Just because there is a need for a product or service doesn’t mean it’s a great idea.

Here’s an example to illustrate.

Consider your answers to the following two questions:

1. What do you consider to be your biggest challenges in business at the moment?

2. Of these challenges, which would you be willing to pay to have solved (as opposed to challenges you can tackle yourself)?

If I was to build The Strategy Studio around the assumption that every answer to question #1 is a business opportunity, I’d be in trouble! The real opportunity is in the answers to question #2.

This is about NEED versus DEMAND.

Just because there’s a need for something doesn’t mean there’s demand. Without demand, an idea isn’t MARKETABLE, and therefore not profitable.

Before making any changes to your business or chasing down a new idea, make sure you have proven demand for the need you’ve identified.

Remember: If you’ve found a niche in the market, make sure there’s a market in the niche!

If you need help with conducting some market research, jump back and read this post: The low-cost market research you need.