Off To Market™

This week Hamish explains how to get yourself organised with the five critical elements of your marketing;

1. Time

Hamish talks about why it’s important that inventors and entrepreneurs don’t fall into the ‘exclusivity trap’.

Scot was in Townsville, Queensland recently and caught up with Terry Hurlock who has been an IP advisor for over 50 years. Terry has a wealth of knowledge of inventions, entrepreneurialism, patents and helping inventors to commercialise their ideas.

Learn why some ideas don’t work, why some never get off the ground and why they fail.

Angelo Coco talks about the progress being made with funding for inventions.

A fascinating and informative episode. You’ll want to bookmark this one.

Patent expert, Regan Gourley joins us to explore the fascinating world of patents. We ask Regan to explain what sort of products can be patented, when it’s not appropriate to patent as well as exploring some of the myths around patents such as the ’10% rule’. You’ll also learn about intellectual property laws in China and the Chinese IP Police.

A hugely fascinating episode that every inventor and entrepreneur will benefit from.

Scot and Hamish discuss some of their client’s experiences with manufacturing.

This is a fascinating episode for anyone who will need to be involved in manufacturing a product as part of their commercialisation strategy.

Other topics include:

• Tooling

This may seem to be a self-indulgent episode, however, I think that if you're interested in producing a podcast you might find this interesting. 

Hamish and Scot discuss the tactics, considerations and pitfalls if you decide to take on the task of marketing your unique product on your own.

We talk about finding existing marketing channels that you can take advantage of and why it’s vital to market ‘proof’. A marketing message is only as good as the product itself in the end. In the early days, you need to show people that your product is proven to work, function, and provide results.

And to prove that what we’re talking about actually works, Scot talks about a client who used these approaches to be able to quit their job and hire five staff.

If you think you can find a better podcast about commercialisation - prove it.

The art of separating money from investors and customers, tales from the trenches and common sense advice for entrepreneurs and inventors.

Hamish and Scot discuss more of the intricacies of the commercialisation process. They provide more detail on what they touched on in the first podcast on commercialisation, and more importantly, they share war stories from actual client projects.

Listen and learn.

Scot asks Hamish to explain what messaging is so the listener can begin to understand how to manage it.

Hamish outlines the two primary messaging problems products and companies can have and how that can diminish your brand and your sales.

Hamish details a recent experience at a trade show that highlights one of the most critical messaging problems which is unnecessary complexity.

Hamish explains that creating a simple message is the key; however, the task of creating a simple message is quite a challenge.

Prototyping is a vital part of the development process, and we discuss why they are necessary not just as a proof of concept. Prototypes are essential if you want to approach investors as 2D sketches and even 3D models will not typically impress the people you need money from.

Scot explains how prototypes can be used for testing your theories, giving ‘life’ to a design, raising funds, and can be used for marketing purposes.

We discuss the costs involved in producing a prototype and the different materials used.

Scot talks about how he used a $2 teat from the chemist to revolutionise the packaging industry that has saved billions in litres of waste liquids.

Hamish discusses the use of prototyping in marketing material and how you can use digital modelling, however, there’s no substitute for tangibility.

Scot talks about setting up your venture for national and international sales and distribution.

We discuss the various roads to take to market. Do you sell the product yourself, use a distributor or approach a multinational?

Are you aware of the different hats you need to wear as an inventor? Hamish and Scot talk about their experiences in working with inventors and entrepreneurs and some of the pitfalls you should avoid.

Hamish talks about the varied audiences that you need to sell to - not just your target customer.

Hamish talks about price and the perception of value when you add on the cost of postage and delivery. Hamish explains why your price strategy is a critical part of your brand messaging.

Scot talks about why Australia is often a test bed for multinational companies developing new products.

Scot and Hamish try not to politicise the podcast by talking about the risk of entrepreneurship and if it’s any less safe than having a nine to five job.

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