January 2020

Ron Jackson (long-time member of the Indiana Inventors Association; founder, Jackson Systems; holder of 15 patents) helped us start the year off right by describing his experience as a successful innovator.

Marketing is 80% of profitable innovation.  Unmarketed but very useful inventions can fail in the marketplace while heavily marketed but useless inventions can be quite profitable.  Helpful elements of marketing can include:

Creating a good looking prototype of your invention.  Whether you show potential buyers a working prototype or a sell sheet/brochure that includes a high quality picture of a nonworking prototype, an image is worth a thousand words.  An image makes people feel that you and your invention are real and credible.

Creating good quality videos of your invention and related topics for display on YouTube.  Videos can help to establish your credibility in your technical field and to show the benefits your invention provides.  The Jackson Systems YouTube channel is a good example.

Finding a good fit for your invention in the marketplace.  A company may want to partner with you if an embodiment of your invention contains parts made by that company or if the embodiment supplements or enhances one of the company’s products.

Growing your business network.  If you want to sell (assign) or rent (license) your idea or patent, try visiting trade shows relevant to your invention and find booths of medium size companies that sell products similar to yours.  Visit these booths when only the company representative is there and ask if the company ever works with independent inventors.  If so, ask if you may exchange business cards with the representative now and send information about your invention to the representative later.

Selecting your business partners carefully, then trusting them.  Don’t let fear of intellectual property theft prevent you from profiting from your invention.  Most people are honest, but nondisclosure agreements can help keep them honest.

Thank you, Mr. Jackson, for sharing your lifelong enthusiasm for and expertise in innovation with us!