At MAKO Design + Invent, we frequently discuss the idea of “product building” and which product-building practices are the best in order to build and develop a successful and functional product.
The process of product building is never just about concept design and building a product to sell on store shelves immediately but rather encompasses the development of proper product-building practices that help you create a successful and efficient product while establishing a solid foundation for your small business to thrive.
Having a physical and tangible product is always helpful to your business’s development, but without proper product-building practices, you miss out on how to strategically use your physical product to help build your business and brand. Below is a list of helpful and thorough ways to build proper product-building practices to help your product, brand, and business.
Product-Building Practices:
Plan Things Out
One of the most important things to do when starting any project is to plan things out. No matter what the nature of your project is, planning things out ahead of time is vital in order to help you stay focused, on track, and time-efficient when building your business or designing your product from the idea to the store shelves.
In terms of product-building practices, planning things out is the best strategic action to take because you initially set the expectations that you have for your product. This means that from ideation to concept design to prototyping and manufacturing, you have clear expectations about what you plan for your product to look and function like. Not only does this keep your product’s idea faithful to its original purpose.
Your expectations for your product should also be in line with making sure that along with its development and process of it being made, it stays constant in what it plans to solve. Remember that when building a product, you are building a solution to a problem, so it’s important to not get distracted by details and aesthetic values and look at the big picture for what your product was originally planned to function, do, and solve.
Finally, a key product-building practice is always keeping in mind exactly how you plan on marketing your product. This is extremely important for your business and branding during the product development phase because it will keep you on track. It ensures your product is marketable in its function, aesthetic appeal, and alignment with your business’ brand.
Many inventors make the mistake of not considering marketing during the development process, and they end up with a product that doesn’t make sense for their business or brand model.
Having a Clear Vision
Another important product-building practice that not only helps build your product but also helps the foundation and development of your business is having a clear vision. Having a clear vision entails that from the start to all the way until your business is up and running, you know exactly what your business’s goals are and what you want to achieve.
One of the first important aspects of having a clear vision is to definitively understand and know what your product is and what it is supposed to do. Having a clear vision of what your product is and its core function will keep you on track when developing product-building practices.
You should also have a clear idea of exactly who your product is for, or in other words, your targeted audience. This will ensure that during your product development, you aren’t building a product that strays away from the original vision of what your product is meant to do and for who it’s for.
Having a clear vision for who your product is for will help you map out your customer journey and strategic marketing plans, as well as the future you envision for your product, for example, further iterations, different versions, or adding a variety of models.
Finally, make sure you have a clear understanding of the goals you want to accomplish for your business and throughout the product-building process. This will keep you focused and not distracted from other, more stressful aspects of the business world, thus ensuring you get the most important things done as efficiently as possible.
Redesign and Improve
A mistake that a lot of inventors encounter is that once they have a strong idea about what kind of product they want to create, they stick to that one idea and don’t leave any room for flexibility in changing their design.
Although we previously mentioned that having a clear vision is important, being stagnant and not open to the idea of redesigning the way your product looks or performs its desired function can really limit the potential your product has to become innovative and successful.
One way to make sure that the vision for your product stays in line when redesigning or building your product is to make sure you get feedback. Feedback is extremely important in multiple aspects of your product-building process because it allows you to receive and see things from another perspective you originally wouldn’t have used.
Another helpful product-building practice that ties into redesign is to make more than one prototype of your product. Take some time to experiment and try out new designs or different aesthetic and material features to see and test what works best for your product.
During testing, it’s important to simplify your product as much as possible – at least for your first product design. Simplifying your product will not only help you stick with your vision but will also allow provide you with a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) to test the waters of your target market and consumer interest with.
Finally, by taking the time to redesign and improve your product, you get the opportunity to align your product and brand image together. This helps create a solid foundation for your business that consumers can recognize and remember, overall helping your branding and marketing in the long run.
If you have a great new invention and you’d like to learn more about this process, get in touch with MAKO today and visit our website to find out more. Or feel free to give us a call at 1-888-806-MAKO, and we can set you up on a call with our product strategist!
About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!
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