When you build out your business model, you need more than a great product or service. Innovative brilliance and new ideas matter, but they are not enough. By the time you are ready to raise capital, you should be able to outline for your potential investors a clear market strategy.
What Problem Are You Addressing?
For your product or service to succeed in the market, it should meet an identifiable need in the market. After all, the world business landscape is littered with failed companies that have created solutions in search of problems. Success comes through sales; for people to pay for what you provide, they must feel they need it. Investors will want to see how your product addresses a specific problem your potential customers have.
What Is Your Real Market?
If you declare your market to include “everyone”, savvy investors will steer clear. Different people and companies have different needs, so a key offshoot of identifying the problem you address is finding the market niche you will target. You may well want to grow to a point where you have multiple target markets, but you need to find a direction in which to focus your efforts. This will serve as the foundation for later growth.
What Is Your Go-to-Market Strategy?
Whatever the size of your potential market, you need first to find your way in. Some companies start with a high-end strategy and then go to the masses; others look for a lower-income market to help establish a mass appeal. With a specific point of entry, you can then describe to investors a sensible strategy to use the investment they provide to develop and grow your business.
What Are Your Customer Costs and Long-Term Value?
Your marketing strategy should consider both the cost to acquire each customer (CAC) and long-term value (LTV) of each customer. Marketing efficiently to build a customer base gets strong initial value for your investment. But retaining those customers over time creates an LTV that prevents your company from being a mere flash in the pan. Create a strategy that does more than build quickly to develop a sustainable business model attractive to investors.
Your marketing strategy helps fundraising efforts by showing investors why you will succeed. Describing your market and entry point, as well as the value your customers contribute, will help you attract the funds to help you move forward.
Source: barlaw.co.il