June 2019
Marketing a new invention is speculative. There is no guarantee that you will recover or profit from your investment. To help inventors minimize their risks, the European Patent Office offers this general advice on avoiding seven marketing mistakes.
- The invention is more complex than the problem merits. A needlessly complex invention drives up production costs and confuses customers.
- The invention is not kept secret until the date of filing. Publicly disclosing your invention before you file a patent application prevents you from getting a patent from most countries other than the United States.
- The invention isn’t new. Patents are issued only for new inventions. Do a patent search before you invest in marketing.
- The inventor hasn't fully considered the problem. No one wants to buy an invention that doesn’ work.
- No one wants it. Do some customer research before you manufacture or try to license your invention. Just because you like your invention doesn’t mean anyone else will. Even if people need your product, you may need to teach them why they need it.
- An invention is safer if it's kept secret. If you can’t keep your invention as a trade secret (eg, if your product can be reverse-engineered), a patent offers the strongest protection against knockoffs.
- The inventor has an unrealistic idea of the value of his invention. Again, do some customer research before manufacturing or licensing. You can’t afford to make a product for $3 per unit if customers will pay only $1 per unit.
One invention development company offers a different list of mistakes.
- Using an invention promotion or development company. If you hire such a company to market your invention, statistically, your chance of profiting from your invention is usually less than 1%; the company’s chance of profiting from your invention is 100%.
- Getting a bad patent search. Knowing your competition will help you know what to patent and to sell.
- Trying to license your invention prematurely. Showing potential licensees a working example of the specific product you want to market moves the invention from imagination to reality. Much more persuasive.
- Ordering units too early. You don’t need more than 1 unit (the prototype) to license or crowdfund your invention. If you want to make and sell products, make sure you know exactly what you want to sell before making several units.
- Getting expensive services before proof of principle. Developing the simplest form of your invention can help you learn what its essential parts and design are. Unless and until you have something that works, money spent on patents, customer research, and seeking investors might be wasted.
- Getting a bad patent from a patent attorney. Patent claims must be as broad as possible to protect your true market share.
- Not mastering the art of invention development. Learn as much about invention development as you can because you alone are responsible for successfully marketing your invention. If you decide to pay a company to develop your invention, the Better Business Bureau suggests that you document the company’s record of how many of its clients made money on their inventions. Be cautious if the company will not identify the inventions, manufacturers, or licensing corporations with which it has had success. Check customer references provided by the company. Be wary if the company evaluates your invention without determining its true marketability, technical feasibility, or cost of production.
Many thanks to Matt Thie for leading this discussion!