What can new businesses do to succeed Step Two

Step 2. Finding a Viable Market

What if you launched a business and nobody bought anything?

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There is a school of thought by many start ups and that is "build it and they will come"

So new owners invest their money in a cool idea with the hopes that customers will magically appear once they open the doors. All too frequently, these hopes turn out to be in vain. History is replete with ventures that crashed and burned because the founders spent all of their time and money developing a product without bothering to consider how to attract customers. Even worse, many did not really understand what customers valued and were willing to pay for.

So what is the answer? Firstly do research and best of all ask potential customers what they would like your product/service to provide. Clearly the goal for your business is to supply something that is a solution to a problem, or a must have in their lives. Then if you have identified a solution that people will buy the next question is “how much is the solution worth to them”? The final step is then to determine the actual size of your target market.

There is one more step and that involves working out how you are going to generate demand for you products via marketing. What messages, what channels, what offers etc? The more you know and understand the market that you are targeting, the easier it becomes to decide on channels, communications and offers. Again without knowing how to reach prospects, you may find yourself spending huge amounts of budget on media that is completely wasted. Remember the old adage, “half my advertising budget is wasted, I just don’t know which half!” (Lord Leverhulme)

It's imperative to research and validate the market before you launch your business. Talk to prospective customers and find out what they really need. Chances are, you will end up with a much more compelling offering than what you initially dreamed up on your own. Remember, find the customers first, and then look for a solution.

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