Hope Marketing

Entrepreneurs are filled with hope, desire, passion, enthusiasm, energy, drive, and a desire to be successful.  They believe they have the best thing to come along since sliced bread, and the world will surely beat a path to their door to purchase en-mass what they have to offer.  Basically, they hope the market will validate their belief in themselves and their offering, and they hope the customer base is big enough, and will be responsive enough, to make them eminently successful.

What is happening to cause this mind set? It seems that entrepreneurs suffer from a disease called rose colored glasses.  The future looks rosy to them, and there is surely no reason to have any doubts about their success. They are totally in love with their idea, and their business.

Unfortunately, the consumer may not share their enthusiasm, and this may make it most challenging to succeed. So, what is causing this difference in opinion, and how does one resolve it?

Consider that while you might be in love with your business, a better focus is to be in love with the idea of servicing the customer.  The customer does not care about your business like you do; they only care about what you can, and will, do for them.

How do you determine if the market is there, and if it is big enough to support your business for the long term?  How do you know what the market wants from you?  While management guru Peter Drucker claimed that marketing was common sense, is seems to be elusive and hard to achieve.

One way to determine what your market wants from you is to ask.  However, what you ask and how you ask it is most important.  Henry Ford once stated that if he had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.  He had more insight, and gave them the horseless carriage.  The list goes on about miscommunication, but let’s look at what works, instead.

First, it is important to understand that there is a big difference between what people say they need or want, and what they will actually pay for.  Think about that. Aren’t there things you would like, but so far, you have not opened your wallet to get them?  It’s the same for any other consumer.  So, when you ask, ask what they would actually pay for, not what they might need or want.

Is the market there, and if so, are they going to spend oodles of money with you?  If you build a better mouse trap, will people trod a beaten path to your door?  It would be nice to know how prosperous you will be, before you spend lots time, and money, and effort trying to make it happen, only to be disappointed.


To figure out your potential for success, ask yourself who is your ideal customer, how many are there, where are they, how often will they buy what you are offering, how much they will pay or spend, and how will they be able to live without you?  Are there sufficient numbers of potential customers in your marketplace, and will they spend enough and often enough for you to be in business for the long term and continue serving your market?  If so, celebrate! 

Then you need to ask yourself how you, and your potential customer, can and will do business. How will your ideal customer know that you exist, what you offer that they cannot live without, how to find you, and know that they can feel confident and comfortable dealing with you?  You need to convey this message in a cost effective and profitable way to your audience. 

After this, you must be able to meet customer needs, wants, and secret desires, deal with their frustrations, solve their problems, and make a profit doing so.  If you do this, you will have a loyal customer who can tell their friends how wonderful you are, and then their friend can spend money with you, too. 

To recap, determine who your customer is in the marketplace, how many there are, what they are willing to pay for, how much they will pay, and how often.  With this information, you can determine how profitable you can be, and use this information, if you want, in your presentation to a financial institution in your loan request.

Knowing, not hoping, is the key to success.  Know your customer, their buying habits, and how you can serve them, and you can look forward to a joyous, long term and profitable business.