Well, its been a while since my last post and a lot has changed. The manufacturing is back on track and I should have product by early August. Yeah! Between now and then, there are a lot of hurdles, though. I need to make the product actually work from 12,000 miles away. So I need to write up a detailed development plan for the manufacturer to follow. Every single little step has to be planned and anticipated to the best of my ability to make this go smoothly. Such things as "these parts shoudl fit together like this" up to "this is the test rig and method that we will use to apply fluctuating water pressure to make sure the damping function is properly tuned" That is going to be a lot of work!
On the MWD side, things have been going well too. I decided that rather than re-writing a long proposal like the first time I would do a rough draft...sort of run it up the flagpole and see who salutes. So I rewrote the whole plan in about three pages, pulled budget numbers out of my rectal repository and submitted it. The rep loved it. He didn't want to change anything. He said he would attach it to my original and send it up to legal to be approved for funding. No formality needed. Ha! LOL. Now the plan calls for just a few subcontracted custom installs and professsional audits and I pay myself to write the reports. That way at least I get something for it. In the end, the most value will be the endorsement by MWD and future potential to market through them.
Which brings us to the title subject: Marketing. I got the website tuned up to meet the original intent. When I started on the website I wanted something quick and dirty, just so I could have a web presence as I started to meet people and pitch the product. So, that's what I got...quick and dirty. Now I've gotten feedback from honest friends who tell me the message isn't getting through. I also did a pitch at a local inventor's group meeting and half the room couldn't figure out what it was or what it did. Arrrggg!!!! Silly me. I thought that because I knew how it worked and the sprinkler retailers got it, that I would be able to convey the message to the average joe. WRONG! I now see that my marketing plan is sorely in need of MAJOR assistance...and fast. I called the marketing firm I hired to do the logo, website, etc and scheduled a meeting. We need a brainstorming/planning session. We need a coherent message, more graphics, end to end coverage, more, more, more. At the same time, I met with a friend of my old neighbor who designs marketing campaigns for major fortune 500 companies. He started going through the elements of a marketing plan that I should be considering and my eyes began to roll back as I saw the amount of work and $$ in what he was describing. The danger of not doing it is that a knockoff competitor who can afford it pushes me out of the market. That would suck. And, I still don't have a sales rep lined up and I should be pre-selling now. So, that's the major focus. If I'm not working on development plans its all about marketing....this is getting interesting!
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