Ideation Strategies for Business Ideas PDF

IDEATION STRATEGIES AND DEVELOPMENT INTO A BUSINESS IDEA  Have you ever thought in creating your own product?  In this chapter, we will tackle about identifying opportunities, germinating ideas and innovating products on how to be a successful entrepreneur. What is...

IDEATION STRATEGIES AND DEVELOPMENT INTO A BUSINESS IDEA  Have you ever thought in creating your own product?  In this chapter, we will tackle about identifying opportunities, germinating ideas and innovating products on how to be a successful entrepreneur. What is opportunities identification?  It is an effective tool to steer numerous ideas from a broad range of perspectives before we consider them worthy of being an opportunity to be taken forward.  It is the process uses a series of self-assessment questions, called screens or cuts to enrich a series of ideas to increasingly high-potential opportunities.  It is the process enables groups or individuals to screen a large volume of ideas quickly and methodically.  It identifies high-potential ideas to rise by allowing weak ideas to fail quickly and inexpensively, on paper instead of in the lab or the real world. To be successful entrepreneurs, we need to be continually innovating and looking for opportunities to grow our startups. But how do you find new opportunities to take your startup to new markets and growth levels? Here are four ways to identify more business opportunities. 1. Listen to your potential clients and past leads  When you’re targeting potential customers listen to their needs, wants, challenges and frustrations with your industry. Have they used similar products and services before? What did they like and dislike? Why did they come to you? What are their objections to your products or services?  This will help you to find opportunities to develop more tailored products and services, hone your target market and identify and overcome common objections. Here are four ways to identify more business opportunities. 2. Listen to your customers  When you’re talking to your customers listen to what they saying about your industry, products and services. What are their frequently asked questions? Experiences? Frustrations? Feedback  and This complaints? valuable customer information will help you identify key business opportunities to expand and develop your current products and services. Here are four ways to identify more business opportunities. 3. Look at your competitors  Do a little competitive analysis (don’t let it lead to competitive paralysis though) to see what other startups are doing, and more importantly, not doing? Where are they falling down? What are they doing right? What makes customers go to them  over you? Analyzing your competitors will help you identify key business opportunities to expand your market reach and develop your products and services. Here are four ways to identify more business opportunities. 4. Look at industry trends and insights  Subscribe to industry publications, join relevant associations, set Google alerts for key industry terms and news and follow other industry experts on social media.  Absorb yourself in your industry and continually educate yourself on the latest techniques and trends. What is ideas germination?  It is the seeding stage of a new idea.  It is the stage where the entrepreneur recognizes that an opportunity exists which can be explored and exploited to its best potential. What is product innovation?  It is the development of new products, changes in design of established products, or use of new materials or components in the manufacture of established products. Product innovation, alongside cost-cutting innovation and process innovation are three different classifications of innovation which aim to develop a company's production methods. Thus, product innovation can be divided into two categories of innovation: Radical innovation  which aims at developing a new product Incremental innovation  which aims at improving existing products.  Advantages of product innovation 1. Growth, expansion and gaining a competitive advantage  A business that is capable of differentiating their product from other businesses in the same industry to large extent will be able to reap profits.  This can be applied to how smaller businesses can use product innovation to better differentiate their product from others.  Product differentiation  can be defined as "A marketing process that showcases the differences between products.  Advantages of product innovation 1. Growth, expansion and gaining a competitive advantage  Differentiation looks to make a product more attractive by contrasting its unique qualities with other competing products.  Successful product differentiation creates a competitive advantage for the seller, as customers view these products as unique or superior." Therefore, small businesses that are able to utilize product innovation effectively will be able to expand and grow into larger businesses, while gaining a competitive advantage over its remaining competitors.  Advantages of product innovation 2. Brand switching  Businesses that once again are able to successfully utilize product innovation will thus entice customers from rival brands to buy its product instead as it becomes more attractive to the customer. One example of successful product innovation that have led to brand switching are the introduction of the iPhone to the mobile phone industry (which has caused mobile phone users to switch from Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, etc. to the Apple iPhone).  Disadvantages of product innovation 1. Counter effect of product innovation  Not all businesses/competitors do not always create products/resources from scratch, but rather substitute different resources to create productive innovation and this could have an opposite effect of what the business/ competitor is trying to do. Thus, some of these businesses/ competitors could be driven out of the industry and will not last long enough to enhance their product during their time in the industry.  Disadvantages of product innovation 2. High costs and high risk of failure  When a business attempts to innovate its product, it injects much capital and time into it, which requires severe experimentation.  Constant experimentation could result in failure for the business and will also cause the business to incur significantly higher costs. Furthermore, it could take years for a business to successfully innovate a product, thus resulting in an uncertain return.  Disadvantages of product innovation 3. Disrupting the outside world  For product innovation to occur, the business will have to change the way it runs, and this could lead to the breaking down of relationships between the business and its customers, suppliers and business partners. In addition, changing too much of a business's product could lead to the business gaining a less reputable image due to a loss of credibility and consistency. Few stages that a business has to undergo when introducing a new product line into the market: 1. Market Research  can be done in the form of primary and secondary market research where the business will gather as much information as possible about the present tastes and preferences of its potential consumers, and the gaps filled in the business's particular industry. One advantage of secondary market research over primary market research is that it is low-cost, thus enabling the business to be able to invest its time into other more important matters and new potential business ventures. Primary market research involves the business gathering data individually, and this can be done via various sampling methods.. Few stages that a business has to undergo when introducing a new product line into the market: 1. Market Research One advantage of primary market research over secondary market research is that it delivers much more specific results than secondary market research, and is only available to the business itself, rather than secondary research which is made globally available, as data has already been collected.  Other forms of primary market research include focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Few stages that a business has to undergo when introducing a new product line into the market: 2. Product Development and Testing  This stage involves creating a test product called a prototype. The prototype ensures the business that its product is functioning properly, and all the necessary arrangements are made to enhance the product as much as possible. After the prototype has been devised, the business can now use test marketing where the business introduces a product to a small group of individuals to give the company insight into the effectiveness of the product from the views of their potential customers.  Few stages that a business has to undergo when introducing a new product line into the market: 3. Feasibility Study  The business will now look at the legal and financial restrictions of launching the product into the market. This is where the business will create sales forecasts, establish the price of the product, the overall costs of production and profitability estimates. The business also has to consider legal aspects in terms of safety and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). After all these stages have been successfully run through, then the business can officially launch the product. BUSINESS NICHE (NICHE) What is a business niche?  is a specialized or focused area of a broader market that your business serves specifically.  According to Charlene Walters, business and branding mentor and author of Own Your Other, finding a niche differentiates your business from the competition and allows you to excel in your  is asector. hole in the current market where the business's USP (unique selling proposition) will be appreciated by a select group of customers, or target audience," Walters told Business News Daily. "This target audience might be one that is currently underserved and/or has a large market potential." What is a business niche?  Finding a niche is important for small business owners who want to not only create a steady stream of revenue, but also establish a loyal  audience. Solid market niche helps to ensure that a particular group of customers will want to buy from your business, instead of going to the competition.  According to Matt Woodley, creating a business in a niche market sometimes gives entrepreneurs the ability to charge higher rates for their products or services. The supply and demand ratio, especially for those pioneering a new industry sector, can be extremely lucrative and gives you the chance to become the expert and thought leader in  Business Niche Strategy for Entrepreneurs (Walters & Woodley) 1. Select your target audience.  To identify your niche, you can begin by selecting the general market. Woodley said a good approach is to focus on an area where you are knowledgeable, and then identify subtopics within that. 2. Define an unmet or underserved need.  Analyze your target audience and identify gaps in the marketplace. Walters said your products or services should soothe a pain point that your audience is currently experiencing. Choose a sector that also has anticipated growth.  Business Niche Strategy for Entrepreneurs (Walters & Woodley) 3. Research your customer base.  Walters and Woodley both emphasized researching your target audience to understand their needs, goals, motivations, frustrations and expectations. Walters said that getting your audience involved as early as MVP (minimum viable product) development is essential; although this is something you should do at the start of your business, you should also perform regular maintenance checks to reassess your customer base and competition.  Business Niche Strategy for Entrepreneurs (Walters & Woodley) 4. Create your business plan.  Woodley said to create a plan in which you define exactly what you'll provide and the need it will meet, describe your ideal customer, and decide on a pricing model. Fine-tune your business idea to reflect what you've learned about your target audience. 5. Market your business to your specific audience  Just as your product or service is niche, your marketing efforts should be focused as well. Woodley said that targeted ads, blog posts and podcasts are invaluable tools for getting your message out to people likely to be interested in your niche business idea. How do you identify and dominate a business niche market? Experts said there are a few key consumer elements that entrepreneurs should consider when trying to identify and dominate a niche market. Look for the following characteristics in your potential market audience. 1. Easily identifiable customers  Potential customers who are easy to see are a hallmark of a great business niche.  Jerry Rackley, chief analyst at marketing research and advisory firm Demand Metric, said it should be easy to identify who would do business with you based on a set of reliable characteristics. "If you can't put your ideal customers into an identifiable segment, your business plan is a no-go." How do you identify and dominate a business niche market? 2. Easily accessible customers  For a business niche to be profitable, your potential customers must also be accessible, and accessing them must be affordable, Rackley said. Otherwise, your great idea will be dead in the water.  "For example, I might develop an ideal solution for nomadic goatherders in Outer Mongolia, but I have no way of reaching them with information about my solution," Rackley said. "Lack of accessibility is also a business plan no-go." How do you identify and dominate a business niche market? 3. An underserved or neglected market  Many markets become oversaturated with small businesses or startups eager to get in on the action. But for a business niche to really stand out, it should be underserved or even neglected, said Cody McLain, CEO and founder of WireFuseMedia and productivity podcast MindHack. How do you identify and dominate a business niche market? 4. A large potential market  For your business to be profitable, your market and niche must be large enough that you can make money selling your products and services. "In addition to identifying and accessing potential customers, there has to be enough of them,"  Rackley said. market for any business must have "The potential the size and mass to warrant the investment to enter that market."