Some of us have a flash of inspiration from time to time. It happened to me a couple of times as well. You find yourself sitting there and you believe you have the greatest idea ever known to man. But how to put it into practice? You’re not a millionaire (maybe you are, but let’s assume you’re not) and you want to keep costs low in the beginning.
But most people don’t know anything about branding, brand development, product launches, sales strategies… how could they. So maybe this post helps to get a little insight.
Last weekend a friend approached me and said: „I have an idea. I need a logo and a webshop. How much is it?“ I said: „Well, I could easily charge 2–4 k $ for a logo and a shop, depending on the briefing. I could earn some money, BUT you would have spent a lot of money without knowing if its worth it. Do you just want to spend money or do you want to test if your product can be sold? Even if you decide to not launch a shop after you see the drafts, you’d still have to pay me.“
He was totally confused.
As you can see, he was planning to jump right into it. Ready to go. But, he wasn’t prepared, at least not for my questions.
And believe me, this is one of the aspects which is exciting and interesting about my job. After our conversation he was happy, happy to know more about how to move on, most importantly where to start. Here’s a list about the things we talked about, his answers and my recommendations.
I thought it would be good to keep a conversational character to be able to point at the things I believe are important.
Q is Questions (my questions)
A is Answer (his answers)
R is Recommendation (my recommendations)
#1
Q : What is your product?
A: A bandana for bikers. It has or rather will have rounded edges, it looks like a triangle.
R: Hm, nothing really special so far. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but at least your product should offer something new, something innovative, something that adds a little extra to a product that already exists.
#2
Q: What is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? Why should someone prefer your product over something similar? There are tons of bandanas out there. Are you using a special material, special design? What’s makes your product stand out? Why do you think you’ll be successful?
A: Good question. Haven’t thought about it.
R: You should be able to tell your product in 1 single sentence. We all know one of the most famous taglines, it says it all: „1000 Songs in Your Pocket,” (apple ipod)
Try to beat that one!
#3
Q: Do you have a brand, a name for the product yet?
A. Not yet.
R: This is crucial! If you don’t know how to call it, here are some important steps and maybe some kind of little helpers on your way to find a perfect one for your product.
a.) Market research: Do some research, what are products similar to yours called? You’ll find certain specifics for different branches. e.g. if you compare names for watches and cars.
b) You can use abbreviations or acronyms, let your imagination flow. I have a customer, she used the forenames of her family-members to create her own unique brand: alentho – Alex, Enya, Thomas. She does interior design, the name fits well and sounds good. That’s also very important. Easy to pronounce and attractive, talking about phonetics. A lot of brands start with a vowel, if that helps (Asics, Apple, ebay, Oakley) You can use whatever you can think of, be sure it sounds good and it should be easy to remember.
c) Now this is tricky: Let’s assume you’ve found a perfect name, be sure to check if there’s a brand out there that already uses this name! You’ll be very upset when you start to create marketing material and recognize there’s already a brand out there with your name. Worst case scenario: You’re violating copyrights. So please check your national trademark directory first. If your name is unique you can optionally trademark it for specific classes of goods as well as for different countries, I’d recommend that in most cases.
In case you found your perfect name and it’s occupied – start from scratch again or try to create a derivative, if that’s possible.
d) If you found your name and it's unique, check if there’s a URL / domain available. Even if the brand is unique, the corresponding domain can already be taken. So if you’re looking to create a shop be sure to have something catchy as well. Check multiple domains, incl. dashes as well. An example: mercedes-benz.com + mercedesbenz.com. Be sure to check every possible combination and TLD (Top Level Domain) available, if it makes sense of course.
#4
Q: What kind of logo do you want? Do you want a simple logo like google, only a font. Or do you want a logo like nike or apple where you have an additional icon that can replace the lettering wherever needed.
A: No idea. I don’t know.
R: Think about different use cases, possible use cases. Not only your letter paper but apparel, advertisements - offline and online as well. Just to name a few. Do you consider it should be embroidered someday? There are many things to think about before you start to work on something.
Easy to do for you: Search for your personal Dos and Don'ts, logos you like and logos you don’t like. It will be easy for your designer of choice to create something that excites you. Provide as much input as possible, write down a briefing that contains your visions. Everything else is up to the designer.
#5
Q: How do you reach your target group? What’s the average age of your target group?
A: No idea.
R: DYOR (Do your own research), check possible markets, where does your target group go shopping? Do they use an online-shop at all? Do they prefer local shops or even events?
#6
Q: How do you promote your webshop?
A: Haven’t thought about it.
R: Even if you have the best working webshop you can think of, a state of the art design and an ingenious product: It’s pretty much worthless if no one knows about your shop. You need to consider doing extensive SEO for your site, which itself needs a decent budget if you want to be found on e.g. google. You can use social media chanels as well, think about if you have the time to do it on your own or if you need help.
#7
Q: What’s your budget?
A: I don’t have one.
R: There are basically 2 ways to get started
a) You have your own funds.
Set yourself a limit. Try to produce a small amount of units, preferably identical with your desired end product. Try to sell them and get as much feedback as possible.
b) Crowdfunding
Make a business plan and post it on kickstarter.com for example. Describe your idea in detail and try to inspire the people. You need to have exact numbers though for production costs and marketing material as well. It'll represent the minimum you need to be able to get started with your product.
As you can see he didn’t have any answers to my questions except what his product is about. Even though he has an idea he doesn’t really know where or how to start.
His plan was to create a shop and start from there. But it wouldn’t really work well. Although it would be desirable. He could spend a lot of money for a logo + webshop without knowing if he ever sells a single unit. I believe no one wants to do that.
He was happy that we talked about it. He said “I definitely have a lot of things to think about before I do anything at all. Thank you!”
He left with a smile.
The summary or checklist for him is or would be:
1. Specify your product
2. What’s the USP? Try to explain your product using only 1 sentence if possible.
3. What’s your brand? Remember to check your local trademark directory, possibly worldwide. Consider to trademark your brand.
4. Check available domains
5. What should your logo look like, personal list of Dos and Don'ts, preferences
6. What’s your target group and how do you reach it (average age, habits)
7. How do you promote your product?
8. What’s your budget? Maybe consider crowdfunding to get started
9. Start with a minimum to see if it sells (final product + logo)
If it sells you can think about the next steps. These could possibly include:
• reach out to retailers to see if there’s interest or demand
• create a shop
• think about marketing
• maybe make a new business plan if you consider to expand
...there are numerous ways to continue.
Keep in mind: Little by little.
A healthy growth is the most desirable thing you can achieve.
It will ensure you persistence.
And it doesn’t matter what type of product you have, the basic steps will always be the same and can be used in general.
Maybe you’ll find yourself in a similar circumstance in the future. Maybe it helps.
Good luck!