Networking. Generally most small business owners use the approach of networking to attract new business. (We’ve done so by exploring networking functions and groups in and among food and beverage but also with other companies offering mobility accessories.) The common tendency among such small business leaders is to attend a networking function to get the maximum contact possible. In fact the most effective way of networking is to develop relationships and giving referrals to other members first. Unfortunately this is not realized by most small business owners.

Referrals. This is the second most preferred marketing strategy for creating new business opportunities. The objective of this approach is acting more proactively than passively. For instance, the business leaders must ask their satisfied clients for any referral rather than waiting for them to refer new potential clients. The business people can tell their customers about the type of clients that they are looking for and ask for such people. When someone tells us how much they love our cup holder, we always ask them if they know of anyone else who might benefit. Design a product or business worthwhile enough and those clients will instantly refer the potential client to you instead of just giving you a name.

Writing. Writing is an excellent marketing strategy which is not utilized most times. There is lots of demand for good trade magazines with good articles. Many subscribers and customers of the internet also follow e-zines with worthwhile content. It is certainly worth the time and effort one puts into writing an article and sends across to some two hundred publications.

Newsletters. This is a key marketing strategy to get deeper insights into the business challenges and provide solutions for them. In other words, it helps to resolve the problems for the prospects and the customers before they even realize there’s a problem. Business people have to ensure that the newsletters are not used merely as an advertising tool but to provide more valuable information to their customers. It is advisable to go for the paper version of newsletters than online version though the latter is less expensive.

Give free information. The best place to give free information to the customers about the product/service is through online e-zines. Or through your blog like we do for our drink holder.

Offer a guarantee. Customers who are not satisfied with the existing supplier may not go for a new supplier considering the risk involved. In such cases, offering a guarantee will eliminate those concerns.

Advertising. Advertising involves lot of creativity. The ad must focus on resolving the problem the customer is facing. Advertising makes a significant impact for a product or the service in the market.

The plan behind this agenda is to rope in corporate customers who have their Go Green committee supporting changes within the company to contribute their bit to the conservation of the environment. Ordering from local supplies would ensure less transportation costs and lot of savings. This is the main selling point of Heins and Elster as they try to talk more corporate big shots into the deals that will help support the local food manufacturing industry of Chicago. The two have also been able to bring in Mark Ven, a local distributor from Northbrook and also several other products made locally to join the attempt to get a distribution base in Chicago.

With a view to promote entrepreneurship many organizations are lending their support to this sort of collaboration which was launched last week at the annual meeting of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, whose chairman for the past 3 years, James Tyree pointed out that only innovation along with entrepreneurship can move the region forward. According to DeHaas, who takes over from James as the new chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Chicago is in a great position for such business growth. This is owing to its diversified economy, a transportation which is truly high class, a central location and a spirit that is collaborative and innovative.

Heins and Elster had come up with similar ideas in the past too and had created Odd Pairs which allowed food makers to be more creative and compete with each other and create an odd pair at the event. The partner Terry Opalek of Terry’s toffee, that makes around 15 flavors of different toffees that are sold in the retail shop owned by it and in other wholesale stores, said that this is the right time for going local as more and more customers are inclined to buy local goods in the last one year.

Getting a patent is not a very simple process as it could be quite long drawn out (as we learned by patenting our universal drink holder). There are quite a few process and procedural steps where the patent application is scrutinized by the patent examiner and clarifications sought from the inventor. The process starts with the inventor making an application for a patent, and the application as well as the invention being scrutinized to ascertain as to which part of the invention can be patented. If the patent application and the invention stands up to scrutiny, a patent is granted for a pre-defined period of time.

There are all kinds of inventions that are of varied scope. Some inventions do nothing more than add a concept to the vast body of concepts that exist from earlier. Take for instance a car video game. There could be a host of ideas and features like the car being turbo boosted or even damage to the car in the event of collisions. To this, if you add the novelty of showing how the racer is progressing on a race track map, this idea of racer display on the map could well be patented. Those who are still not prepared to file for a full fledged patent can file a ‘provisional patent application’. The advantage of patents is that these can catapult young inventors to global fame and name, not to mention the monetary benefits that accrue from it.

When filing for a patent application, it makes sense to submit formal drawings of the invention. These drawings help in projecting the image of the invention in all its distinctiveness and uniqueness. These drawings are prepared by trained draftsmen, who have long years of experience in this field. Once the idea of the invention has been conceived, design patents are prepared, which are an aesthetic representation of the form of the invention in question. The tenure of design patents is generally 14 years.

There are other kinds of patents which are of the nature of utility patents. These patents are able to protect the use of machines, medicines, components and computers in addition to ingredients which add to the utility of the invention. These patents are handed out for novel machines or even processes and are distinct from design patents that are appropriate for inventors of new manufactured articles. The concept of provisional utility patents is rather rare and not apt at an elementary level.

Manufacturers also have a great utility for patents because they invest huge sums and need to protect the uniqueness of their invention. The idea behind giving a 17 year manufacturing patent is to reward innovativeness as it is beneficial to consumers. While unrestricted monopoly is not beneficial, the idea of a 17 years patent seems to be a kind of middle path. Inventions that come prior to an invention are know as ‘prior art’. The way to get a patent on your invention is to prove that your innovation is quite distinctive and is a significant improvement on the prior art.

The patent process is generally very long. During this period, the application generally travels back and forth between the applicant and the patent examiner until both sides agree as to which part of the invention is worthy of a patent. The patent process generally involves filing a patent application and undergoing examination at the patent office. If examination is successful, a patent is granted and is enforceable for a limited term thereafter.

Inventions come in all shapes and sizes, and if your widget does nothing more than add one novel concept to a mountain of old concepts, that novel concept may just be patentable. So, for example, if your video game is an automobile racing game, you might use familiar concepts such as turbo boosting your car, damaging your car when collisions occur, and displaying a racer’s progress on a map of the race track, but at one point, displaying the racers was a novel idea, and perhaps patentable. Inventions which, if handled wisely, may fetch young and enthusiastic start-up entrepreneurs great success in terms of financial and global fame. Inventors not ready to file a full patent application are encouraged to file a “provisional patent application”. The provisional application provides more benefits and protections to inventors than the disclosure document.

Design applications require formal drawings (like of cup holders) when filed since the look of the invention as shown in the drawings is the basis of the application. A draftsman with many years experience in preparing formal patent drawings is usually available for this service to clients. Design patents (these patents are concerned with the aesthetic appearance of the invention) must be generally within one year of the idea’s conception. Design patents of this type tend to have a term of 14 years.

Utility patents, on the other hand, are applied for when the invention you wish to protect has a use such as a machine, ingredients, medicines, computers, etc. A provisional utility patent application is less common and not something you need to understand at an introductory level. Utility patents are granted for inventions such as new processes or machines. Not to be confused with design patents which are granted to inventors of new designs for articles that are manufactured.

Invention protection is important to manufacturers too. The manufacturer has the biggest investment at risk and they’ll take whatever steps are necessary to protect it. Inventiveness is good for consumers, monopoly power is bad for consumers, and we reward inventiveness by granting 17 years of monopoly power. It’s someone’s idea of a compromise between too little and too much. Inventions that come before your invention are referred to as “prior art”. The differences between your invention and the prior art need to be explained and defended in order for a patent to be granted.

Companies generally have a well set manner for laying out new product innovation. Ideas get sent from the business manager to the strategic committee that conducts the preliminary feasibility test after which regular reviews by the engineering team is conducted to make progress on the project.

The inputs from the developer or the development team are quite important as new product development is a tough task. It needs conversion of complex ideas into practical products which means that applied research is used as the input with development being the throughput and the finished marketable product being the output. Developers also take into account the kind of costs that are required to bring the product into fruition.

Past research is an indicator of what has already been done and not necessarily of what is needed for the future. It is also possible to use computer aided design (CAD) to visualize the product and also propel it towards better execution and implementation. Research teams can help, as they do a good job in predicting trends that will become big in future. They also test out ideas or concepts so that one may be able to access the chances of a product succeeding.

Some people are fast to take on and use new products. These people are called early adopters. There are others who take a little more time to adopt it and are known as the early majority. The late majority are those who are averse to risk, while there are the laggards that are quite resistant to change. These laggards may even take on products that have become the norm and quite well entrenched in the market.

You can use market research to ascertain the demand for a product and the kind of price that would be acceptable. A prototype may also be used to visualize the product (which we had made numberous times with our drink holder). Market research helps in factoring in the trends in the market too.

It is always better to make a product in the early life style stage of a product to maximize the potential of the product. Product design takes into account engineering, style and cost constraints too. Patents involve legal hassles that need to be factored in also.