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“Tell a Friend about us!”

I want to write a blog entry specifically about my marketing plan as I have learned over the past few months that:

Idea: Free

Invention: Expensive

Successfully marketed Invention/profit: Priceless

Ideas are a dime a dozen.  Some of us spend the time and effort to move our ideas into an actual invention or product.  Now what?  There are many wonderful products in the world that nobody knows about and that will never make any money.  You had all these lofty dreams about your idea and once you actually created the product you can’t sell it.  From what I have been learning this is more the norm these days.

For my product I have developed a specific marketing plan that I will share with you all.  Will it work?  I don’t know yet, but we will find out!

Here is the plan:

• I already am an expert in my field, but I am not yet a “mover and shaker“.  I am a big believer in viral marketing.  Over the past few years I have developed good relationships with “movers and shakers” in my industry and have several good friends that lecture worldwide and are highly respected and very influential. I have contacted some about my product and asked them if they would try it out and give me their opinion/endorsement.  They all so far said yes.  Furthermore, I asked that if they do indeed feel the product is as good as I feel it is, that they include the product in their lectures with a “plug” for me. I am not asking them to do anything they feel uncomfortable with as most lecturers point out the products they like anyhow. 
• I contacted my dental school and am having one of my favorite and highly influential instructors evaluate the product as well.  As above, I will ask for their blessing if he feels the product is as good as I believe it is.  My goal is to soon have some dental schools order, use and recommend my product instead of the old product that mine replaces.  I have a list of all dental schools in the USA and am going to contact each one in the same manner, sending samples to them to try. Once one goes for it I can use that as a referrence for the others.
• There are a few advanced learning programs for dentists in the USA such as the Pankey Institute, LVI, the Hornbrook Group just to mention a few.  I have connections with most of them through members that are friends of mine who are willing to present the product for me. One program teaches my method of occlusal adjustment (what my instrument is designed for) already, except they need to use multiple instruments to achieve what mine does alone. This program is highly respected and would be a great referral should they adopt my instrument!
• I am creating a website (that needs a lot more work) that will offer my product at a discount for the first sales as well as a newsletter that will offer the product at a discount in conjuntion with other products in the future. On that website I will offer my product as well as some informational material that I am working on (other products such as ebooks and seminars).
• I am working on a mailing list that I will create myself. My goal is to also connect with some of the mailing lists of the sources mentioned above and see if they will allow me to place the product announcement in their giving their subscribers the options to sign up for my list!
• I am going to annouce the product at popular dental websites such as Dental Town, Practicon and DPR.  These announcements are free and could potentially drive a good amount of traffic to the website. 
• Shortly after annoucing the product I will write a short article for DPR and possibly others about how to use the instrument and why it is better.
• I will/have contacted major distributors like Patterson, Schein and Benco about selling the product through them. We will see how this goes. 
• I will/have contacted major dental instrument manufacturers such as Hu-Friedy and Miltex about private labeling the product. You never know what their level of interest will be, but it is certain to increase after they see who endorses the product! I will keep my options open with them…

So, that is the plan for now. It is constantly changing so stay tuned!

This product is a dental niche product.I have learned so much doing this that I have great ideas for the next few months…exciting things are happening!