In Part 1, we talked about Researching your idea for a product, Protecting your idea, Prototyping and Production. So what now? Well, you need to get it out there in the market place! But before we look at ways you might tackle this, a word about……
Pricing.
Pricing your product correctly doesn’t mean pricing it low. Depending on your product, there may be many other ways to compete in the marketplace – quality, service, uniqueness…..
We went through this when Bob was launching his “Ace Line Hauler”, an electric winch for sports fishermen, he initially priced it at $599. At this price, he was making a good margin, both selling his product directly to the consumer (retail) or through distributors (wholesale). The price was very competitive with similar products on the market, yet sales were slow.
At a trade show, Bob overheard a fisherman talking ..”At the price, how can it be built to last?”
Despite the quality of the product, the lower price indicated to the consumers that the quality wasn’t there, so they weren’t buying.
Bob re-launched at a higher price, after doing some more market research…
” We raised the price to $899. After doing some research, we found that sports fishermen then could boast about this new piece of quality equipment on the boat to their friends, but it was lower than $1000, so their wives wouldn’t complain about them spending so much money!”
Sales immediately increased.
Launching Your Product.
Before you officially launch your product, you need to get some “buzz” going, some anticipation and excitement among your target market. Social media is a great way to do this, and it’s also very inexpensive.
We’ve found that there are two great ways to get a product in front of as many people as possible…
- Trade Shows
Trade shows or exhibitions specific to your industry can be a huge boost to the initial launch of your product. They can be expensive, but they are a great way to show case your product to your target market – you can demonstrate your product, consumers can become familiar with your product name and branding, you can meet potential retailer or distributors…and there are few other places where you have hundreds of your ideal consumers all in one place.
- A Local Retailer
Working with a retailer in your community can start to introduce your product to your local market. Creating an event, maybe a sale, or an open house will be a win-win for both you and the retailer.
Again, we have had this experience…
“We participated in “Pirate Days’, an annual event for Harbour Chandler, our local fishing store. Having a new product to demonstrate really brought local fishermen in – we got soem good first sales, and of course Harbour Chandler benefited from the increased foot traffic. AND the advertising costs were shared”
Marketing and Selling.
This is a massive topic. There are countless “marketing gurus’ out there, and it seems that there are thousands of marketing tools that you can use – and please look out for our blogs and videos on some of the marketing techniques that we have found most effective.
You can also read about “marketing strategy”, “brand positioning” and many other theories that become “flavour of the month”.
We value “principles and values” over strategy….it’s very simple –
“Make a great quality product to the best of your ability for your customers. Build great relationships with your customers and treat them with respect. Make sure you always under -promise and over -deliver. Then you will find that your customers will become an army of unpaid sales people for your product”
If you are selling your product through retailers, make sure that you give them the best service possible.
Building Your Business
Once you have a product selling, it seems that the hard work really begins. Many inventors-turned-entrepreneurs worry about this part the most.
What if all of the fun of building a product ends once I have to worry about cash flow, investors, business processes?
The secret to building a great business is to build a great team around you, that have the skills you need.
Your job as a business leader is to pick a great team and let them do their job. THEN, you need to concentrate on innovating your next great product…..that’s why you started this isn’t it?…
To keep developing those Bright Ideas…….
