159: Build a Community to Sell Your New Product Invention

Ashley Black is the founder of FasciaBlaster and many other related products.  Her company sells millions of dollars of products per month directly to her customers all over the world, and has built a community of over 8 million followers on social media. She is also a two-time best-selling author.  Her most recent book is titled From Passion and Purpose to Product and Prosperity.  Today Ashley is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can build customer communities around your new hardware product, how to be the personal brand behind your product, and how to ensure successful brand growth so that you can be the next hardware startup unicorn. Today you will hear us talk about: Building a brand for a hardware product startup Focused on ads that sold the products, but also getting them engaged in the actual community. Get to that point in ads where you are breakeven. Get out there and give deals to people for them to go out there and promote your product. Advocate for yourself There is magic as an inventor, the inventor themselves. Let the audience know who you are as a person, not just the product You don’t need to be pretty, you don’t need to be polished, you just need to be yourself. You don’t need to do a ton of research when you re just promoting yourself Be authentic Sell to yourself Self-funding You have to be all-in Lowering your CTA (customer acquisition cost).  The bigger the community, the lower the cost per acquisition. What is Plan B, there is no Plan B. If you’re an inventor out there, and you know your product can help, then it’s only up to you and your commitment. If you want it to be a hobby, it’s just that, but if you want a legacy business. People have a lot of societal safety nets The world is huge, find the others out there that resonate with you and your product EPISODE LINKS: Ashley Black Links: LinkedIn | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube PTC Links: https://www.ptc.com/ OnShape | Creo Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality. Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.