5 More Common Mistakes to Avoid as a First-Time Inventor

Ask any experienced inventor, and they’ll tell you that the process of inventing a truly new product is an arduous one. Even if your product idea is thoroughly researched, well-planned out, and satisfies a demonstrated consumer demand, there are still often many obstacles that lie between the concept and the marketable product.

If this is true for experienced inventors – and it is – imagine how much harder the process can be for a first-timer.

The problem is simply that a first-time inventor will likely have little knowledge about the potential pitfalls awaiting them during the process of creating their product, so it stands to reason that they will make some mistakes based simply on that inexperience.

Here are some of the most common hurdles that novice inventors often make when trying to move forward with their inventions.

Missing the patent filing deadline after licensing a product

In the U.S., an inventor has 12 months after the invention was first sold – for example, if it was licensed to another company – to file an application for a patent, whether it’s a provisional or nonprovisional application. If that 12-month period expires and you have not filed the proper application, you no longer have the right to obtain a patent on what you created.

This opens up the possibility that the organization you sold the invention to could then file for the patent and own your idea.

If you do decide to sell your invention rather than manufacturing it yourself – and many inventors do ultimately take that route – it’s crucial that you begin the patent application process promptly, if you intend to patent the idea at all. Otherwise you could lose your idea to someone else. This is especially important now that U.S. patent law has changed from first-to-invent to first-to-file.

Incorrect or incomplete applications

This is a frustrating issue that befalls many first-time inventors, mainly because it’s a problem that’s relatively easy to avoid. While it’s true that getting a patent application completed as quickly as possible is of the utmost importance, that won’t do you much good if the application has mistakes or isn’t thoroughly completed.

By giving yourself a long enough timeline on which to complete the application, you’ll ensure that you only have to complete the process once. Otherwise, you’ll be back to square one with less time than you had before to make sure your idea is still securely yours.

Publicly using the invention prematurely

Many first-time inventors don’t know this, but if you use your new invention publicly at any point, you’re immediately on a timer. Once you’ve used the invention in any public setting , you have 12 months to file the proper patent paperwork – otherwise you won’t be able to procure one at all. It’s one of the lesser-known aspects of patent law.

Skimping on legal advice

Have you found the right intellectual property lawyer? You want one who won’t just defend you if you end up in litigation, but who will be proactive in helping you avoid this possibility completely.

In the beginning, it can be tempting to try to save money by not hiring a lawyer at all, or perhaps going with an economically priced group of attorneys rather than a highly regarded one. But that’s a decision that opens you, your product and your company up for future liability headaches that could end up costing a lot more than the few dollars you save at the beginning.

Skipping a patent search

Have you taken all the steps possible to make sure your product, or some version of it, doesn’t exist elsewhere? Have you combed the Internet and scoured all the pertinent publications relating to your product field to make sure that no one else has already discovered your idea?

It’s also a good idea to hire an attorney to complete an official patent search. There’s a huge range when it comes to the cost of a patent search – as low as $100 to $3,000. Your price will be based on your search requirements and how complex they are.

Paying for a professional patent search, just like hiring an intellectual property attorney, at the outset can protect against the possibility of paying thousands later on.

If you find that you need more guidance as you continue on your product development journey, consider partnering with a single-source product development firm. Firms like Pivot can help first-time inventors navigate everything from the product design to prototyping, manufacturing, and regulatory compliance.

For more on working with a product development firm, read our post “3 Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Outsourcing
Your Product Development.”

3 Redesigned Products That Every Inventor Can Learn From

Sometimes, it seems like we only remember the bad product redesigns – not the good ones. A great example isthe New Coke failure of the mid-1980s.

Even people who weren’t born at the time have probably heard of that disaster – when one of the most successful product companies in the history of the world decided that it was time to come up with a new formula, and the result was a sales and public relations disaster that was used as a cautionary example for years, even decades to come.

But the fact is that there have been some truly great redesign moments for products, brands and logos over the years that have brought new levels of success to the companies that decided to undertake the task. Here are some examples of redesigns that worked.

1. The Nest Thermostat

In August of 2017, Nest Labs radically redesigned one of their flagship products – the smart thermostat. This wasn’t so much because of a functional issue, but a perception-based one. They simplified the tech-heavy product, revamped its sleek, black color scheme into a more regular-household-friendly vanilla color, and perhaps most important, dropped the price by $80 to appeal to a wider market.

The original model, while successful, was seen as an elite product that regular consumers couldn’t afford, and it was also designed to grab attention. The simplified version is meant to appeal to consumers with less interest in flash and more interest in a product that works.

2. The Nokia 3310

The original Nokia 3310 cellphone was introduced in September of 2000, and for many people it served as their first-ever cellphone purchase. But with the advances in phone technology moving at a lightning-fast pace for the last decade, the 3310 quickly became obsolete.

Earlier this year, Nokia launched a redesigned version of the phone, with the requisite Web browsing, Facebook and Twitter capabilities, along with a camera option, but they kept the style of the phone stripped-down so that the battery life can last much longer than the typical iPhone or Android. In fact, a single charge can last the phone up to a month.

By playing up the phone’s main advantage – simplicity – and banking on the value of nostalgia, Nokia ended up making a bold move that paid off. The phone sold out of suppliers within days after its release in May 2017.

3. The Chevy Impala

Back in 2013, the Consumer Reports magazine website created a list of the most effective automobile redesigns and the Impala topped the list, with the site pointing out how the car had jumped over 30 points in their rating system due to its new standards of comfort, roominess and ease of driving, calling it one of the best cars on the road.

Once a maligned design relegated to rental-car status, the Impala’s redesign was a sleek, dramatic and welcome new approach to the venerable model, beating out redesigned cars from Hyundai, Audi and Mazda.

As we’ve seen from these examples, product design isn’t always perfect the first time out. If you’re deciding whether to embark on a redesign of a product, make sure to read our post “Things to Consider When Redesigning a Product.“

Transitioning From Founder Of Your Product Based Business To CEO

When you first start out, building your own business from the ground up is an exhausting, wonderful, crazy experience. Everything about it feels new–even the problems have an air of adventure about them. You’ve gambled on this business working, and as the founder, it’s an amazing feeling when you realize that it’s happening.

But every successful founder reaches a point where things aren’t entirely as they used to be. That’s the price of success. Change certainly isn’t bad, but for many founders, the transition to the role of a CEO can be a difficult one. Here are some tips for making the necessary changes that lead to growth.

Create Real Senior Management

As your business begins to grow, you’ll find that managing it becomes much more complex. You can either keep things at a simple level that you can handle, while stalling growth, or you can embrace the complexity and change the way you manage.

That probably means creating a real senior management team that you can rely on. Sales, administration, operations, and other functions need someone dedicated to overseeing them. In turn, that person will be able to report to you and act as your conduit to these areas. It’s time to step back from the day-to-day intricacies that you may have originally been involved in.

Letting Go

That requires you to let go of what feels like control over things. You really aren’t losing control, just realizing the limits of your own capabilities. Your job is no longer to make sure every little thing is going right. Your job now is to focus on higher order issues and chart a course for continued growth. You must trust the people that you’ve hired to do their jobs. If you can let go and step back, you’ll have a much easier time transitioning from founder to CEO.

Reassess Employees

This may be a painful part of growing as a business, but you need to take a clear look at employees who may have been with you from the start. As the company grows and evolves, you may find that individual employees’ strengths and weaknesses no longer align with your company’s needs.

Now is the time to devote energy to hiring the right people. It’s absolutely crucial that your next hires are a great fit. You may find that you’re looking for people with a more specific skillset, rather than a jack-of-all-trades who was valuable during the early days of the company.

Give Yourself A Break

You don’t have to suddenly disappear for days on end, but you should find some downtime and attend to your personal life. Starting a company can consume all of your time, and that’s not a particularly healthy approach to take for months or years on end. Reconnect with friends and family, work on a personal project, or simply turn off your phone for a few hours and read a book now that you have some time.

It’s not easy building a company from scratch. At Pivot, we know the pitfalls and paths to success better than anyone because we’ve already helped so many entrepreneurs and businesses get their products to the shelves. So give us a call today to learn more about how we can help your business grow and thrive.

What Does It Really Mean To Accept Venture Capital?

If you’re in the position of having to decide whether or not to accept venture capital, then congratulations, you’ve already made it much farther than many start-ups. You almost certainly have some questions about what this will mean for the future of your company. But even if you’re not there yet, it pays to do a little research beforehand. With that in mind, we’ve brought together some of the major advantages and disadvantages of accepting venture capital. It’s a big step forward, so make sure you know what you’re getting into.

Pros

A Cash Infusion

This is a fairly obvious plus to accepting venture capital, but it’s worth elaborating on here. You will receive a huge influx of cash that you can use to keep the company running, hire new talent, and take things to the next level. This is an investment, not a loan, so it feels like you’re getting free money. You aren’t, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

It’s All About Who You Know

The other great part about accepting venture capital is that your venture capitalists now have a stake in helping your company succeed. That means they’ll likely be introducing you to their peers, looking for new investors, and generally doing what they can to make use of their connections in order to help your business.

This can even work indirectly. Another investor may not know your venture capitalist personally, but they will see that you are now connected with them. That first investment can lead to more investors eager to get a piece of the action.

Cons

New Expectations

Remember, it really isn’t free money. Your investors want to get their money back–and then some. That does mean that they’re invested in your success, but that can be a double-edged sword. You now have someone to answer to, and that shift in power can have effects on your business and your culture. There may be new pressures that simply weren’t there before. In fact, there almost certainly will be. For some people, this is fine–just the price of doing business. Others have a real problem with it.

Diminished Profit Share And Control

Your investors will now be reaping part of your profits, potentially quite a significant portion. That may be worth it to you, or you may realize that your business no longer feels like your own. In the future, there may plans to sell the company or take it public in an IPO. If this company is your baby, then keep in mind that you’ll be losing a significant amount of control over what happens to it in the future.

The key is to do your homework beforehand. Who is this person or firm that’s offering to invest in your company? What is their track record? The choice to accept venture capital may help your company to grow in a way that nothing else could, but you can easily lose control of the business you started.

If you have a new product idea, but you aren’t sure where to start, then contact Pivot. We’ve helped businesses just like yours bring their ideas to life.

Tips For Scaling Your Product Based Business

Most start-ups and new small businesses are defined by the desire for growth. There’s an inherent need for more customers, higher revenues, and consistent growth. The need to scale up is a given in most cases, but that doesn’t mean that there’s one right way to do it. Each business is different, and yours may have challenges that are unique to your situation.

Whatever the case, there are some things you can do that will help you to scale your business as you grow. Take a look.

Plan Ahead

When you begin the process of scaling your business, you need to sit down and evaluate your processes so that you can create a plan for growth. Scaling your business isn’t just about selling more product, it’s also about how you’re going to manufacture, ship, and perform quality control on those new products.

Adding thousands of new sales is great, but you have to have a plan in place for making sure that they actually get to consumers. This is where you can be proactive, rather than reactive. Anticipate problems, decide ahead of time how you’ll act, and generally plan for different contingencies.

Always remember the foundations of your business. You may be tempted to stray from the key components of your success. Keep in mind that you’d never be in this position without the model that you originally built. There’s a difference between tweaking that model as you grow and heading off in another direction.

Hire The Right People

For a product based business, scaling up most likely means adding new employees. You just can’t double or triple the size of a business without adding talent somewhere. And that’s what you should be looking for–talent. The individuals you hire will have a huge effect on your ability to continue to grow.

A bigger team may be more difficult to manage, but then again, no one said that growth would be easy. Bring the right people on board as you scale your company and business will flourish.

Double Down On Your Marketing Efforts

You’ll want to wait to make new marketing moves until you have that plan in place that we talked about earlier. You want to have a firm direction in mind before you start ramping up your marketing efforts. But when you do, go at it from all angles.

This may be one of the reasons you hired some new talent. Leveraging SEO techniques, starting a blog, connecting with influencers, building a social media presence, and other online marketing efforts take time and energy. Together with email marketing, targeted ads on Facebook, contests, giveaways, and other tactics, you can help create some of the demand that you’re scaling your business to accommodate.

At Pivot, we’ve helped businesses through many different stages of growth. Whether it’s manufacturing, new product development, or supply chain management, we can help your product based business scale and grow. So contact us today to learn more about what we can do for your business.

Marketing Your Product-Based Business: 3 Digital Marketing Don’ts

Talking about “digital marketing strategy” today is one of those funny redundancies that anyone building a product-based companytoday would do well to recognize and reflect on.

So central has the digital landscape become to consumer experience that any marketing approach that lacks an explicit digital strategy – including a social media strategy – can scarcely compete in today’s digitally dominated age.

“Digital” itself is no longer a stand-alone “target” or one prong among many, but rather the primary meansby which marketing strategy is executed.

And this is true whether you’re selling your product in brick-and-mortar stores or on e-commerce websites.

While there are countless “do’s” of creating a digital marketing strategy for your product, it’s just as important to know what not to do. With that in mind, let’s explore some of the biggest “Don’ts” of marketing in a digital age.

Don’t forget that social media is a conversation, not a monologue.As in real life, a social media conversation is a two-way street with neither party (in this case, neither your brand nor the consumer) having exclusive control over where it goes or how it goes.

Be aware that you may have complaints and questions about your product as well as accolades.

With few exceptions, almost all major brand “fails” have nothing to do with lack of know-how on the technical side and everything to do with brands failing to recognize that in a digital age, they are neither the single creators of their own content nor the sole arbiters of its meaning.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep.Don’t think your brand can get away (at least for long) with failing to walk its talk, with saying one thing and doing another. If your product-based business professes a commitment to sustainable manufacturing, it’s important to make sure that you’re actually using a sustainable manufacturing facility.

It’s easier and easier for consumers to become aware of “brand hypocrisy” and they’re calling brands out on it – not just on social media, but with the withdrawal of their spending dollars.

Make sure that you’re living up to the values you’ve set for your product and your company. Not only will your customers appreciate you for it – your employees will, too.

Don’t forget to appeal to your customers on an emotional level every now and then.

No one wants to read endless blog posts about your product’s features, or watch more than one or two videos about what your product can do.

You need to incorporate posts that appeal to your customers’ emotions, as well. If your product is a medical device, for instance, you almost certainly have stories of people whose lives have been materially improved thanks to your invention.

Not everything has to be heartwarming, however. Humor is a great thing to incorporate into your marketing, as well, if you can do it well and it fits your product.

Make it a point to integrate these more creative types of posts into your overall strategy.

Successful marketing strategy for product-based businesses in the digital age – perhaps paradoxically – rests at least as much on cultural and content variables as it does on the technological expertise the word “digital” typically evokes.

Marketers who understand the conversational, co-created, culturally embedded nature of digital marketing and who recognize that brand authority is derived from integrity and authenticity have already won half the battle for consumer trust.

For more, read “How to Conduct Solid Market Research for Your Product on a Shoestring Budget.”

How to Launch Your Product-Based Business the Right Way

We write a lot about manufacturing products here at Pivot International. Heck, it’s what we’re here to help you do, from the services we offer to the blogs we post about various aspects of product development.

But let’s zoom out a bit, and move backward. What about the beginning of this process, when you’re just getting started on your product-based business? What are some best practices you can follow? We’ve listed some tips about how to launch a product-based business below.

Know the financial risks first

Belief in your product is vital, but sometimes that belief might lead you to gloss over some important facts – especially the financial ones.

A product-based business can be lucrative, but there’s a potential for losses, as well. What kind of financial situation are you in personally, and what kind of capital do you have to start this business?

If you don’t have the resources to absorb some losses once you begin creating your business, and your product, it might be a good idea to wait a little longer until you do.

Include some cushion in your timeline

The odds are that just about every step of the process is going to take longer than you think. Not just perfecting your idea or finding investors or moving through the design and development processes.

It’s highly likely that all of the things you need to do to start your product-based business are going to take longer, potentially much longer, than you realize at first. It’s vital to be patient with this process and resist the urge to rush, no matter how long it takes.

Attempting to speed up any step in the process is bound to hurt your business in the long run.

You’ll have to make more than one product

Think of all the successful brands and businesses out in the marketplace right now that you can. Now ask yourself this question: Do any of them make just one product?

We’re pretty sure the answer is no. It’s important to know throughout the process of building your new business and your product that, no matter how new or exciting or revolutionary it might be, you’re eventually going to have to create something new to put out into the world. That could mean either a refinement of your current product, or something entirely different.

Do your market research before moving too far forward

Have you done research on the potential market for the product you’re creating? Do you know what the comparable products already in the marketplace are? Have you worked through the idea for your product as thoroughly as possible?

Don’t take these questions to mean that your product needs to be flawless. No product is, and there will be surprises during the design and engineering processes that will help bring those flaws, and their solutions, into focus.

But a poorly thought-out product idea isn’t a great foundation for a business.

Start thinking about your product launch early

There are few moments more important than your product launch. That’s where all of the hard work you’ve put into creating your product and your marketing campaign comes into focus.

So while you’re preparing to take the first steps in this new endeavor, it’s important to think about that final step. It doesn’t have to be in the forefront of your mind at all times; there will be plenty of other things to occupy your thoughts, from finding your manufacturing facility to establishing your supply chain to hiring your workforce.

But by keeping that launch in mind as you go through all these steps, you have a goal to focus on, and there’s nothing wrong with being focused on a goal.

Want even more in-depth information about starting a product-based business? Download our ebook “Turn a Great Idea into a Thriving Product.”

Expert Tips for Improving Your Product Pitch

The pitch. It’s potentially the most important point in your product’s development. Whether you’re standing in front of investors, potential buyers or outlets where your product will be sold, the pitch is where you make them believe what you believe about your product, or what your product can be. It’s a make or break moment.

No matter how well your product has been developed and designed, the pitch is where you make your case for how well it’s going to do its job. So how do you make a great pitch for your product? We’ve culled sometips from some of the world’s most successful entrepreneursbelow on how to make a great pitch.

Be brief

As much as you might like to go on at length about the features of your product, it’s not a good idea to take up too much time and overwhelm your investors or buyers with stats and features.

Boil your pitch down to the essentials. What is this product? What does it do? How will it make money for those interested in partnering with you? What’s the plan to roll it out? Make your points succinctly and leave them wanting more; it’s far better than leaving them bored.

Simplicity is king

To an extent, this point goes along with our advice to keep it short, but it bears breaking this part down a little more: Don’t overload your investors or buyers with too much jargon or complicated explanations of what your product does.

No doubt, what you’ve created is capable of great things that will dazzle people, and there’s a great story about how it was designed. But the pitch is not the time to tell too much of that story. There will be time later once your product has gotten investors or buyers. Make them believe in it first-then explain it to them.

Be comfortable

There’s nothing that helps a good speech like a laid-back, comfortable presenter with a sense of humor. No one’s expecting you to deliver a standup routine (and they don’t want you to either), and if you don’t feel like you’re a naturally funny person, that’s fine, too. Justbe as comfortableas possible, as long as you keep an eye on the clock.

Certainly, that’s easier said than done. This is a big moment, and tension and nerves are understandable. But that stressneeds to be put to the side if you’re going to successfully pitch your product.

Show them your passion

Think about how easy it is to get swept up in someone else’s passion when they’re talking about a movie or piece of music or television show that they love. They’re typically convincing enough to make you seek out what they’re talking about, right?

That’s the kind of passion you need to transfer to your pitch. Make the people in front of you believe in what you’ve created as much as you do, and don’t do it with features or design flair; do it with your zeal for what you and your business have created.

Be ready to listen as well as talk

The investors or buyers that you’re speaking to about your product are bound to have questions or even suggestions about what you’re trying to sell them. Make sure you’re maintaining, and displaying, an open mind, because your willingness to adapt to that feedback might be the difference between walking out empty-handed and making the most important sale of your career.

Listening to what your buyers have to tell you is an underrated key to potentially forging a great relationship with the people who will get your product out there.

Want to learn more about selling your product? Read our post “How to Create Buzz for Your Product on a Low Budget.”

How to Be Your Product’s Strongest Advocate

We’ve all heard the expression before that no one’s going to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself. And though it’s a cliché, it’s a cliché for a reason: It’s true. And it doesn’t just apply to belief in yourself and your abilities.

If you’re an entrepreneur who’s launching a new product, how will anyone believe in your product if you don’t believe in it yourself?

So how do you put that message across? How do you communicate to the world that you’re the biggest believer in, and advocate for, your new product? We’ve listed some suggestions below.

Motivate and inspire your staff first

Inspiration starts from within – and not just from within you. It’s true, of course, that having an unshakable belief in what you’re doing is essential to anyone trying to navigate the sometimes-rocky path from having the idea to launching the actual product.

But you also need to inspire that belief in your staff.

Have you properly communicating the excitement you feel about what you’ve created to them? Have you motivated them to feel as passionate as you do about your product? Have you made them feel a sense of ownership towards what you’re putting into the marketplace?

A good advocate is someone who can not only feel enthusiasm, but project it, as well. Why not start with the people who are taking this journey with you? After all, they’re the people who are going to carry your idea forward through all the various stages that are required to launch a successful product. Without them, you’re an advocate with nothing to talk about.

Find the people who influence your industry . . . and influence THEM

Who are the leaders in your chosen field? Who are the people that seem to know a good idea when they see one and who know when a product’s time has come? We’re not just talking about investors here, though persuading them to get behind youis certainly important.

We’re talking about the writers or experts or people in positions of power who need to know what you’re doing and how fired up you are about it. Passion is contagious, and passing it along to the right people as your product is being created is essential. Remember that your marketing is in service of your product, not the other way around

When it comes to creating the advertising campaign, it’s crucial to communicate as much of the belief you have in your product as possible.

An ad that is flashy (and expensive) might temporarily get the headlines and attention you’re looking for, but if there’s no substance behind your campaign, people won’t be interested for long. Think of a movie trailer that shows exciting parts from the film; what excites you about your product? Those features or applications should be a prominent part ofthe launch message you’re sending out into the marketplace. Turn your customers into product advocates

Perhaps the most effective way to get the word out about how passionate you are about your product is to make sure your customers are passionate, too. A great deal of that will come from the product itself, if it’s as well-designed, engineered and manufactured as it should be. But another vital part of the process is creating a continuing connection with the people who buy your product, and making sure they feel not just like consumers, but like part of the process. And really, that’s ultimately what they are. Once you’ve established a solid customer base, seek feedback from them, on your website or through social media. You can survey them to attempt to feel out how they’re reacting to your product over time and offer incentives or discounts on future purchases if they agree to let you know how they’re feeling. And excellent customer service at every stage of a transaction doesn’t hurt, either. Read more about selling your product effectively inour blog post “How to Sell Your Product.”

How to Create Buzz for Your Product on a Low Budget

When it comes to launching a product for the first time, many entrepreneurs encounter the same issue: Lots of ideas, minimal budget. And that’s a frustrating place to be, because no matter how great your product might potentially be, it’s difficult to imagine it succeeding if you can’t get the word out about it.

So how do you move forward with creating a buzz about your product if you don’t have the budget for a major marketing campaign? Well, sometimes success can be in the details, and all it takes is a few little ones to get your campaign off the ground. Here are some low-budget ways to get a buzz going about your new product:

Be brief and succinct in your branding

Rather than trying to go for massive reach with your advertising campaign, focus on developing a quick, succinct phrase you can use to brand your product – something that will stick with the people who do see your Facebook ads or blog posts or TV commercials. It seems like everyone remembers classic ad phrases like “Where’s the Beef?” or “By Mennen,” even if they don’t know the specific product.

In the case of your new product, it’s important that consumers want to know more about what you’ve created. Yes, a heavy-saturation marketing campaign can do that, but a catchy, curiosity-arousing three-or-four word phrase can do it as well, for much less money.

Create a waiting list

This idea is a little riskier, simply because creating a waiting list for a new product that people don’t really know about yet could backfire if there’s not any interest. But if what you’re trying to do is create anticipation for what you’re about to launch, a waiting list might be a good way to do it.

And it’s not difficult to do either. Simply create a Waiting List page on your product or company’s website and share it to whatever social media outlets you’ve created. It’s a great concept for a low-budget campaign.

Tease your product on social media

In the age of social media, the tease is easier and more inexpensive than ever. Start hinting at some new information that’s about to be released about your product, but keep it vague.

Mention that the information or product description is coming, but stretch out the waiting period a bit, giving people a chance to become intrigued by what you have to offer. Sometimes less is more in terms of advertising, especially if your budget is closer to “less” than “more.”

Create a sense of connection with your customers through transparency

We often want to put the best face on a product by bypassing the snags, delays, or holdups in the creation process. But what if you made those part of the product’s story?

People are often attracted to a story of overcoming odds or persisting regardless of failure, and a blog on your product’s website that talks about all phases of its development, even the parts that didn’t quite work out, can create that story.

This could produce areal feeling of connection between you and your customers, making them feel closer to the product and its creators.

Don’t forget: everyone loves free stuff

Is it possible for you to give your product, or accessories attached to it, away for free to a select audience? It might hurt a little to do so, since you’ve spent so much time preparing it for the marketplace, and you obviously want to make a profit, but it’s important to remember that “product buzz” essentially means “good word of mouth,” and what better way to get that word of mouth than to give people a sample of what you’re about to launch?

Pivot International is a company designed to do more with less when it comes to your new product. We can take it from design to manufacture to launch, all under the same umbrella. Click here to find out more.