The hardest part of the invention process is marketing your product. If we could all file for a patent and watch the phone ring off the hook and make millions, everyone would be jumping into the invention game. But the sad truth of the invention process is that your phone won’t ring off the hook just because you have a patent.
So, as your patent gathers dust, you realize that you better do something to let people know about it. This is called marketing. If you don’t market your product, all your other effort will be a waste. The longer you wait to market your invention, the more time expires on your precious patent. And if your patent solves a common problem, you can bet someone else has that problem and is thinking of a solution also. If they come up with one, it might be entirely different than yours, so they too might receive a patent. This is called competition.
If your competition understands or has experience marketing and they get their product successfully placed in stores, television, catalogs and on the internet before you do, this is called being first and fastest to market. They will gain what is called market share.
The Solution: Find the fastest, most economical way to present your product to the masses.
A quick look into your marketing options would produce these possibilities: exhibit at a tradeshow, send flyers to store buyers, advertise in a magazine, build a website, do an infomercial, license your product to a big company, get on a home shopping channel .
Of the above ways to market your invention, the fastest way to reach the masses is to get your product on a home shopping channel. And the best part about selling on QVC or HSN, the top two home shopping channels, is that the airtime is free and the exposure your product can gain is tremendous. (QVC reaches 166 million viewers worldwide and HSN 89 million).
Ten minutes on one of these stations can not only produce sales and income for your business, it can also propel you to the attention of store buyers, big companies looking to license products, big companies looking to partner with others. Getting on QVC can be the difference in being first and fastest to the marketplace or watching someone else do it before you.
Spanx panty hose sold 8,000 units in 8 minutes in its first airing on QVC. Sabatino’s Sausage company sales went from $ 1 million to over $ 6 million thanks to QVC. Deco Wrap, a window treatment product sold over 80,000 units in one day on QVC on several occasions when it was the featured product of the day. There are countless success stories.
The Fastest Path to Get on QVC or HSN is to Find Someone with Connections
Start by contacting your local chapter of SCORE to see if anyone there has connections to a QVC Agent or Rep. You can also exhibit at invention conventions and industry trade shows. They often attract QVC buyers and agents and you will be able to obtain a list of attendees once you become an exhibitor.
The ways to find competent individuals that can help you are everywhere, you just have to begin somewhere even if it’s Google. But be sure to do your due diligence before signing a contract of any kind.