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Education Behind the “RED-X” (Part 2)
Stop! Warning! Danger! …Not this time! The color red seems to be best associated with negative things. Red meaning stop, don’t go there, don’t do that. We also know that it’s not what you want to see after you submit your idea for a licensing opportunity but we want to challenge you to see the Red X as a new opportunity. An opportunity for learning, to get better and grow with your idea creation and submissions! If you read our blog, Education Behind the “RED-X” we have more insight to share! As a follow-up to the articles, Education Behind the RED-X (Part 1) and “Fly on the Wall”, we want to share some more reasons behind the Red X and how you can improve your ideas for resubmission or make your next idea the best one yet. Remember, we’re not successful unless you are successful. #BetterTogether. Finding a licensing partner for your idea is what we work hard to do every day. Unfortunately, if a partner doesn’t believe they can make money with everything it takes to design, tool, mold, manufacture, package, distribute, market, and sell your idea they are not going to take it on. Businesses want to see a return on their investment which means they need to know there are enough people in the market who will buy the product. Remember: there may be a lot of interest and activity in a certain category but if it’s a crowded marketplace with similar products, it’s more difficult to stand out which is why we have been stressing the differentiation/WOW factor that is needed. New products are brought to market every day – we want your idea to be one of them! Let’s dive in…again! 1) When you hear: Your idea is cost prohibitive. Our Review Team is saying: Profitability will be a challenge for this idea to move forward. We need to be able to justify to potential licensing partners that the product can be made to fit within their current margins. What can you do?: Some simple, key things our partners look at: Their current manufacturing capabilities. Volume of sales. Do they believe they can sell enough to bring the cost of manufacturing down? The more products they manufacture, the lower their overall cost.The price range of their product line. Note: A pain point we run into is “the idea is so innovative” and “nothing like it on the market”, but… then you run into additional costs of research, development, testing, manufacturing and materials. Our licensing partners have to be sold on this idea selling A LOT of product for this undertaking. This leads nicely into the next point. 2) When you hear: Your idea is not a mass market item. Our Review Team is saying: We can’t capture enough of the market share to bring this to development. What can you do?: Can you widen your market by making some changes to appeal to a larger audience? This idea may have legs for a niche audience; it needs to be broader/more widespread. Think about the following: If you have a product geared towards a targeted audience, for example men, does your product appeal to all men or just men of a certain age? If your answer is men only and then also of a specific age group; your group size has substantially declined. From there, within this “men” and “age group,” is your product geared to a certain interest? In that case, your group is now even smaller, and you can continue to break it down to get a realistic outlook on the general size of your market. Once you break it down, go back through and see if you can make adjustments to grab a segment (or two) you knocked out with your original submission. Then resubmit! 3) If You See: The Red X within the Edison Nation Insider Licensing Program. Our Review Team is saying: We have put forward resources, evaluated all efforts, collected market data along with market response, put together a professional pitch deck and all efforts necessary. Your idea has been pitched to an extensive list of potential licensing partners and they unfortunately did not see a place for your idea in their line. Please note that sometimes they don’t give us a reason – they just say “No”. We try to get feedback for our innovators and ourselves but it is at their option as to how much time and effort they choose to give with their feedback. 4) If You See: The Red X within the Edison Nation ASOTV Search. Our Edison Nation As Seen On TV is saying: Our Edison Nation As Seen On TV team has evaluated your submission and determined it has not met the requirements for a successful ASOTV product. The thing with ASOTV is there are no definitive rules on what will make a successful product so we look hard at the following: Is this a product demonstrative? In other words, could someone easily show how the product works with-in a few seconds? Is the concept easily understood? Is it a simple solution for an everyday problem?Are there competing products already in the market? Will this idea have mass market appeal? Niche products are difficult for ASOTV. You need to think to a large demographic. Can this product be manufactured inexpensively? Is the product an appropriate size for retail shelves? Smaller items are better for retail shelves especially in the ASOTV market. To finish up, we wanted to throw a couple side notes out there from some recent submissions that came through our dashboard. A few weeks ago, we noted that we go through the description and details first and THEN go back to any pictures, videos, etc. in order to pull the idea together. These are important to have with your submission… even a sketch! If you have a prototype – attach picture or video of it with your submission! We have innovators that acknowledge they have prototypes but fail to attach anything for our team to look at. We read text first and go back through to follow up with pictures/videos. If you are telling us it is different from competitors on the market, we want more than a description – otherwise we are guessing on every aspect of design. We want your idea to shine! Finally, we want to encourage to most of all – do something with your idea! We celebrate all successes here at Edison Nation. If you’ve submitted ideas through our dashboard you know that we ask within the submission information to disclose when the product was first thought of. We just received a submission for a product that was thought of in 2011. To help us help other innovators, we would like to ask your thoughts on this. Why did it take 9 years? The market is fast and always changing so the sooner the better with getting your ideas out there.What kind of things have held you back in the past from proceeding with your idea(s)?Fear of idea being taken? Not knowing how to translate your idea from a thought to paper or a drawing? Not having a certain skill-set you felt you needed to continue? Not enough time? We are always looking for ways to make Edison Nation a more valuable resource for our innovators. We do listen! We celebrate your licensing successes in and outside of EN. Please share with us your biggest stopping points/hurdles you feel you’re facing. We hope that the biggest takeaway from these blogs is that you should never give up. If you have or in the future receive the Red X, do not let it discourage you! We hope you will look back at these posts, make the changes needed, and succeed. Do what you love, love what you do – Never stop creating! Blog courtesy of Casey Carroll WRITTEN BY Casey Carroll
