Question #1: What is Your Business Idea?

Question #2: How is your business unique?

Helpful Activity: Once you have your business idea on paper; look through the yellow pages or on the internet to see if you can find a company in your area that offers the same product or service that you are offering. If there is another company that does offer the same product or service, find out more about that company. Look them up on the internet or visit the organization and note everything you can see (what does their logo look like, what type of service do you get, what kind of prices do they have, etc.). Getting as much information as you possible will help you find ways to distinguish your business from others.

Question #3: Who do you hope will be your business customers (i.e. Target Market)?

About this Question: Knowing your customer now will make you money later, thus you should take time to understand your customers. Ask yourself questions like: What are they like? Why would they be attracted to your business? Where do they live? How much money do they have? How old is your average customer? Please answer this question in at least one paragraph or more.

Definitions: Target Market = the main group of people who will eventually buy your product or service. Target market is often described in terms of age (i.e. they are 18-25 years old), income (they earn an average of $20,000 – $32,000 per year), and spending habits (they spend $15 a week on iTunes). You and your classmates are target markets for such companies as The Gap, Apple iTunes, Nintendo, McDonalds and many others.

Question #4: What is the value of your product or service to your target market? Write a value statement for your company.

About this question: You have spent a little time looking at who your customers are going to be, now explain why your customers are going to want what you have to offer. How is your product or service going to help your customers? Is it going to provide them peace of mind? Savings? Happiness? What’s in it for your customers? Please create a value statement for your company that is 1-2 sentences in length and clearly states what is unique about your company.

Definitions: Value Statement = a short memorable statement that announces to customers why your business is unique and why customers should trust the business. Value statements are similar to mission statements, but the difference is the mission statement is an overall short statement of why the business exists. The value statement specifically states the value of your products and services, for example: “We provide world-class accounting software with a guarantee it will pay for itself in 24 months.”

Helpful Activity: Make a list of all the benefits your customers will gain from your business. Now pick one or two that you think are the most important to your customers and experiment with different ways you can say what your best benefits are. Choose the statement that you come up with that is catchy, easy to remember and says everything you want to portray.