MARKETING, FAILING TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL.

Many UK businesses with new or existing products that are doing well in the UK often think that the next natural step is America . We speak a similar language, it’s a huge market and it’s very profitable. It’s also extremely tough. Competition within the US is very strong and even with a unique product or service properly protected with patents, there will be imitators who will seek to differentiate what you do and compete with you.

Initial market research is essential to find out in advance of spending large amounts of money what the chances of success might be. What is the competition? What is the size of the market? How profitable is it? Business owners seeking to introduce a product or service into the United States must also carefully plan their marketing strategies and performance to keep their market presence strong.

Successful marketing requires timely and relevant market information. An inexpensive research programme will usually yield sufficient information upon which to make informed decisions about the potential of your product or service within the US market.

Market research will also identify trends that affect sales and profitability. Population shifts, legal developments, and the local economic situation should be monitored to quickly identify problems and opportunities. It is also important to keep up with competitors' market strategies.

Owners of small businesses usually have limited resources to spend on marketing. Concentrating efforts on one or a few key market segments - target marketing - gets the most return from small investments.

1.  Geographical segmentation - Specializing in serving the needs of customers in a particular geographical area. Trying to cover the whole of the country at once is foolish and will in all likelihood end up in costly failure. Take time to choose an appropriate geographical area to cover and stick with it. For example, the North East corridor running from Maine down to Washington DC is several times larger than the UK and has a similar population size.

2. Customer segmentation - Identifying those people most likely to buy the product or service and targeting those groups. Usually a better strategy with products and services of a unique or specialised nature.