Guarantee
yourself success by finding a good market niche and a proper product.
There
is a single most important component that has the most significant
influence on the success or failure of any business. It is the
initial business idea. It consists of your product, your target
market niche, and your unique selling proposition (USP). If you
have a good business idea, and apply the proper techniques to
develop your business, then your success is almost guaranteed.
We'll teach you how to find good business ideas - that is the
mission of our Niche Marketing Research Center.
What
makes a good business idea
Let's
look closer at the three parts of what we call a business idea.
The "product" term is self-explanatory, "target market niche"
is also widely used, "USP" is somewhat less known, but we want
to make some comments on each of those terms, regardless of their
popularity.
Your
product is, pretty obviously, what you are trying to sell.
It can be a tangible item, like a book or a brick of soap. It
can be an electronic item, like an e-book, or downloadable software.
At last, it can be an online community membership, your professional
service, or anything else you are going to charge your customers
for. We call all those things "a product". The most important
attribute of a product is its value. Your product must
be valuable for your customers, solve their problems, fulfill
their wishes, and generally make them happy.
Your
target market niche is your audience, your potential customers.
Your target niche should have a reasonable size - large
enough to make a good profit, small enough to fit the resources
of a small business and avoid competing the large corporations.
And your target audience should be easy to reach online
through the specialized web sites, online forums, mailing lists,
etc.
Your
unique selling proposition (USP) is what connects your
product with the target audience. It is the heart of your business
idea. It can be defined as your marketing strategy, or your business
mission. It is the concept that makes your product something
more than one of the items on the shelf for sale. It must make
your product stand out of the crowd and persuade your prospects
that your product is the only perfect solution to their
problems.
If
all three parts of your business idea meet the above criteria,
your chances to succeed are quite good. But how can you find such
an idea? Read on, and you'll learn several ways to do it.
Find
a niche that matches your knowledge and skills
The
best policy when determining your product and target market is
to do what you enjoy doing. You'll achieve the best results
if you love your work. So, first of all, think about the things
you like to do most of all. It may be your current job, one of
your previous ones, your hobby, your favorite kind of sports,
or anything else you like.
Write
down all those possible areas of interest, and then think
about each one of them separately. Try to answer the following
questions:
- Would
you be glad to choose it as a daily job?
- Do
you have some unique skills or knowledge in that field?
- Who
would be interested in your proposition?
- Would
you like to work with those people?
After
that, you should have a list of areas of interest that have the
best chances to bring you the success.
Now,
you can pick one of those areas and start structuring your
knowledge. Write down the list of all the basic things one
needs to learn to reach your level of success in that area. Then
put them in a logical order, so that your customer could learn
them in sequence. Then, do the same for each item in your list
- break it into smaller parts, and then arrange those small parts
in a logical order.
When
you finish such two-level lists for several areas of interest,
you'll have some ideas about what you can offer to other people.
Look through your lists, and think over each item.
- Do
you know anything special about it?
- Do
you have any related skills?
- Can
you try and create some product to help people solve that
problem?
- Can
you offer something outstanding, not present anywhere else
in the market?
Write
down your ideas and try to imagine and describe a business
built on every of those ideas. Some of them might look weird,
but some may be quite viable.
Show
your lists and ideas to your friends, listen to their opinion.
They'll surely tell you what ideas they like most, and maybe they'll
even give you some more ideas. They can also point out some logical
mistakes you might have made. Ask your friends what products they
might need, or what they would be willing to learn. Think how
you can help them. Many other people could have the same problems
as your friends. Again, write down all new ideas and imagine developing
a business.
Do
some research in the Internet. Find the web sites related
to your areas of interest and your specific ideas. Learn what
other people say about those things. Find some related online
forums, or newsgroups. Listen to what people say, especially to
what they need. If you notice any problems that many people tend
to experience, think how you can help them. See if there is some
serious competition in your field. As always, write down and think
over your new ideas.
And,
besides of conducting your research intentionally, always write
down the "incidental" ideas that come to you during a walk
in the park, or during your lunch. The best ideas often appear
at the moments like that, so make sure you don't forget them.
Just make a small note, and then think it over when you have more
time.
If
you do all of the above, you'll soon have a ton of ideas. Of course,
they will be of different quality. Pick those that you like most,
and research them more thoroughly. Try to invent your own products,
or find someone else's products that could make those ideas work.
Why consider someone else's products? Because you can form a joint
venture with the product's owner, and take a commission for selling
that product in your specific market niche.
Estimate
your chances before the big work
No
matter how much you like your idea, don't be in a hurry.
Don't invest your time and money into a new business until you
make sure you'll be able to profit from it. It would be very disappointing
to spend half a year and thousands of dollars into a new product,
and then to be unable to sell it to anyone.
First
of all, think, would you buy such a product yourself? If
you feel doubted, then you should probably work on another idea
first.
Ask
your friends if they would find your product valuable. Maybe
they would, but with some changes - write them down.
Try
to estimate your market niche size. Internet can be useful
here. Look at the search engine statistics, try to find information
about the size of mailing lists devoted to your problem, find
your potential competitors and think what will make you different.
Make sure your target niche will be not too large and not too
small.
Make
sure your target audience is easily reachable online. Find
and collect the addresses of web sites, online forums, and other
Internet resources related to your product. Those are the places
where you'll want to advertise and seek for joint ventures.
When
you have the addresses of the related online resources, conduct
some research in target audience. Place some announces on
the Internet and see how people react. If someone follows the
links in your ads, or writes you email showing some interest,
then your product will definitely be worth something to someone.
You can even estimate the price by simply asking people how much
they would pay for the solution to their problems, and how much
they usually pay for similar products.
Automating
the research to save your valuable time
As
you have probably noticed, the process of finding business ideas
and estimating their potential is rather time-consuming. You probably
don't want to spend several months just searching for ideas and
evaluating them. You may be late by the time your research is
over, because someone else can take up your target niche with
his or her product at that time.
We
can help you here! Our NicheFinder market research
software will browse the Internet for you, seek the search engines
and other related pages for product ideas in your field, and help
you to estimate the potential of each idea by collecting statistics
from search engines. It is all done automatically, and very fast!
Visit
our web site to read the full NicheFinder description.
Free
content for your web site or e-zine
You
can use this article as a free content for your web site,
e-zine, or newsletter! Email it to your friends and customers,
make it available for download at your articles archive, or publish
it on paper - whatever you like! The only restriction is to leave
the article unchanged. Visit our web site to download the latest
versions of our free articles and our free niche marketing e-book.
Yours
sincerely,
Helen Salamakha and Val Danilchuk,
Niche Marketing Research Center
www.nichemarketresearch.com
center@nichemarketresearch.com
Back to NicheFactors
LEGAL NOTE: Every effort has been made to accurately represent our product and its potential. Please remember that each individuals success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire and motivation. As with any business endeavor, there is no certain guarantee that you will earn any money.
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