The basic steps in data mining are:

1. Defining your business objectives;
2. Constructing a marketing database;
3. Analyzing the data in your database;
4. Visualizing a model;
5. Exploring the model; and
6. Monitoring the model;

Data mining is now heavily used by companies and more sophisticated Internet marketers. If you have not heard of the term, you should know at least what it is and some basic information about it.

Read the complete article at: Data Mining.

Qualitative techniques include:

1. Observational and Quasi-observational Techniques;
   • Pure Observation – The marketer watches behavior of customers in real-life situation in situ or by videotaping.
   • Trace Measures – Collecting and recording traces of consumers’ behavior such as clicks on links of web pages or tearing patterns when opening packaging.
   • Archival Measures – Can be any type of historical records, public records, archives, libraries, or collections of personal documents used in analyzing behavioral trends and changes over time.
   • Entrapment Measures – Indirect techniques in which respondents react to a specific situation when the actual subject of investigation is totally different.
   • Protocols – Respondents are asked to think out loud and verbally express their thoughts during the decision-making process.
2. Projective Techniques;
   • Collages – Used to understand lifestyles and brand perceptions in which respondents are asked to assemble a collage using images and symbols from selected from magazines and newspapers.

   • Picture Completion – Pictures are designed to visualize the issue being studied and respondents must make associations or attribute words to the pictures.
3. In-Depth Interviews;
   • Individual Interviews – Individual in-depth interviews are conducted to obtain answers to specific marketing questions.

   • Focus Groups – Discussions are conducted by a researcher with a group of respondents who are considered to be representative of the target market.

Read the complete article at: Overview on Qualitative Data Collection Techniques in International Marketing Research.

This brings me to one important concept you need to know and understand in today’s highly competitive business world. That is “niche marketing”, in which you target one distinct group of people who need the product you are offering.

If you understand all the nuances of your target group, you can learn how to solve their problem better than your competitors to send you on your way to running a successful, profitable business.

Read the complete article at: Knowing and Marketing to Your Target Audience.

I encourage any inventors who are planning to start a business based on their invention or new product idea to read these articles.

Read the complete article at: Why Small Businesses Fail

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve
Owner, InventionPatenting.com

Let’s say you invent a new type of cooling device for public drinking fountains that chills the water in a very energy-efficient manner using thermoelectric cooling before dispensing the water to thirsty people. So you pay your hard earned money to have your patent attorney prepare and file a utility patent application for your invention as it relates to drinking fountains. You then prepare to manufacture the cooling devices by have manufacturing drawings and tooling made, rent a building, and lease manufacturing equipment.

Ok, you have the commercial drinking fountain market covered and may stand to make some good money by selling your cooling devices and licensing your issued patent to other companies that make drinking fountains.

But what if there is a much larger market for a version of your cooling device if adapted for use to provide chilled drinking water in the commercial home building and retail home improvement markets on kitchen, bath, and other home sinks? You may never realize the huge market for your cooling devices in home sinks and thus miss out on making a huge amount of money in the home sink market.

Worse yet, let’s say that although your chilling device is great for commercial drinking fountains, for whatever reason (such as high redesign and tooling conversion costs on a relatively low volume of drinking fountain sales, or industry “inertia” in accepting new ideas… especially from an industry “outsider”) it is never accepted in the commercial drinking fountain market.

Furthermore, let’s say that your cooling devices would be widely accepted in the home sink market (such as because of lower redesign and tooling conversion costs, those costs being spread over a larger volume of sinks sold, low industry “inertia”, or some combination thereof).

But you have already invested lots of money, time, and effort designing your cooling devices for the wrong market, the drinking fountain market, rather than in the home sink market that could have been a major success making you rich. Now, since you missed the right market for your cooling devices, you have little or no sales and are “up to your eyeballs” in debt to pay for your patent, tooling, building rent, and equipment (not to mention “opportunity costs” such as lost wages since you foolishly quit your well-paying job to start your business rather than doing so part-time).

My point is this… if you are a typical inventor, you are very enthusiastic and who want to “get rolling” on making money from your invention as soon as possible. However, whether you realize it or not, you are starting and running a new business be it: 1) a “manufacturing business” making products based on your invention; 2) a “brokerge business” finding investors to buy shares of your business; 3) a “licensing business” to patent and license your invention to manufacturing companies; 4) a “sales company” selling your inventor’s rights or your issued patent; or 5) some combination of these requires making intelligent business decisions from the start.

Your main asset (besides yourself) is your invention, around which your business will be built. So doesn’t it make sense, as a first step towards your making money, to review your invention in a thorough manner? Think about all af the possible uses for your invention. What is the basic function of your invention? In this example, it is generically speaking “a device to electronically cool a fluid flowing through a pipe or tube in an energy-efficient manner”.

Ask yourelf, where else is it necessary (or desirable) to cool a fluid flowing through pipe or tube in an energy-efficient manner? Well, as we discussed above, another use is cooling drinking water dispensed at a kitchen sink. Where else? Well, you need to do some serious thinking and research to determine this.

Obviously, doing a “Google search” for the key words would be a good first place to start. Consulting with experts in various industries or even friends (each with a properly executed “Non-Disclosure/Non-Compete Agreement”) regarding other adaptations and uses for your invention can be a big help. The only limits are the inventor’s persistence and imagination.

Another good practice is for inventors to consider all of the alternative ways to accomplish what your invention does. Try to think like a competitor who is trying to “get around” a patent that issues on your invention. What could be changed on your invention and still accomplish the same (or similar) results?

And be sure to tell your patent attorney to cover the various versions of your invention in your patent application!

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve
Owner, InventionPatenting.com

Well, I decided to do some research to see how you can get seed money to start your new business.

After listening to my new audio CD Finding Seed Money to Start Your New Business NOW! you will know the the basics of: 1) how to find private investors; 2) how to write a persuasive business proposal; 3) making initial contact with potential investors; 4) presenting your business proposal; 5) negotiating business ownership and management; 6) handling post-deal matters; and 7) getting government assistance.

I urge you to check it out at:
http://www.inventionpatenting.com/inventors-guide-finding-seed-money-cd.html

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve
Owner, InventionPatenting.com

Original Post:

“Greetings from Detroit. I’m enjoying a little bit of success with my invention the ‘Bogdon Box Bass‘. It won Best in Show in its category at the Summer 2008 NAMM Show and has a rave review in a national magazine called Bass Player Magazine.

Bogdon was kind enough to elaborate on his original post in a follow-up post.

Follow-up Post:

“The world needed a $99 Upright Bass. I was totally broke and couldn’t afford a cheap $800 upright bass so I made one using a cardboard box, weed whacker twine, nuts-n-bolts as tuners, and a scrabble piece for a bridge. My cardboard box bass sounded too good to be true so I posted a video on the web. Good Morning America showed 10 seconds of footage and I began to get emails asking to purchase my cardboard box upright bass. I asked my Uncle who owns a printing shop to help. He got my cousins who are an Acoustic Engineer and an Electronic Engineer to perfect my idea and create a kit.

We started to sell 100′s on Ebay and I sent the info to Bass Player Magazine who wrote a feature story. My uncle put up a few thousand dollars to buy materials, and as we sold our product, we used the profit to protect our box bass. I started with no personal investment and we earned $100k in the first year. We participated in a national trade show NAMM and we won best in Show and as a result are now in retail stores. I’m in charge of sales and marketing, though I’ve NEVER sold a thing in my life and know nothing about marketing. All I do is write letters, make phone calls, emails, and any other way to contact everyone all over the world. My cousins are in charge of manufacturing, and my uncle oversees the business and is the shipper.

Our customers made suggestions and we’re on our 5th version of the box bass after being in business for 3 years. I originally made a 2-string bass and my customers wanted a 3-string bass so we now have 2 models of box basses, and the customer demand product is outselling my original idea! We have many prototypes of new products and have been testing them locally. We make the worlds only “Electric Washtub Bass Pickup” and it was picked up by our retailers without even showing it to them. Some retailers said “we’ll sell what ever you got…”.

We manufacture everything ourselves. When sales become impossible to keep up, we will approach a manufacturer with actual sales receipts to outsource product production. As for now, I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had in my life. I am an inventor and a small business owner. I make the Bogdon Box Bass and have shipped them all over the world. I’ve been to New York to be on MSNBC Elevator Pitch. Fox News has been to my home to feature me in a story, as did my local NBC News. My box bass has been in all the newspapers in and around Detroit along with local and national magazines. I write a letter to someone each and everyday. Some days more than just one, but I never go to bed without making at least one contact in sales or marketing.

Oh yea, the moral of the story is that everything is possible, some things just take more time than others, and most of all ASK FOR HELP when help is needed.”

A very inspiring and informative article… thanks again to Bogdon for writing up his success story!

BE SURE to visit his website at http://www.bogdonmusic.com for more information about his products (and inspiration too).

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve

P.S. Be sure to protect your invention PRIOR TO advertising it on the Internet or elsewhere… read my previous posts for further information.

P.P.S. One thing I recently learned that Bogdon has been practising for quite awhile… as Bogdon put it “I write a letter to someone each and everyday. Some days more than just one, but I never go to bed without making at least one contact in sales or marketing.”.

But I was working on my laptop computer and kept the game on for some background noise. As the fourth quarter came around and the Garrett-led Longhorn offense scored some points, I found myself once again enthrawled in the game!

And so I have to ask you another question… any fans out there like me that were rooting for the “Crimson Tide” to win only to change your mind to root for the “Longhorns” in the 4th quarter? Aha, I thought that I was not the only one!

Several negative comments were received about the post that revolved around the idea of “Why are you helping inventors to prepare their own patent applications… it is like doing your own landscaping, haircuts, or surgery!”.

They continue… “Inventors will end up with a provisional patent application that is non-enabling (i.e. missing critical information about their invention) or missing some other legal technicality and they will not be able to use the application as a basis for filing a utility patent application” (which can issue as a patent filed within the one year ‘patent pending’ time period affored by the provisional patent application).

My response to them and to you is this… they are absolutely right. Obviously, a professionally prepared provisional patent application is best… if the inventor can afford the cost. An experienced patent attorney (at least 2-3 years of training under a veteran patent attorney… not self-taught) knows how to describe inventions in detail and have drawings or sketches prepared that show all critical aspects of the invention including the various versions or embodiments thereof.

However, many independent inventors cannot afford the $1,500.00 to $3,500.00 fee that patent attorneys charge to prepare a provisional patent application (note that we charge considerably less – only $477.00 to professionally prepare a provisional patent application for you including sketches or drawings). Many of these inventors still file provisional patent applications themselves… oftentimes resulting in an insufficient disclosure or other legal technicality not being complied with.

Well, the Provisional Patent Application Filing Kit 2010 is designed to give such inventors a reasonable shot at filing a good patent application themselves… at a reasonable cost. I feel that giving independent inventors the right information in an easy-to-read-and-follow format with all of the forms is better than them “winging it” as many independent inventors do.

I hope this clarifies the purpose of the Provisional Patent Application Filing Kit 2010 and who should purchase it.

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve
Owner, InventionPatenting.com