Knowing and understanding your market is essential for your success as an entrepreneur. The marketplace is flooded with like-minded individuals who all want to be the “customer’s choice.” If you want to dominate your market, making yourself and your product/service stand out amongst the others will ensure that you ARE the “customer’s choice” every time.
First, you must find your niche. It will be hard to jump into a market that is already heavily saturated. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it will be difficult. BUT…if you can find a smaller niche of a heavily saturated market or- better yet-something that no one else is even touching right now-your odds of being an industry leader in that area will significantly increase.
Secondly, you must continually develop your product. Whatever product/service you start with will need to be developed, modified, and diversified over time. If you want to be in business for the long run, this will be an area that you need to pay close attention to. If you look at any successful business from McDonald’s to Starbucks, you can see how they have developed and changed products over time to continuously expand and appeal to their market. It’s the same for small businesses, too. What can you add to your service or how can you modify or diversify your current product to bring it new appeal?
Lastly, you need to have an understanding of factors outside of your business that will affect your business. So many things could sway the market and you need to be prepared for that. Culture,social aspects,demographics, environment, and technology all have an effect on business. You need to be aware of trends and how people are responding to them.
You CAN be a DOMINATING force in your market. Your business can have a long, prosperous life if you are willing to take the steps to understanding your marketplace.
