How Do You Bring an Idea to Market

Ideas are great, some people have many; some people have just one…… bringing an idea to life can be a challenge. To bring an idea to life, you need a strategy, and sometimes figuring out how to market ideas can be the hardest part. The goal of marketing your idea is to get it in front of as many potential end-users as possible, so you can make money. (or whatever the ultimate end goal is)

Creating a plan to bring your idea to market can be difficult, but the below steps can help you organize a game plan for marketing your idea.

  1. Research, Research, RESEARCH!!! – You can never do enough, but at some point when you have all your I’s dotted and t’s crossed, you can move on to step 2.
  2. Utilizing your RESEARCH, from step 1, make any alterations to your idea that need to be made.
  3. Create a financial plan for your idea; how much is it worth to you? How much it is worth to companies? How much would consumers be willing to pay for its result? How will it make money?
  4. Assess the financial standing of your ideas target market; how much money do they have available for your idea?
  5. Protect your idea! Utilize external resources like patent lawyers, engineers, and incubator companies that specialize in this field.
  6. Utilize your free resources from social media, PR sites, and Google analytics to free small business government agencies there are a plethora of free resources to get your feet wet with branding/marketing your idea before you develop a full fledge marketing plan.
  7. Are you creative? Decide whether you want to develop a marketing strategy for your idea or whether it would be better to hire a promotional marketing company to develop this strategy for you. An outside promotional company will help you realize all the different avenues you can market your idea on.
  8. Do you need a fulfillment and distribution plan for your idea? There a many fulfillment and distribution companies out there, shop around for someone who sees the value in your idea and wants to be your partner, not just take your money! Fulfillment and distribution will play a key role in your idea’s success if necessary, having a partner with advice and know how will prove invaluable.
  9. Look for growth opportunities, ways to improve your idea, and any other to monetize your idea.
  10. Repeat steps 1-9 constantly to ensure the success of your idea.

Bringing an idea to market is not easy, but with hard work it can be done. There a plenty of companies and resources out there to assist in bringing your idea to market. If you have a great idea, don’t hesitate to jump in and start down the path to market…….the REWARDS if successful are worth it!