How To Turn Ideas Into Products

Having a great new product idea to bring to market feels like a breakthrough moment. Visions of a successful business adventure taking off on day one would start to fill your head. Add to it the thought of finally being able to quit your day job, which doesn’t work for you anymore. But, it takes careful planning and analysis work to move from product concept through to the actual production. You have to think through the different elements leading to a successful launch of a product.

One excellent decision you can opt to make is to hire custom formulation development services to help you with new product formulation. These companies help not only entrepreneurs but also manufacturers and distributors successfully turn innovative product ideas into an actual, on-the-shelf product.

Read on if you’re interested to learn more about how custom formulation development service providers can be of great help to you.

Product Development Process Steps

The entire process that custom formulation development service providers follow when turning a product concept into a real product in the market can be divided into the following series of steps: Defining vision, validating the concept, developing a prototype, and establishing other needed services.

Custom formulation development companies carry out the process for you and can even extend manufacturing support. Below is a detailed look at each of the steps.

1. Defining Vision

You can work with a formulation development expert as you try to envision your product concept. To help you move the concept ahead, it’s useful to ask one basic question: Does your product represent an entirely new concept, or is it an enhancement or improvement to an existing product in the market?

Your product idea may be an evolution of a currently marketed product or may bring a new, revolutionary concept to the marketplace. While either way should be fine, please keep in mind that it will be easier to establish the value of your product and differentiate it from your potential competitors if there’s a more significant distinction between what currently exists and what your product represents. Also, greater profitability because of a potential higher price point results from the unique value of your product. Those said, you have to fully understand the intended specifications and characteristics of the product that you’re looking to create.

If your focus is improving an existing product, you should answer the following questions:

• Can you reduce the cost of a product that’s already being sold?
• Can you improve efficiency if you combine separate functions into one enhanced product?
• Can you increase the levels of performance or efficacy over what currently exists?
• Can you provide a significantly longer service life?
• Can you reduce the total ownership cost?
• Can you save valuable time for the customers?
• Can you impact the health and well-being of the customers?

Creating a definition around the vision you have for your product idea is all about understanding its characteristics and specifications and asking how it will impact the customer buying it, which defines your offering’s perceived value.

2. Validating The Concept

During the concept validation stage, you’re still going to work with a formulation development expert from a custom formulation development company. In this process, you have to determine whether or not the marketplace is going to be receptive to your product. Below are several important points on which you have to carefully reflect while in the concept validation phase.

What market or markets do your product potentially serve?

Products can generally be business-focused, consumer-focused, or both. To establish your product’s potential size and reach, as well as its price point, you have to know which specific market or markets you’re planning to sell to.

The concept validation stage is also the right time for you to perform preliminary market research. Of course, you need to confirm that your product has a fighting chance at actually performing in the market before investing money in getting it manufactured. It doesn’t matter how seemingly great your product idea is because when there’s no demand for it, it’s useless.

Who will be the primary purchaser or customer of your product?

If your product is consumer-focused, for example, you have to give careful thought to the specific market segments to which the product appeals. Some of the different aspects of a potential customer include the age range of customers to which your product might appeal, the geographical location of the buyer, and whether or not your product appeals to one set of customers having particular interests, like hobbies, etc. The planning stage has the identification of who will likely buy and use your new product as its important part, so you have to do it as precisely as possible.

3. Developing A Prototype

Creating a proof-of-concept or prototype for your product is going to be a worthwhile investment as long as it’s feasible. You can use the prototype to gauge the interest of your potential buyers and get useful feedback on your idea. However, prototypes also have a second valuable purpose, and that’s to function as a dress rehearsal or dry-run for full-scale production.

A prototype can definitely help in testing the waters of the production stages, especially if you intend to produce your product in large numbers. It will also help test the materials and components utilized in your product. It’s essential to note that it’s possible that what’s working on paper may not work or may need some tweaking when what’s on paper turns into the cutting of the actual materials.

Furthermore, the process of developing a prototype is one in which formulation development experts can provide guidance. They can also finalize the entire product based on your input after you review the prototypes.

4. Establishing Other Needed Services

After completing all the steps above, custom formulation development service providers can, then, establish other needed services to help you produce your final product. This is where additional support for performing packaging, labeling, and shelf-life analysis comes in. Of course, this is also the time when custom formulation development companies assist you with the complete production through a third-party manufacturer or your internal manufacturing facility, if you have one.

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter what product type you’re developing. You have to put in all the necessary preparation from researching, planning, prototyping, to actual manufacturing. It’s the only way to set yourself up for success, and that’s exactly how custom formulation development services can help you.