Picking a Business Idea
Are you a self motivated individual who enjoys learning, taking risks, and wants to have the ability to be their own boss? Then starting a business may be the perfect thing for you! But what kind of business should you start? This article will help you to answer that question.
Step 1: Analyze the Market
Before you start looking at products or services you may want to sell, it is best to first look at the individuals you want to sell to. As a buisness owner & professional marketor, I know how important it to understand your target audience. Product development, business set up, and constructing a marketing plan all revolves around your target audience. That is why it is best to choose a target market that is full of individuals who identify with your values and interests. It is easier to understand that market’s demographics, behaviors, wants, needs, and problems if the market is full of individuals you could see yourself being friends with.
Step 2: What are your strengths?
Look at your life and make a lists of talents, skills and experiences. Now, based off of those skills, what kind of products could you develop, or services could you provide? Make a list. Now that you have made a list, think back on your specified target market. Which of those products or services would they be interested in? Of that list, is there a problem that you could solve for your target market? Identifying a pain point or problem of your target audience, then using your developed skills and talent to help them, is a great foundation for your buisness.
Step 3: What is the demand that product or service?
Now that you have identified several products or services that would work for both you and your target audience, it is time to narrow down the options further. The way to do this is by looking at demand. Are people searching for the product or service you would provide? This can best be answered by using google’s keyword planner. Using this keyword planner, you can enter words or phrases individuals could use to search for your product or service. Make sure to narrow down the geographical area to an area that would be relevant for you and your buisness, then look at the results. Do this for each of your existing ideas and rank them in order from most searched for to least.
Step 4: What is the competition for that product or service?
Now it is time for more Google! Look at the demand for the product or service you want to offer. Enter the same keywords you used in the keyword planner, but this time, simply enter these search terms into Google. Look at the websites that appear on the page. Is their product similar to yours? Are there lots of similar products and services already advertised for the market, or is the competition relatively low? After doing this for each of your existing ideas, rank them in order from least competition to most competition.
Step 5: Choose an idea
Now it is time to pick an idea and move forward! Review each of the previous 5 steps. First, recall your selected target market, their interests and behaviors. Second, remember your strengths and how your skills could solve particular pain points of your selected target audience. Third, look at the rankings for your products or services, which products had the most demand in your target market? Fourth, recall the competition for your product or service, is there a product or service that had less competition than the others? Finally, compare all of these items. Which buisness idea identifies with your target audience, aligns with your skills, has a decent demand and relatively low competition? If there is not a business idea that ranks well overall, I suggest putting greater weight on the first 3 steps, as competition can be overcome with a good product and good marketing.
