inventor not as a salesperson, but rather as “one of us.” It’s a powerful situation that doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, but it’s definitely as good as it gets. [Read more…]

Structuring a Partnership Agreement

by

Inventors often need to consider partnership, sometimes for funding the invention, other times to get the expertise required to have a partner who can make the prototype, and often just so the partners can offer each other emotional support.  But a lot can go wrong with a partnership as people promise to do certain thing and then fail to perform.  I feel it useful to prepare a simple Memorandum of Understanding when you are considering a partnership of some sort just so each party can be clear on what the other party is doing.  Here is a sample of what an agreement would look like.  Each agreement you prepare will have differences but they should have certain key elements including who is investing what amount of money, what the duties of each party are, how much time people are committing to the project and some sort of performance guarantee. [Read more…]

Could Your Product Work as a Service Business?

by

Licensing, selling through the Internet, selling to big box retailers and a few other options are the ways most inventors and entrepreneurs dream of selling their products, but there are many other ways to sell your product. In this article we will discuss an often overlooked option for inventors: starting a service business.

[Read more…]

Selling Through Home Shopping Networks

by

Home Shopping Networks, including QVC and Home Shopping Network, are often ideal spots for inventors starting to sell their product. Shopping networks like to sell products that aren’t available widely in stores, they take smaller quantities than major retailers, but still large enough quantities to justify investments in tooling and packaging, and selling on shopping networks is a much better option to build market momentum than trying to line up a large number of smaller retailers. The shopping networks create enough demand that some companies only sell to the shopping networks, and it is possible to be carried on the networks for years, but they won’t sell enough for you to become a substantial company. Your best choice of action is to sell through the shopping networks to build momentum, and then use the success in those markets to generate a wider distribution network. [Read more…]

Improve Your Business or Product Image

by

by Josh Wallace

May is International Business Image Improvement Month.  Is your business or product’s image stale, tired or out-of-touch with your target customers?  Try a makeoever!

Makeovers have become a popular trend with people because they like the idea of reinventing themselves and the attention they gain from the experience. The same concept can also be applied to your company and/or products. You could rework your current logo into a more modern, professional symbol. You could update your brochures, promotional and marketing materials with a new look, focus or attitude. Or you could come up with a brand new, unique ad campaign to put yourself in a different light. There are many possibilities and any route is going to generate interest.

Corporations get makeovers all the time. This process is called rebranding. A brand is the overall experience and association with a company, its products and/or services—it’s the identity that makes the company stand out. The central point of most brands is the logo, which can sometimes even become the reason why people spend their money on certain products. Logos never stay the same over their lifespan. Companies need to progress with time and with their marketing focus. Here are a few examples.

logo evolutions

logo evolutions

[Read more…]