November 14, 2008, Newsletter Issue #185: Invest in Market Analysis

Tip of the Week

The market analysis section of your business plan can make or break your chance at financing. Take the time and spend the money to really get to know your industry, its trends, and where it’s headed. If you don’t, it could cost you the financing you’re trying to get.

Your audience probably doesn’t know anything about your industry. Start by defining your market in terms of:

Size Structure Growth prospects Trends Sales potential Define Your Target Market: This is the niche that focuses on a single segmentation of your market that will best be served by your product or services. Make it too broad and you have a shotgun effect with poor results on sales. Make it too narrow, and you leave no breathing room for future sales.

From your target market, estimate the share of the market that you can capture with your product. With the market research you have, you should be able to come up with the number of estimated customers you can reach.

Pricing: Naturally, your price must cover your costs and leave some room for profit margin. The lower you can get your costs, the higher your profit. Your price should reflect demand for your product as well as changes in your market as a whole.

Distribution: In this part of your plan, define where and how you will distribute your product. Do you have geographical restrictions?

Promotion: How will you promote your product? Lay out how you will use advertising, packaging, public relations, promotions and sales to increase exposure of your product.

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