ABOUT THE AUTHOR – ITERATE are a dynamic team of Design Engineers, offering fully funded design and manufacturing consultancy.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Whether a new inventor or a seasoned professional with a huge portfolio of items, when you arrive at an idea for a product; things can get rather exciting. However, the journey from the ideas phase to getting to market can be rather long-winded, stressful and most importantly; expensive. Whilst there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your finished product being sold, putting the right steps in place to get there can be the difference between creating something good and something truly great.

Below are a few tips that will ensure your strategy gives your product the best chance possible in the competitive space of product manufacturing.

Define what the product is

Although this may sound like an obvious point, being clear on what your product is, what problem it solves and its capabilities is essential. Too often do we see people spend a great deal of money and time on products that ‘aren't quite there'. Below are a few questions you may want to ask yourself before getting the ball rolling:

Who will use the product?

What will the product do?

Are there any competitors in the space?

Are there any regulatory issues I need to be aware of?

After putting some thought into the key features and functionalities of the product, you can move on to Research and Development (R&D).

Research and Development

Before building anything, you need to carry out various in-depth research and development tasks; a part of the strategy where most time and effort is spent. During the R&D phase, market data is reviewed and new innovations are considered, giving you all the intel you need to build your product.

Competition – If your product is the first of its kind, then you need to also put some thought into how you will be positioned relative to competition when it does invariably arrive.

Who will lead the product development? – Now that you know what you want to do and where the gap is you must think about who will lead the project. Will you develop the product in-house or outsource some responsibilities to an agency like ITERATE? Here is where budget and timescales need to be pinned down.

Building a prototype – Once you have a broad knowledge of where your product can fit into with regards to its industry and niche, you can start to work on a prototype. Here your team can test various methods and materials to arrive at a solution that fits. When assessing each prototype, you will need to measure its effectiveness based on the following:

Price

Performance

Functionality

User experience (UX)

Design appeal

Quality

Reliability

It is worth noting that each of these above points need to be considered at length, keeping mass-production in mind.

Validate your product before launch

The most soul-destroying eventuality of such a project is commercial failure, meaning you need to have your product validated throughout each stage of the development process. This is why you should always keep market demand, your value proposition, and your product’s feature set and design in mind, gaining feedback on a constant basis.

Plan your route to market

As you put the finishing touches on your product, you will be eager to get first-to-market. To do so, you will need a holistic marketing strategy that directly encourages sales. Where you may have the best product in the world, if nobody knows about it the whole development process will have been for nothing. From building your own website and marketing through social media to selling through third parties, putting the sales and marketing pillars in place are a must.

If you are looking to launch a product and require specialist support, contact ITERATE today.