There are two primary ways to market your invention in today’s competitive times: selling your invention to a business or company and operating as a business to sell your invention directly. While the first approach may carry some benefits, it is typically not easy to sell an invention to a company. On the other hand, the second option may appear daunting to many, but it enables you to give unmatched exposure to your invention if you take the right approach to it.
You can browse through numerous examples where people thought of an innovative idea, integrated the same into a product or service, and started a new business venture that made them successful. If you have an innovative product idea that you are planning to market, here is a step-by-step guide on how to market an invention.
1. Search for patents
Protecting your rights is the first thing you should do. Do as many patent searches as you can early on in the process to find out whether any patents or patent applications could prevent you from selling your new product. A cease and desist letter for patent infringement is the last thing you want to receive after entering the market. You can find out more about some of the potential technological obstacles you may encounter by searching patenting business ideas. To safeguard your rights and preserve your investment, if the search appears to be successful, you might want to file a patent application.
2. Do market research and prepare a marketing plan
Market research is the first and critical step in the process. Since every product has a distinct market, this stage cannot be reduced to a set of particular, all-encompassing steps. Furthermore, estimating the probable market for a novel, undiscovered product is practically hard to do. As such, focus your efforts on providing answers to a few basic queries. You should definitely research the following: how much does it cost to manufacture the product; what is the going rate for comparable products; how are those products sold; how will you handle product support and shipping; how will you market and sell your product; and, most importantly, how will you raise the necessary funds?
If your invention is a manufactured good, you will need to assemble a list of producers who can produce the good. An inventory of those manufacturers can be obtained by looking through a company directory. After there, you’ll need to get in touch with those manufacturers to find out about their policies on minimum orders, unit costs, shipping, delivery schedules, handling of faults, and other matters.
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The next thing to do is to carve out a business/marketing plan. You can browse through various resources available on the web for this task. Already remember than an ideal business plan should have a scope for flexibility and uncertainty.
3. Pick a business model
A business model is a collection of strategies and choices you make to make money from your venture, provide value to clients, and enhance goods and services as necessary. Unlike a company strategy, a business model is naturally adaptable to changes in your long-term revenue targets.
As there are different businesses in the world, there are actually as many business models as there are. A business plan prioritizes its demands and the needs of its customer base to define the underlying business model. Some company models have been around for hundreds of years, like the manufacturing model, but in the age of seamless digital connectivity and rapid technical progress, others have just lately emerged.
4. Prepare a team and legal structure
Having a great team increases the likelihood of launching a product successfully in the market. So, this step is crucial as it can have a lasting impact on the operability of your business. If you are already aware of some successful people in this domain, you are in a better position. You can arrange meetings to meet them and understand their views.
5. Financing
The next step is to get a financier who can fund your product and business. Starting a new business is a mammoth task and heavily relies on money. Manufacturing expenses can be quite costly. Engineering, product development, advertising, and promotion are examples of highly expensive endeavours; therefore, one may wonder where the funding will come from.
Some of the popular types of business loans you can explore are:
- Your personal savings
- Friends/family
- Bank financing
- Revenue-based financing
- Angel investors
- Government funding
6. Production/Manufacturing
The production setup largely depends on the type of product you are going to launch. If it’s a software product or a new app for a smartphone, you’ll need software, a website, a server, and programmers who can maintain the website and produce code. Remarkably, a small team of skilled and committed individuals with minimal resources and infrastructure can accomplish that.
While there isn’t a single best course of action, it is advised to have the product produced locally where you can hold engineers and manufacturers accountable for their actions.
7. Distribution
You can attempt to get your product sold by retailers and put it on store shelves, depending on what kind of product it is. It can be difficult to have your product picked up by a large retailer because most retailers prefer to work with established suppliers who can guarantee supply, price, and support. Fortunately, there are platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon where you may sell your goods to the general public.
8. Promotion
There are multiple channels you can choose from to market your product/business/service. Promotion is crucial to businesses as this is what paves the way for desired sales output. In today’s competitive business landscape, the key to success lies in effective and precise business promotion that can be done in several ways.
Some of the popular business promotion options are:
- Website
- Advertising
- Trade Shows
- Media Coverage
- Crowd Funding
The Conclusion
Although it’s not simple, getting your product to market by having it created or manufactured and selling it straight to customers has the potential to be very profitable. Avon River Ventures is a top-notch Venture Funding Group.
Our team comprises of highly qualified and intelligent professionals. Being long-term business liquidity partners, they emerge as the go-to source for clients seeking financing across a broad spectrum of activities.
Supported by banks and financial institutions across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe, Avon River Ventures can be a companion in this journey. Choose Avon River Ventures as your partner in financial growth and success.
FAQs
What are the popular types of loans for startups and small businesses?
Some of the popular loan types for small businesses are asset-backed lending, inventory financing, equipment financing, invoice factoring, debt refinancing, IP-backed financing, mergers and acquisitions loans, revenue-based financing, etc.
What is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is an approach to get money to finance initiatives and enterprises. It makes it possible for fundraisers to use online channels to generate money from a sizable number of individuals.
Startups and expanding firms most frequently use crowdfunding as a means of obtaining alternative funding. It’s a creative approach to finding capital for fresh endeavours, ventures, or concepts.