You may have come up with a product or service which is innovative and which meets a known need, or even a need which the marketplace doesn't yet realise it has, but which at this point it isn't doing anything to increase your revenue. You may not even be entirely sure how you are going to market it. You may think that this is something you can think about towards the end of the project, which you have something concrete to sell. If this is your belief, then you need to think again!
If you have managed to obtain grant funding for your project, you will know that the funding body wants to know about your exploitation (or commercialisation) plans from the outset. Many companies struggle to put together a document explaining how the company will increase its turnover and achieve the forecast return on investment (RoI) as a consequence of completing the project. Even if you don't have grant funding, it is important to think about your marketing plans right from the beginning of the project, and to put them in writing. Writing an exploitation plan need not be as daunting as it can sometimes sound, and is simply a matter of providing the answers to some straightforward questions.
If you have answered all these questions, and updated the answers as your project makes progress, you will be in a better position to market your product, and will be able to demonstrate to investors and funding bodies that you have thought about these matters at the outset and continued to think about marketing your innovation throughout the life of your project.
(Cheryl)
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Black Kite® Ltd. is a technology business consultancy that has been helping small and large organisations grow since it was founded in 2007. We bridge the gap between R&D and business development to provide expertise that you may not have in-house.
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