GATHERING COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE One of the weakest portions of any feasibility analysis or business plan is the competitive analysis. This is because an entrepreneur typically looks only at what can easily be seen on the surface rather than digging for what is not so obvious. It is important for entrepreneurs...
Marketing
RESEARCHING FOR A TARGET MARKET No matter what the size of the target market, it is crucial that an entrepreneur know as much as possible about the customer. In the beginning of a market analysis, the customer definition may be fairly loose and may even change fairly substantially as field...
HOW TO FORECAST NEW PRODUCT/SERVICE DEMAND One of the most difficult tasks facing the entrepreneur is forecasting the demand for new product or service, particularly if that product or service has never existed previously in the marketplace. Much of this difficulty is due to the lack of historical data and...
BENEFITS OF WEIGHING DELIVERY OPTIONS Virtually every business owner makes use of delivery services in their operations. For some companies, reliable, timely deliveries of parcels, letters, and documents are an essential element of their overall business practices. For others, delivery services are needed only occasionally to distribute contracts, business proposals,...
HOW TO FIND A COST-SHARING PARTNER Cost-sharing is a process wherein two or more organizations work together to secure savings in one or more areas of business operations. Such partnerships may also be pursued to realize other business advantages – increased marketplace exposure, access to technology, etc. – but cost...
HOW TO EVALUATE ADVERTISING RESULTS Once a business owner has successfully designed and placed an ad (or had the ad successfully designed and placed by an agency), he or she will be eagerly awaiting the increased sales and advertising promises. While advertising can be an effective means of increasing profitability,...
HOW TO DEVELOP ADVERTISING BUDGET The advertising budget of a business typically grows out of the marketing goals and objectives of the company, although fiscal realities can play a large part as well, especially for new and/or small business enterprises. In some cases, your budget will be established before goals...
THINGS TO CONSIDER IN CREATING A PROTOTYPE Prototypes are working models of entrepreneurial ideas for new products. A prototype is defined as “an original model on which something is patterned.” If you do not have the time, money, skills, or commitment to build a prototype of your idea, the odds...
PROPRIETARY INFORMATION: HOW TO PROTECT TRADE SECRETS Proprietary information, also known as trade secret, is information that a company wishes to keep confidential or protect from those outside the company. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act defines trade secrets as “information that derives independent economic value from not being generally known,...
IMPORTANCE OF A VERTICAL MARKETING SYSTEM A vertical marketing system (VMS) is one in which the main members of a distribution channel – producer, wholesaler, and retailer – work together as a unified group in order to meet consumer needs. In conventional marketing systems, producers, wholesalers, and retailers are separate...
