There is nothing as great as turning your brilliant ideas into physical products that you can see, feel, and touch. Creating a product prototype involves making a three-dimensional version of your idea. It’s a very thrilling stage of your business because finally, your ideas can be transformed into reality. Creating a product prototype enables you to make a physical version of your product and recognize any flaws in your design which needs to be changed.
It is very easy to draw and design a product on paper but it is not until you have actually created a physical product that you can recognize the problems and design issues that need to be fixed. Furthermore, creating a product prototype helps you to choose materials that would reduce your costs of production; you can test different materials and eventually settle for the cheapest.
Another reason why you need a product prototype made is because it would give you something tangible and physical to present to potential business partners and investors. It is easier to convince people to partner with you in a business when you have something tangible and physical to present to them.
It would also show your level of expertise and seriousness and also help you to stand out from the billion and one people out there with just raw business ideas. Manufacturing a product prototype is simply bringing your product to physical existence. These ten steps would guide you in creating your product prototype and selling it-:
10 Quick Steps to Manufacture a Product Prototype and Sell It
1. Make a design outline
First, you have to spell out what you intend to achieve. Ideas are about solving problems and challenges or filling existing gaps, so you have to first identify the problem you want to solve and how you are going to solve them. You would also need to identify any limitations or constraints that may stand in the way and how you plan to overcome them.
Another thing you have to do at this stage is to identify your target market. Who are you creating your products for? Would they be middle-aged people or children? Would they be high income earners or low earners? This is very important to help you decide on the features of your product, what to include and what wouldn’t be suitable.
2. Elaborate your idea
All ideas start from the mind but to create anything tangible out of it, you would need to get it out of your mind unto the drawing board. Get a drawing board and sketch out your design. You should think about the shape and dimensions, texture, color and all other details of the product.
Some of us really suck at drawing but that is not a problem, you can always find software to make it easier for you to sketch your product design. You can also engage the services of a prototype developer to assist you in developing your prototype but you have to be careful so that you don’t spend too much, or even have your ideas stolen.
3. Select materials
The materials you choose are also very important. Don’t make the mistake of using cheap, inferior materials just because it’s a prototype except when it is not feasible or practical to use actual materials for creating your prototype. You should use of the best materials you can find and the exact same materials you intend to use for mass production.
Make a list of all the materials you would need based on your sketches and then shop for them. You should ensure that you have a record of all the materials you put into manufacturing your product prototype as well as the costs of each item.
4. Decide on the manufacturing methods
Next, you would have to decide on how your products would be manufactured and assembled. Would they be handmade or machine assembled. Of course, this would also depend on the type of product you are manufacturing. The most important thing is to choose a manufacturing process that would give you a product with the highest quality.
5. Create a physical prototype
You can now put all your drawings and sketches together and convert it to a physical product at this stage.
6. Tweak the design
When you are done with the initial production stage, you may notice some slight errors or features that you need to change or add, this is the stage at which you would make all the necessary corrections and adjustments. You may find out that you need to revise your design many times, do not despair or give up at this stage, just keep doing all you can to ensure that you end up with a perfect product that would shake the market.
7. Decide on a price for your product
You have gone through a lot of stress and invested so much time into creating your product prototype; this is the stage where you start to think of reaping the benefits of your work. Setting the right price that would be acceptable to consumers and also be sufficient to compensate for your stress is important. You would have to come up with two sets of prices; one for wholesale and another for retail.
There are a lot of things that go into determining a price for your product but a good way to start is to bring out the list of all the costs of material inputs, service inputs as well as all the other costs you put into bringing the products to a physical stage. You should also add a mark-up to compensate for your stress.
8. Sell your product
Of course, you can sell your product prototype if you wish. The most important thing is to elaborate the features and importance of your product, get a few professional photo shots of your product and upload it on the internet.
Selling your product prototype would give you a clear insight into how well your product would do in the market when eventually manufactured. You can create a website for your product and use search engine optimization tools to drive traffic to the website and make sales. You can also sell your product prototype to investors for a one-time sell-out fee.
9. Promote your product
The more you promote your product, the more success you would achieve. There are thousands of ways to promote your prototype; attend trade shows, fairs and events where you can showcase your talent, use the internet, talk to friends and family about it and make use of the power of social media.