HOW TO RESEARCH: Solving Ideas Before Starting Up

Have an idea, budget and believing if you just dive in and do it and eventually you will succeed? Well, think again. Those who manage to sell their business out there, understands the importance of research very well. They always do their homework and know what to look for, even after their business kickstarts. Research is one of the most important key factor and asking the right questions for your research will help you understand your future business in a more accurate manner. Here are the few key factors you can consider when you are doing your research. WHO EXACTLY ARE MY COMPETITORS Understand this well, how unique your business is or will be. There is already someone out there doing it right. Reason to have this mentality is good. For this helps you to find those successful brands and see how exactly they do their business well. TIPS: If your competitors is not local, they are elsewhere in the corner of the web planet. Competitors does not have to be of the same industry, meaning, if you want to sell an ice cream business online instead of a physical shop and there is not anyone doing it yet, try looking up chocolates, wines or any frozen food online delivery industry out there.

HOW THEY DO IT By understanding HOW YOUR COMPETITORS DO IT, it will help you have a clearer mind later on with your own capabilities of how you can structure your business . You do not have to duplicate exactly on what they do, but alter it in a way that you are capable of, creatively & reasonably.

TIPS: Few things to look out for are their social media strategies, how their ordering steps or services structure are like on their website, terms and conditions or even what kind of blog they write, how they link their blog post from their website to other platforms, hashtag strategies and many more. There are a lot of answer sheets here, its a gold mine of information. And please take it down, on your notebook for easy reference later. Do not ever think you can remember it at the back of your head. MY AUDIENCE MATTERS They really matter, they really do. It takes a long time figuring out sometimes. How to reach them, where they usually dwell physically or on the social media, Understand the age group and demographics, their spending budget and many more. TIPS: Some business are focused on one group and others on a few group of audience. If the audience are school teens, some can be working part time and some are surviving on their parents allowance. So how you plan to charge them accordingly to their spending budget? Where they usually hang out for you to place your ads. What are their Trend activities that they are really into?When you understand this, you can try and figure out approaches reach out to them, collaborate with trending businesses that they are engaging or constantly approaching. Oh yeah, one more thing I have learnt is audience feedbacks is gold! Either on my business and competitors business too. If your business is service related, ask yourself what service can you do better or different for them. If it is product related, what actually they hate, love about the products, quality, and experience that they have encountered in the brands they have engaged with. WHY ME AND NOT OTHERS Always ask yourself. If someone were to ask, why should i buy your product or services, how can you answer and convince them. Knowing this helps you realise your brand uniqueness. This question needs to be elaborated and explained in a language many can understand. Because it helps to communicate to your audience your business, uniqueness and purpose easily on why they should engage you instead of other brands. Simplifying and finding this reason helps with designing your future brands direction, content strategy and also educating staffs and audience, putting them on the same page and direction of your business.

TIPS: Be genuine and on point, and do not fabricate, duplicate your uniqueness with your competitors, if your business is similar always ask how yours can be better. Not practicing this kind of mindset will slow down your brands ability to innovate and probability to be different and unique. Egs: If I want cupcakes i can look for plenty of brands. But if i am a diabetic and would like to have cupcakes, it is already a different brand that i should look for? Or what if I would like my cupcakes to have beautiful customised typography illustration for a birthday gift with and so on. Uniqueness of your brand does not have to be only on products and price though, it can be expressed through unique personality, creativity and services. Strategise accordingly towards your budget and business capabilities. If you find this article useful, do help to share with other STARTUP curious friends that you know.