Partner Article

Evaluating yourself and your market

NORTH East-based marketing expert Ford Henderson unveils his top tips for developing a successful business.

LAST month on bdaily I focused on the importance of finding a niche in the market (click here to read that article if you missed it). Today I will be looking at evaluating yourself and your markets. You need to consider what precisely you are going to sell - I’m not talking here about your general field, but about the specific set of services within that field. Go ahead and answer the following questions which are designed to help you establish a good match between you and a specific target audience.

1. What are you particularly good at? Where do your individual strengths lie?

Think also about what other people say you are good at and about your natural abilities outside the workplace

2. Where does most of your experience lie?

Have you worked in a particular industry or field for a considerable length of time or is there a specific task that you have much experience in carrying out?

3. What do you feel most passionate about?

This could be a personal value or a specific type of project or task that excites you, and hopefully there will be a correlation between your answers here and those at question 1 above

4. Is there a single need that most of your current clients have but which is not being addressed by anybody in the market?

Think about the specific issues and problems that your clients face

5. Is there a single recurring issue or problem that you are resolving for the majority of your clients?

Think about whether there is an area where you feel as though you are already becoming an expert, almost by default

6. Are there any services that you provide but which your competitors do not? Are there any services which you provide more efficiently or effectively than your competitors?

Again, think about what your existing clients have to say. Do they ever mention that you are quicker, better value, offer greater expertise or are the only provider of a particular element of your service?)

7. In many types of service business, there tend to be elements that many providers don’t want to get involved with because they are just ’too difficult’ for one reason or another. Can you think of any such elements which might be needed by the people most likely to buy your services?

Think about elements of service which your competitors might consider to be too expensive to provide, or those which require specialist knowledge or would be especially time-consuming

As you work your way through each of the above questions, you will almost certainly identify other similar questions relating to your skills, interests and potential markets. As you do so, don’t just dismiss them but write them down separately along with your answers. The more internal and external evaluation you do at this stage, the better!

Ford Henderson runs Tyneside-based consultancy Ford Henderson Marketing. Click here to read his full e-book on marketing or email him at ford@fordhendersonmarketing.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .