Patent Marketing: Marketing a Patent Is a Unique Process
A patent is a unique asset because unlike any other major purchase that a business makes, it cannot be modified. It has to be used exactly as it comes. A business can buy an old factory, remove the machinery, and turn it into an office building, warehouse or retail space. Since a patent cannot be modified into something else, the challenge in patent marketing is spread the widest possible net so the most potential prospects learn about the patent or portfolio. That is how you develop the most offers and get the best price for your patent(s)!
Unfortunately, most patent brokerage firms use the same old tired business model. They make cold calls. They take on a patent or portfolio, develop a list of prospects, and contact those prospects one by one. By phone or email, even by snail mail and fax. And they keep making cold calls until they run out of prospects. Labor-intensive, inefficient and not very productive!
IPOfferings is the ONLY patent broker to actually develop, design and implement a comprehensive patent marketing campaign for every patent and portfolio we represent. The other patent brokers may talk about “patent marketing” or a “patent marketing plan” for the properties they represent, but the fact of the matter is that they really just make cold calls!
IPOfferings is the ONLY patent broker that uses proven marketing concepts to promote and the patents we represent. Only IPOfferings implements a comprehensive patent marketing campaign that puts our clients’ patents in front of tens of thousands of prospects! There are five key elements to the patent marketing campaigns we develop, design and execute for our clients.
- Patent Value Quotient™ Report:
IPOfferings is the ONLY patent broker to publish an annual report on actual patent transactions. The Patent Value Quotient was introduced back in 2012, and it divides the total transaction by the number of U.S. Patents to compute the “quotient” – the Average Price Paid per Patent. This valuable intelligence is used by the IP and business communities to establish patent value. As publisher of the Patent Value Quotient, IPOfferings enjoys a standing and reputation that no other patent brokerage firm has. Why do the other patent brokers not produce such a report as part of their patent marketing? They are too busy making cold calls! Since it is read by everyone in the IP community, the Patent Value Quotient draws buyers to IPOfferings, so we often have buyers lined up when we take on a new patent. That’s the power of effective patent marketing. - IP MarketPlace™ Newsletter:
IPOfferings is the ONLY patent brokerage firm that publishes a monthly e-letter that features the patents and portfolios we represent. Some other patent brokers publish newsletters, but they do not feature the patents they represent in their newsletters. IP MarketPlace goes to over 9,000 opt-in corporate and IP executives. In the time it would take to cold call one prospect, IPOfferings reaches thousands of prospects! When a property is featured in IP MarketPlace, we often receive inquiries that turn into prospects that turn into buyers or licensees – without ever making any cold calls! That’s patent marketing at work! - Patent Marketplace:
IPOfferings is the ONLY patent broker to feature the patents and portfolios it represents at a high-visibility website as yet another element in our patent marketing. Some patent brokerage firms list their properties at their websites, but those websites receive no traffic so no one ever sees them! Type “patent broker” or “patent brokerage” or “patents for sale” into Google and see what websites pop up on the first page of search results. The websites that rank in the Top 10 – like www.IPOfferings.com – get thousands of visitors a day. The website that ranks 11th or 111th or 1,011th gets virtually no visitors! The IPOfferings website appears right at the top of the search results because it is the only patent broker website that is Search Engine Optimized (SEO), and that insures that the patents and portfolios we feature in the Patent MarketPlace section of our website will be seen by those looking to acquire or license patents. Let’s face it, the easiest prospect to sell to is the one who is looking for what you have! When we add a new property to our website, we often receive inquiries that turn into prospects that turn into buyers or licensees – without ever making any cold calls! Once again, patent marketing is so much more effective than cold calling! - Trade Press Coverage:
IPOfferings is the ONLY patent brokerage firm that uses news coverage in the trade press as yet another slice of the total patent marketing pie. Visit the In the News page at our website and you will see links to the more recent news coverage we’ve generated for the patents we represent. Most trade magazine go to tens of thousands of industry executives – some have over 100,000 readers – promoting the patents we represent to buyers or licensees that no broker could ever locate making cold calls. An article in just one trade magazine will often generate inquiries that develop into prospects that turn into buyers – without every making any cold calls! Yet again, you can see how the unique patent marketing that IPOfferings provides pays off handsomely for our clients. - Superior Marketing Piece:
IPOfferings is the ONLY patent brokerage firm to take a patent marketing approach when it designs a patent marketing piece. The sales literature developed by the other patent brokers are deathly dull – page after page of paragraph after paragraph of text! The Patent Brokerage Prospectus developed by IPOfferings is attractive, colorful, interactive and can be read on three levels. To see what we mean, request an IPOfferings’ Patent Brokerage Prospectus and compare it to what other brokers send to their prospects – and you be the judge. What broker do you want doing the patent marketing for your IP?
Once we’ve executed a comprehensive patent campaign for the patent(s) we represent, we often have numerous inquiries, and from those inquiries we have some prospects, and from those prospects we have a few offers. Thanks to effective patent marketing – that no other patent broker offers – we are often able to monetize our client’s patent(s) without ever making any cold calls!
However, if the patent marketing campaign does not generate enough inquiries, prospects and offers, we then go to Plan B. We generate a prospect list, and contact all the companies on that list. However, because of our reputation, high profile and status, we are able to put the patents we represent in front of buyers and licensees that the other patent brokers – because of their low profile and lack of any actual patent marketing – never get to talk to! Also, we send those prospects what is clearly a superior marketing piece! Our patent marketing skills continue to pay off for our clients!
By spreading the widest possible net using effective patent marketing, IPOfferings is able to put our clients’ patents in front of tens of thousands more prospects than any of the other patent brokers that are making cold calls. In fact, we often receive inquiries from companies – like start-ups or European or Asian businesses – that we did not even know existed, and that no broker would have ever found just making cold calls!
For some clients, IPOfferings works on a 100% contingency basis. If we have a very high level of confidence that we can successfully monetize our client's patent or patent portfolio, we will cover all marketing and out-of-pocket expenses ourselves. The client pays nothing. IPOfferings takes all the risks and covers all costs, and we are paid a Success Fee based on the revenue we generate for our client. If we do not have the highest level of confidence, but we still believe we can successfully monetize a client's IP assets, we then work on a partial contingency basis. We charge the client for our direct, out-of-pocket marketing costs, but we still put forth our best efforts to monetize the patent or portfolio on behalf of our client, and we are still incentified to monetize the patent or portfolio because our only income comes from a Success Fee that is based on the revenue we generate for our client. In the case of a partial contingency brokerage campaign, the marketing costs paid by the client are credited back to the client from the Success Fee.
If we do not believe that we can successfully monetize a patent or portfolio, we will let the patentee know that we have decided to decline to take on the patent or portfolio as a brokerage project. If requested, we will refer the patentee to other firms that may be help to assist.
You can contact 845-337- 6911 or [email protected]. Be sure to download our Patent Brokerage Services data sheet.
