The Importance Of Researching Your Business Idea
There are few quicker paths to bankruptcy than flying into a business idea headfirst without the benefit of market research. This mistake has been made time and again by countless fledgling entrepreneurs, from the girls on the street corner selling lemonade to the internet startup selling a method of paying parking tickets on the web. It doesn?t matter if you think you have the greatest idea ever thought of by a human mind; if others don?t see it the same way, you?re going to be wasting time and money trying to get it off the ground. Even major corporations make this mistake from time to time. Did Pepsi really gather a great deal of market research that indicated America was clamoring for a clear cola? Did Coke have a mound of evidence pointing them to the fact that consumers were tired of their long popular formula and would prefer something that tasted like watery Pepsi? Corporations, for the most part, spend months researching a new product before they begin marketing it to the masses. Go thou and do likewise and save yourself the energy and wasted time you might otherwise put into a product that was doomed to fail from the outset.
Let?s talk about Hollywood for a moment. The common complaint about the movie industry is that there are no original ideas coming out anymore. Everything is either a remake, a sequel, or something that seems like a retread, even if it manages to have a unique title. Ignoring the fact that every year there are plenty of original, thought provoking films coming from the studio system that by and large get ignored by the movie going public, let?s take a moment to examine why these truths may be. Is it because Hollywood is devoid of talent and original thinkers? Not hardly. To make it in the movie business is the dream of too many aspiring writers and directors. The talent and originality is there, and it?s there in spades. The problem is this: for the most part, originality doesn?t sell movie tickets. Familiarity does. That?s why Rocky Balboa is a safer bet for a movie studio than Pan?s Labyrinth. That?s why in the wake of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter there is a new fantasy themed film every couple of months. Hollywood executives take the time to see what?s popular, see what the majority of the movie going audience wants to see, and gives them just that. Sometimes the movie going audience doesn?t know what it wants to see as well as the executives who research this stuff.
If you?re going to go to market with an idea, you must first do the research. It is the number one priority. No matter how original or thought provoking your product is, no matter how much of a need you perceive there to be, you must do the research and determine what the facts say. Can research give you the answer to success every time. Absolutely not. But many times it can save you from failing where others have failed before. Mistakes are okay. Making others?s mistakes yourself is not.
Ryan