Lauri Harrison - Go. No Go. Is Your Business Idea Ready to Launch?

T his book is written for budding entrepreneurs who need help determining if a business idea is worthwhile to launch as an actual business. My goal is to provide practical techniques to help you perform market research to validate the idea and then make a Go/No-Go decision to move forward with your business. You will not find gimmicks or quick-fix techniques here. I will show you how to create a solid foundation to start from that can set you up for success.

If you have an idea that you, and perhaps others, believe can solve a problem in the marketplace, and you do not have a marketing background, this book is for you. I will take you through a detailed process to confirm you have a valid product or service before you spend a penny on product development and marketing. For nearly two decades, I have consulted with start-ups and legacy businesses of all sizes. My favorite types of clients are start-ups because they are the most eager to learn and typically put the customer at the center of everything they do.

It would be ideal for me to work one-on-one with every start-up looking for someone they can trust. Since thats not a viable option, I decided to write this book as a guide to empower people to successfully research and validate their business idea before jumping into the creation of their actual business. It isnt rocket science, and you do not need a degree in marketing to win in business. What you do need is a solid understanding of the fundamentals for bringing a product or service to the marketplace. I will walk you through those fundamentals in a logical way, so you can apply what youre learning to your own business idea. You will learn how to identify the problems (pain points) you see in the marketplace that you would like to solve, and then you will determine if there is an audience willing to buy your product (the solution to the problem). This solid foundation sets you on a path for a successful launch and will help you build a loyal group of customers.

H ere are some challenges a typical start-up might face:

• Believing if you build it, they will come.
• Just because you create a product or service to solve an existing problem doesnt always mean your product or service will be purchased. You need to confirm there is an audience (a market) for your solution, and you need confirmation the audience is willing to pay for the solution. Validating your business model is essential early in the process.
• You just know theres a market for your product because friends and family have told you so.
• Similarly, you may have invented the next best thing since sliced bread, but if no one is willing to pay for it, you wont have a viable business.
• You believe your product will go viral from Day One.
• Similar to build it and they will come, creating awareness isnt as easy as you might think, despite the free social platforms at your disposal. You need to have your audience (your potential customers) believe in your purpose. Customers want to feel a connection to your brand and understand your companys reason for being before they consider what you have to offer. A value proposition is your solution to a problem for a specific target audience, which is unique when compared to other offerings in the marketplace. You will tailor the story about your value proposition specifically to your potential audience.

Throughout this book you will learn how to:

Address these basic questions:

• What is the purpose of your business?
• Which customers do you plan to serve?
• What value would you like to create and deliver to those customers?
• And many more.
• Create a game plan to know where you are, where you want to go, and make a Go/No-Go decision to either move forward or refine your idea.

BONUS: Funding!

As a reader of this book, you will have an opportunity to submit your business idea for a chance to receive an Amazon $50 gift card. Details are at the end of the book.

Marketing, as a discipline, has dramatically changed in the past decade, not to mention in the past several years. Tried-and-true methods for success are no longer sufficient, and the basics are being rewritten. Companies who operate in the business as usual mode are not surviving. Remember when Blockbuster was the market leader in movie and game rentals? At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster had up to 60,000 employees and more than 9,000 stores. Just seven years later, in April 2011, Blockbuster assets were acquired by DISH Network during a bankruptcy auction. Just two years later, in 2013, DISH Network announced the closing of the last 300 company-owned Blockbuster stores. In less than a decade, disruptive technology had dramatically changed the customer experience and expectations for at-home entertainment.

The global economy dictates that it is important, now more than ever before, to monitor and leverage marketing trends, identify and pursue new opportunities, and be well poised to avoid threats. The competition has become more flexible, nimble, and global. Therefore, sustainable businesses have to become proactive, rather than reactive, to whats happening in the marketplace, in order to take control of their destinies.

In the past few years, social media marketing has become a strategic imperative. Businesses of any size can build an army of brand advocates, and this allows them to obtain direct feedback and respond to customers in real-time. This is one-to-one marketing at its finest. This interactive, two-way dialogue is the new normal for customer engagement and experience. Companies such as Zappos and Airbnb are performing quite well, earning $1 billion in revenues in less than a decade after launching their respective businesses. They have written a new rule book for how to do it right. Social media marketing is just one reason why marketing is no longer limited to a department within a company. As marketing guru Seth Godin says, Everyone is a marketer. This is critical to success in todays world. Every employee within an organization has become an extension of the marketing department, as has every customer, partner, and supplier for your business.