Editor’s Note: Here at Dispatches, we are always looking for ways to help our readers do things. For some of our readers, that means helping navigate the working world, for others, it means assisting in the ever challenging question, “what’s for dinner?” For still others, it means figuring out how to balance family life with everything else. In an effort to aid in all of these endeavors, we have collaborated on this article written specifically for our readers.
At some point, everyone wants to dive head-first into a new industry with a new product by using funds and a reputation that is built on your current offerings. For instance, we’ve all seen brands such as Microsoft and Apple try to compete on each other’s grounds, and we constantly see large companies such as Amazon develop new services to meet the needs of all consumers. However, it’s safe to say that these large companies didn’t take a gamble and suddenly decide that they wanted to try something new. They tested the waters first with small production runs and conducted considerable market research before deciding to invest in a new endeavour.
This is important because the last thing you want to do is bankrupt your startup because you had too many crazy ideas that were destined to fail. Below are a couple of important tips to keep in mind that will help improve your success rate.
Don’t underestimate the market
The first thing to keep in mind is your complacency. If you think that it’s easy to break into another industry with zero experience, then you’re setting yourself up for dismal failure and that arrogance could cost your business a lot of money. If you do manage to dive into a new industry using your company’s assets without burning out, then consider yourself lucky if you didn’t take the time to plan. Do ample research on whatever new industry you plan to take part in and make sure you’ve got the means to attract a new audience or convert your current customers to try out your new products and services.
Secure funding
Thanks to companies such as smallbusinessloans.co, securing the funds for a new endeavour in your business is simple but making the pitch isn’t. You need to convince your investors or the funding company that your new ideas are suitable for the current landscape of the market and that you have a fairly high chance of making it a success. This is difficult because you essentially only have 5-minutes or less to convince an important figurehead to give you money, but as long as you focus on the important details (such as letting them know what you plan to do different or how you plan to separate yourself from the competition) then you’ll have a fairly decent shot at convincing investors.
Get onto social media
Don’t ignore the impact of social media and influencers can have on your newest products. This informative article from socialmediaexaminer.com goes into a lot of detail about how you can promote your products on social media. If you plan to test the waters of a new industry, then it’s essential that you first do plenty of research and ask yourself if those people on social media will appreciate your product or not.