One of the most crucial items on an entrepreneur's to-do list is figuring out if their awesome business idea is actually viable. Does it have a real market out there? Is there an audience for it, and does it solve a certain demographic's problem? Ask anyone in product design: Just having a great business idea is insufficient.
You have to test it by bringing it out of your head and into the real world. Verifying if there's an actual market before you begin working on your product will save you a lot of time, effort, and money. Here's how to do it.
5 Effective Ways to Determine if There is a Market
1. Conduct insightful market research.
Market research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and understanding data not only about the market, but also about selling your product or service in said market, and the target audience for the product. It's the very first step toward a comprehensive examination of your business idea's viability. Many business owners sadly neglect this most fundamental part of their business plan –because they're afraid of criticism about their product or service. Instead of being convinced that your product or service is the be all and end all of the marketplace, you should nurture a healthy tolerance for constructive feedback. That's the only way you can do proper market research and determine how to improve your product or service. To help you achieve this, head on over to our market research category for expert researching services.
2. Perform keyword research.
Keyword research is distinct from market research. Here, you perform keyword research to help you determine for which search term(s) rank for your website in your industry. You'll get a good idea of the popularity of your business idea – if a keyword returns a lot of search results, you know there's a big market out there, which helps you move forward. The downside to that is that the keyword is too competitive, making it a challenge to rank highly for it. For all these nuances, consulting with an SEO expert will give you more clarity.
3. Consult The Do List.
The Do List – aka, the Fiverr blog that you're reading right now – is a huge repository of business and marketing knowledge. It features thought-leadership pieces that examine the ins and outs of entrepreneur-friendly topics like:
Branding
Developing a business idea
Running a business
SEO
Digital marketing
Influencer marketing
Business case studies
Proposal writing
To use The Do List to help you determine if your business idea is viable, do a search on the blog for keywords like "business idea."You'll get results like:
Think of a business plan as your roadmap to success with your business idea. Once you've gathered preliminary data via the methods above and know that your business idea could actually work, you can then develop a business plan properly.Essentially, it's a written description of how you see your business moving forward. It should cover what you want to do with your business and how you plan to do it. Business plans can be as simple as just a few paragraphs long, outlining the most important points, or as complex as many pages long. How you structure it is up to you!Business plans help you:
Communicate your vision to possible investors.
Understand how to manage your business better.
Attract potential business partners.
Secure a loan.
Persuade employees to join you.
Our business plans subcategory features many experts who can help you devise a great one.
5. Never be afraid of negative feedback.
The key to determining your business's viability is being open to hearing negative feedback. When you're just starting a business, your idea is largely untested, so you have to tolerate what the marketplace is telling you – which can well mean that you have to change aspects of your product or service to make your idea really work in the marketplace.How do you know that there's a market for your business idea? Have you done market research? Tell us in the comments below!
