Starting your business part 4 starts by knowing the importance of understanding market timing and marketing trends. During a popular TED Talk, Entrepreneur Bill Gross spoke about the differences between business success and failure. One of the key findings was the importance of introducing a product when people were both ready and interested in what a company had to offer. One effective way to know market timing is to research marketing trends. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner ,  SurveyMonkey , Open Strategy , and MyBestSegments are a good place to start. By researching market trends we have more tools to help us determine our market timing.

Small business fourth step: 10 marketing trends & research tools

1. Focus Groups – Put together (or pay for) small groups using current or potential customers. Only ask questions you really need answers for.
2. Surveys – Done by mail, email, telephone or through the internet can help understand specific opinions from random (or targeted) sampling.
3. Join networking clubs – Either social or civil clubs like Rotary, Lions, BNI etc.
4. Perform a competitive analysis – Most effective if you physically interact with them. Try talking to competitor employees, visiting stores, pursuing websites, and meeting with insiders. Start your own professional organization to interact more intimately with people in your industry.
5. Census Bureau’s – Cover the widest range of information available. Although a bit overwhelming at first, taking time to understand various statistics helps make educated decisions.
6. Regional Chamber of Commerce – May have more pertinent information on business specifics and can help with legal issues.
7.  Department of Commerce – Provides pertinent information on a national level, with states and local regional analysis as well.
8.  Ask Librarians – These under-used resources often have a great grasp of their local neighborhoods. They are very helpful directing towards pertinent information and access to records not available elsewhere.
9.  Better Business Bureau – You can join or visit their website. Either way provides access to unique help. Like negative historical reports about your competitors.
10.  Trade and Professional Organizations & Publications. These obviously provide a more industry specific approach. The best thing is they keep you up to date with news and inside information.

Small business fourth step: 5 Questions to determine marketing trends & timing

1. How is the local market and economy doing? Not just generally, but specifically. For example. Is what you’re offering trending up or down?   Is the area you serve growing or shrinking?  Has the product industry changed from last year? Is your idea still relevant and wanted? Do you need a farther reach for your product outside your local area?

2. What’s the competition?  Not just your current competitors, but past as well. Yes, there may be 5 today, but how many fell away over the past few years. Looking at their strengths gives us ideas on how to copy them. But identifying their weaknesses and using it against them is better. Especially if you can do it better, faster and cheaper.

3. Are current trends favorable right now? One area to investigate is in changing demographics.  For example, are there shifts in age and gender makeup, social and political swings, changes in fads, cultural shifts and even lifestyle or purchase habit changes. Will these affect your marketing plans?

4. Has recent governmental regulation/taxation effected our target market? We typically see regulations and taxes as hurting business by increasing overhead. But sometimes they start them. Once you know your business area, its important to find out if any new changes opened up new opportunities. For example, the home inspection entire business model started by a law in Texas. This law made realtors pay up to triple the damage cost if something went wrong with a house they sold. If a faulty foundation cost $10,000 to fix, the new owner could sue the realtor for $30,000. Thus the home inspection industry began by taking this liability off the realtor, and onto the inspector.

5. How often should we do customer outreach? Personal contact is king. Although contact too often, and you seem pushy. Contact to infrequent and they forget about you. So, get to know customers and make them comfortable with what you offer. Set yourself up as the expert or the go-to product. Moderation is prudent. But the key is to come up with some organization ideas to set up a well thought out plan. Then stay consistent, but ready to adjust if customer sentiment changes.

Finally, the small business fourth step is done over time. Set aside time to Make a Plan and set goals. Don’t rush things to market. In the end, you must decide if following marketing trends is right for you.  But every business requires specific knowledge, experience, physical endurance and a passion for what you are selling. There may not be the perfect time. But by doing some personal evaluation and understanding your target market and trends, it’s easier to determine the right time.

A very useful article to find more research tips can be found at: Entrepreneurs Love These 13 Tools for Conducting Market Research.