Creating a Maker’s Row Project is a great way to organize your product development thoughts and materials. However, it’s also an incredibly powerful tool to connect with manufacturers that could help you in any steps of the process you are on.
This was made even more powerful when we introduced our projects dashboard. If you list your project publicly, it will be put in front of thousands of potential factory partners. Here are a few tips to make your project stand out!
Add As Many Images As You Can
Design and production are incredibly visual industries. That’s why it is essential that you include as many images as possible. There are few places on projects that you can include visuals:
Cover Image
Your cover image will be featured at the top of your project and as a thumbnail on the projects dashboard. We find that projects with images receive more inquiries than those without. The first image uploaded to your project will act as your cover image.
Reference Images
If you do not yet have a sample or a prototype, then it is essential that you have some reference images/inspiration to include in your project. This will give potential factory partners an idea of what you are looking to have done. However, if you do have a sample or prototype, include as many photos from as many angles as you can.
Sketches
If you don’t have a sample or prototype, detailed sketches could also be a strong way to give a factory an idea of what you’re making.
Include Your Tech Pack and Materials
If you’re a little further along in the process, including your tech pack, materials, patterns, or any other pieces of collateral you may have will not only be helpful to give an idea of what you’re making, but also show a factory that you are serious about what you are doing.
Even if you don’t actually have the material at your disposal, leave a reference image of what you’re looking for with a description.
Go Into Detail
While images are the strongest facet of a project, the words matter a lot as well. That’s why we suggest going into as much detail as you can. Detail. Detail. Detail. We can’t say it enough. There are many places that you can add descriptions:
Product Description
Your product description is going to be one of the first things a factory will see when they click onto a project. Here you should give a detailed description of what you are making including the materials, the functionality, and even the target market.
Use this space as an opportunity to give information that we may not have a field for. This could be your target market or if you want to make a variety of styles or sizes.
File Uploads
Adding as many relevant files to your project is key, but also including descriptions in these files is important as well. This will give a factory an idea of what you are including in your project without having to download and view them.
Set a Realistic Budget
The biggest reason we hear when asking factories why they pass over a project is that the budget isn’t realistic. Not only does that tell a factory that it seems like you are inexperienced, sometimes a factory can’t logistically make a product for that much.
We have create an easy to follow page to help you figure out your retail price and cost per unit:
Fill In As Much As You Can
Projects that are filled in more completely receive more inquiries. So fill in as many fields as you can to the best of your ability. That brings me to our last tip: devote time to making your project the best that it could be.Â
Our factories love finding great leads through the dashboard, so make sure yours stands out!
