Money4Ideas.com

Promoting Your New Invention:
THE CURSE OF THE INVENTOR'S WEBSITE
by Harvey Reese

Hardly a day goes by without my receiving at least one e-mail from an inventor urging me to visit his or her website and report back what I think of this fantastic, wonderful new invention. I write back each time to advise that, sorry, I don't visit inventor sites to give snap, pre-judgments of new product ideas. I need to have the invention information in front of me to quietly contemplate - and I need answers to the questions on my product submission form. I don't mind answering the e-mails, although I must admit I do marvel at the assumption that of course I'll drop what I'm doing to visit their site and report back with an evaluation.

That aside, since as I say, the request to visit these sites is a daily occurrence, it has finally started me thinking about the value, if any, of inventor websites in general. In the back of my mind I've known for sometime that I was vaguely against them, and finally gave some thought to the reasons why.

Bluntly speaking, I honestly believe a site does the inventor far more harm than good, although I DO understand the following powerful arguments to support an opposing view:

Argument Number One:
It's so easy to do. Almost anyone can make his or her own website - and if not, the inventor can always recruit the first fourteen-year-old kid who walks by.

Argument Number Two:
It doesn't cost a cent to post it on the Internet. You can have your own homepage, or you can put your page on to any one of lots of existing commercial websites that invite inventors to post their inventions for free, assuming, I suppose, that collectively the site will draw traffic and perhaps the one who runs it can sell some advertising. I've never seen it actually work for the guy who owns the site, but so what? That's his problem.

Argument Number Three:
Considering that it's free, what's there to lose? So what if it's a long shot? Who knows? Maybe just the company you've been looking for will come upon the site and follow up with a hot phone call. Where's the harm?

Before I tell you where's the harm, you tell me where's the good? Can you give me ONE instance? I'm in contact with thousands of inventors - and I NEVER heard of a case where an inventor made a deal for himself through his website. I don't claim it's actually impossible, or even that it has never, ever happened - I'm only saying I've never heard it that it ever did. Tell me if I'm wrong.

More to the point, however, in terms of actual harm - I see two really serious problems:

Problem Number One:
An inventor creates a website, proudly sits back and thinks he's done something wonderful. Full of pride and eager expectation, willing to put his faith in the electronic miracle of the Internet, the inventor finally has an excuse other than simple sloth to not pursue personal attempts to get his idea licensed. After all, posting a site is a lot easier than calling a company president to try for a personal appointment. It's more fun to get pats on the back from friends and relatives whom you've persuaded to look at the site than it is to make a face-to-face presentation to a bunch of grim-faced marketing people at a company two states away.

"No! No!" you may say - "I use my website as a marketing tool. I don't just ask friends and relatives to look at it - I write to companies and ask them to look, too! It's like showing the idea in person." First of all, NOTHING is like showing the idea in person. If you choose to ignore the rest of this article, that's fine - but please absorb that one thought:

Problem Number Two:
If you're a guy proposing to a girl, you're not going to say that you've been turned down three times before and you hope and pray this time you'll hear a "yes." Nobody's dopey enough to propose like that... but you're doing the same thing by trying to market your invention through a website. You're shopping it around, hoping to finally hear a "yes." What you want to say to the girl is that of all the girls in the world that you could have proposed to, she's the special one that you want to marry - and that's the same message you want to give a potential licensee: of all the companies in the world who could be interested in this new product idea, you selected the Jones Company because it's such a perfect fit with their existing product line.

Instead, by advertising your invention on the Internet you're implying that it's been already seen by dozens or hundreds of others, none of whom had the slightest interest - so why would the Jones Company respond any differently?

When I make a presentation to a company I do everything in my power, short of out-and-out lying, to create the impression that they're the first folks to see the idea. As far as they're concerned, I ripped the sketches off my drawing board that morning and the paint isn't dry on the prototype. I NEVER go to the meeting with shop worn presentation material, even if it has to be done over because I've used it twice before. No company wants to know that two or three competitors have already turned the idea down. If your invention's posted on the Internet - you're saying the whole world has turned it down. From my perspective, you could hardly do more harm for yourself than that.

By trying to promote your company on the Internet you're saying it's an old, stale idea... and as my grandmother once taught me - no fishmonger yells that he's selling stale fish.

Dear Website owners: If you feel the information presented here would be of use to your visitors - I hope you will link to this site.

Harvey Reese Associates, Inc.
Money4Ideas.com
Harvey Reese -- harvey@money4ideas.com
Product Consulting -- International Product Licensing
614 South 8th Street, PMB 305, Philadelphia, PA 19147, USA
Fax: (215) 922-7055

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Site last modified March 2008