Why Your Invention Needs Positive Online Reviews

An invention is not something we encounter every day. Sometimes you stumble on an idea, and it turns out great. Most of the time, it takes deliberate effort to invent something. Once you do that, you have to prove that your invention is worth something, today or in the future, and you also have to figure out how to market a new product. Some inventions are pointless. Apart from them being cool, they may not have any meaningful societal or monetary value.

Some inventions are quite good, but their time is not yet. So, they are stuck somewhere in a locker room waiting for their time to come. There are two options for every invention; you either use it to make a marketable product or license it to someone who can. There is the other option of keeping it to yourself, which is not a smart thing to do.

If you choose to make a product, you have to go through the whole process of product development. You need to make a functional prototype, test it in a real market, gather feedback, improve on the reported misgivings, and the cycle continues again. Once you have a viable product, you can start a product business or devise a go-to-market strategy that starts from a product to a company. Alternatively, you can choose a simpler way, which involves proving the idea and licensing it to other companies.  Either way, learning how to market a new product is vital to the entire process.

Public perception of your invention is a crucial indicator of its potential success, especially when you’re a beginner in how to do marketing research for a new product. When Facebook acquired Whatsapp for $19 billion, it did not have a clear monetization plan. Hundreds of millions of people were downloading and installing the app, which gave the invention its legitimacy and market value.

Here are the four reasons why you need to put your invention out there for people to comment.

Gives It Market Credibility

Ideas start in secrecy. However, they gain shape and acceptance before they come out. To win that acceptance, you need people to be enthusiastic about it. Give a chance to people so that they can experience the idea. If they like it, there is a high chance that it is worth something to someone.

Developing inventions into products is a costly process that requires external funding. Angel investors, venture capitalists, accelerator companies, and other people are important to factor in to your plan for how to do marketing research for a new product. Most of them insist on seeing your market. Entrepreneurs prefer to do that quietly. However, providing a platform where people can review your product can be the game-changer.

Improves Marketability of the Resulting Product

Sometimes you don’t have to make a product for you to go public with your idea. Some people make a pitch for a product, and they use it to fundraise. Crowdfunding sites offer passive positive reviews of ideas every day. All you have to do is to develop the invention fully in a way that will appeal to an audience. If you can sell a product-idea before you even make it, it is better than positive reviews online.

Marketing your invention before developing the product can be risky especially if you have not patented it. Even if your intellectual property is protected, if you are not able to profit from the product through licensing or producing a product, you may give other people an idea that they can develop on their own. If you know how to do marketing research for a new product, you will provide the public an opportunity to share with other people, and you can use the information to make a market decision. You can use the online buzz to negotiate better deals.

Patent Hawks Tend To Keep Off Well-Marketed Inventions

Working inventions are rare, and only a few of them have enough value to attract patent aggressors. Those that are valuable have to ward off consistent and elaborate infringement. However, when you have a barrage of positive public reviews, it is an indicator that even if you don’t have deep pockets to fund a “see you in court” threat, you will have no problem convincing a law firm to represent you on a contingency basis.

It Helps You Connect With Your Customer Base

Connecting with customers is imperative when figuring out how to market a new product. Receiving hundreds, sometimes thousands, of customer or potential customer information is not a bad thing. However, your ability to turn every negative comment into a positive one is critical. You can use review management software to manage your reviews, but don’t substitute it for a comprehensive CRM strategy.

Conclusion

Negative and positive reviews will come whenever you expose people to inventions. Managing the reviews so that every review turns out to be positive is dependent on the quality of your discovery and the effort you put into developing it.

Ready to get your invention off the ground? Need help plotting out your development process or learning how to market a new product?  Find out how our experts can help you at each step of the way so you can feel confident in how to do marketing research for a new product.