Know Your Market

Written by Mike Meade

BE A KNOW-IT-ALL

For over 30 years I’ve witnessed resounding business successes and dismal failures in this region. Here are a few notions to increase your chances of survival:

- Know your market. Who is it? How big is it? Can it be extended? The resident Riviera anglophone community numbers less than 60,000. Tourists and visitors are some 3 million annually. Can your service or product flourish in light of these realities? If not, can you increase potential by expanding into other markets? Don’t forget the French: here on the Riviera there are a hundred times more of “them” than “us”.

- Know what you’re getting into. Plan realistically for the costs involved. Failure is statistically likely to occur in year 2 or 3 when the full weight of French bureaucracy, taxes and social costs start to kick in. Your clientele, accustomed to initially attractive prices, may not follow when you adapt to these increased expenditures. Consider the future before you set your prices.

- Think about the real need for your product or service. Your “hypnocratic pseudojungian” relaxation lessons are no doubt inspiring and your imitation butane-powered candles are very nice but is there a customer base for them? If so, are there other businesses already filling this need? Is there room for you too?

- Advertise intelligently. Repetition and choice of media is crucial. People develop confidence in a name they see over an extended period. The larger the ad the better, but for a limited budget several consecutive smaller ads are more effective than a one-off large one. Do the media you’ve chosen really penetrate the market you want to sell to? A website with a million visitors internationally is not very useful for promoting your menswear shop in St Benoit-les-Cretins whereas a site with 50,000 regular local visitors can be far more effective. This principle especially applies to print advertising.

- Act your size. “Joe Bloggs International Holdings Unlimited SARL” is an impressive handle but what happens when everyone realises that the whole outfit consists of you, your missus and an outdated computer on the kitchen table? There’s nothing wrong with being sleek and small. Many of us are very willing to do business with compact adaptable structures that don’t pretend to be what they aren’t. What you are is probably just fine.

For one local businessman’s personal experience, see Alan Ranklin's experience. Good luck!

© Mike Meade

From Reporter 96 - Apr/May 2003

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