We hear about new products coming to the market all the time. But do we really know what goes behind that? From the idea to the prototype to the actual product, what actually happens? You might have heard famous people talk about their product and what their story is. But it hardly seems like a straight line. It involves a lot of going around in circles and yes that might be confusing. We all like to listen to stories of famous entrepreneurs and get inspired. There is something about the way they talk that just sets a spark in us. They make us believe that if we try hard enough we can be our own version of a ‘famous entrepreneur’.YourStory is a company, which brings us a little closer to the stories of entrepreneurs like these. The owner recognized the need to bring forward the success stories of those who were unheard of. They recognized the need for both ends and sent us a product that is, amazing.
But the story of people who invented a product isn't a draft for product development. But we might find some similarities between the stories of every businessman. What we need to do is, identify these, and work on them. To break it down for you, we bring you some steps that you can follow to make the procedure a little bit easy for you.
A. Pre Production
1. Ideation
This is the most important step because if you don’t have an idea, what are you going to develop. But, you don’t have to wait for a brilliant idea. I understand that everyone has that zeal to create something new, but you know what, most of the common good ideas come when you get inspired by the things that are already in the market. Creativity triggers creativity. Your product can be anything ranging from a substitute to a completely new one. You can also conduct market research and see what needs of the people are not met and to fulfill those needs you can make a product. For this, you need good research and analysis. A good businessman would not only identify the needs of the people on the other side, but he would also present the product in such a way that the consumer feels his life would be empty or incomplete without the product. Kind of like, he would create a need for the product. Kind of like, pop-sockets. You don't actually need them; they make it a little difficult to keep the phone into your pocket. But, they seem necessary why? Because they were presented as such.
2. Groundwork
Conducting thorough research about the product you have in mind is really important. Create a criterion that for a certain product to work, these points should be fulfilled by it. If your product doesn’t fulfill those points, you need to drop it or make it better and improve it. Try to build relationships around it. Like how your product would impact the life of the person using it. Try to personalize these experiences so that the product would give a feeling as it belongs to everyone. Some products are set for the target audience only, but even under that particular category, different types of people would exist.
Make a product that would appeal to everyone. Make them believe that even though their today is good, their tomorrow would be better because your product would be in their life.
Talk to your friends and family. Present your idea in front of them. They can be your best critiques. Listen to everything that they are saying carefully and try to incorporate that into your product. Lay your groundwork. Visit the website of the brands that have a similar product and see how they are doing their work. Analyze it thoroughly and you would understand how they attract their customers and retain them as well. Plus, if they have a monopoly, you need good strategies to break that monopoly too. Even if the idea isn’t unique, you can make your selling point unique and make people understand how and why your product is the best option.
We then come to point three, where the actual work on your project starts.
B. Production
3. Prototyping
This is the stage where you make the prototype of your actual product. Imagine that you have an idea that you would make a vacuum cleaner that would not only clean the surface but would simultaneously spray out disinfectants. This would be a great idea, considering that we're living in a pandemic where disinfecting the surface is mandatory. Your product would not only save time but would be very efficient in its job as well. After all the talking you come to the designing part. What would your product look like? How would it work? Would it be connected to a cable or would it have batteries and for how long would it work? You need to plan all of this and make your design. You can hand draw the product. You might even have to learn 3D designing to make your product onscreen before you actually physically get to make it. Making a 3D design is easier because it has better scope for improvements and it would give you a lot of options to make your product more creative. It would allow you to push the boundaries. Make it as detailed as possible.
You also need to decide the cost and of the product. Financing is a very important thing and according to your target audience, you need to decide at what price you are going to place your product at. You also need to understand it is not compulsory that your prototype would work. You might fail a few times but keep in mind that you worked hard for it and that you shouldn’t give up in the middle. Keep going and improving. Go you!
4. Costing and Sourcing
Once you have the prototype ready it is time to find partners for your project. Either you partner up with a company and sell them your idea or you remain your own boss and built an empire. The choice is yours. This phase will also decide all the production-related aspects.
This step would also decide all the marketing, sales, and advertising aspects. This will also open up new points for the costing of your product. You need to divide and decide the supply chain. Different manufacturers for different parts and then choosing from them who is the right one. Who gives you the best product at the cheapest price available. For this step to you need to conduct thorough research.
C. Post Production
5. Product review
When your product finally goes online and you have customers, then you need to review the product. You need to take the feedback from the customers. They might have a lot of things to say about your product. Whether they like it or not, or are they suggesting some changes. Overall at this stage, you take the feedback from the customers and fix the bugs, and make the necessary changes.
In the end, just have fun with it. If you have fun with your product, people will too. If you don't excite people or make them curious about it, they might not be interested. If your product has something special, make it the selling point, special things last longer in the world and make a lasting impact. Make your product that it would give the people an experience to remember. You can either blow their minds or you can simply change their lives. You decide.
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