HOW TO GO ABOUT IT

To generate ideas for new markets, products and selling points you should:

1.

Review the strategic goals, company vision and the details of the current markets, products and selling points.

2.

Consider the following questions:

•  Are the markets, products and selling points aligned with the company vision?
•  Can the strategic goals be achieved with the current set of markets, products and selling points?

3.

It is unlikely that the answer to both of these questions is ‘yes’ so you will need to generate ideas for changes that could be made to markets, products and selling points. The following tips can help you to do this:

•  Identify which existing markets are most important to achieving the company’s goals and vision – what new products could be sold to these markets?
•  Identify which existing products are most important to achieving the company’s goals and vision – what new markets could these products be sold into?
•  Identify which of the selling points currently used is most important to achieving the company’s goals and vision – how
• could this selling point be enhanced further or used more widely by the company?
•  Are there high priority opportunities from the SWOT analysis that could be taken up with some combination of new products, markets and selling points?
•  Are there ideas from the TOWS analysis for new markets, products or selling points?
•  Are there markets, products or selling points that are not aligned with the company’s goals or vision that should be eliminated? If so, what would be the timescale for doing this?

4.

Once you have generated at least five ideas for new markets, products and selling points, you can proceed to the next activity of evaluating the ideas