Do You Know The Type Of Business You Are Involved In?

Is the customer always your first consideration?

Your business always comes first. Obviously the needs of your customers are a major part of your strategy but it shouldn't be your entire strategy.
Having first established that there is a large enough market for your type of information product then you must decide on your strategic focus.

So what type of information business are you in?

There are several different types of business each with a slightly different focus:-

Customer Driven Business:

As the name suggests this type of business is driven by a particular group of customers. If you offer information on gliding then you are a customer driven business. Your goal is to offer as much valuable information to gliders as possible.

Market Driven Business:

Very similar to above but in this case you are promoting to a wider category of clients. For example publishing material specifically for mechanics is customer driven. If your information is for the motor industry in general then it is market driven. Within that category there are several different types of customer such as sales executives, clerks etc.

Product or Service Driven Business:

This type of business is entirely focused on a particular product/service or a particular group of products. For example if you were offering information on wines then this could be of interest to a number of different people such as chefs, cooks, wine drinkers etc. On the other hand information on the best ways to grow the grapes for wine would be limited to the wine growers. In the latter case you wouldn't be a truly product driven business but a customer driven one.

Distribution method Driven Business:

Here you would concentrate on a particular method of distribution. If you were marketing your information product through the internet then obviously it would have to be suitable for this method. You could sell information which could be down loaded but also you could sell products which people would have to order and would be sent by other methods. Obviously your payment systems would be slightly different. It is better from the outset to decide which method you would use and offer appropriate products accordingly. Whilst you could offer books on dog training you obviously would have problems trying to distribute a dog through this method!

Marketing method Driven Business:

This type of business is driven by whatever marketing method you choose to concentrate on. In this instance you would only consider offer/developing products which fitted in with the way you wish to market. If using direct mail then only products which are suitable for promoting through this method should be considered.

Production type Driven Business:

With this type of method you would limit yourself to a particular method of providing your information. An example might be that you offer your information on DVD's so again you would have to consider the best products for this medium.

As you can see from the above it is not only important to decide on which information products to promote through a particular medium it is just as important to know what not to promote.

Whilst there will always be exceptions it is best to decide on the most suitable method of promotion for your products initially and stick with it. As you get more experienced you can consider alternative ways but it is better to get knowledge in one area first.

To YOUR success