Problems

People have problems, in fact, a great number of problems. Problems like, getting hungry or getting from point a to point b.

People buy stuff to solve those problems. Buying food from a restaurant solves a hunger problem; a taxi ride solves a “getting to point b” problem.

Sometimes people decide that the problem is not worth solving and so they choose not to buy anything right now.

Solutions

People also create solutions. Solutions like, creating a restaurant or a taxi service. When a solution works enough that people pay for it – we call it a business.

A customer selects a business from those they can find because they believe that business provides a better, faster, cheaper solution for them than the others.

A business has to be seen by buyers to be able to solve problems for the people they serve.

Remember: people don’t buy a product they buy the thing that it does for their problem. Clay Christensen, famed innovation author, uses the analogy: people don’t buy drills because they need a drill – they buy a drill because they need holes.

Market

When a group of people have similar problems they are called a “market”.

A big market has lots of people with a similar problem, a niche market has a small number of people with a similar problem.

The small groups (niches) will often have a more detailed problem, say, hungry, but lactose intolerant. This then eliminates options for the buyer & competition for the businesses who can serve that need.

If you add up all the money being spent to solve a particular problem that is the total market size.

Marketplace

The place where people with problems meet people with solutions is called a marketplace. In a small village it would have been easier to understand since people would have gathered in a physical place to share solutions with people who might pay for them. Now a marketplace can exist in cyberspace too.

A benefit of cyberspace is that this has made it easier for both big and small groups and the businesses who serve them to find each other.

How does this apply to MY strategy?

Simply you must understand:

• What are your customers problems?

• How are you solving them, better, faster or cheaper than the competition?

• What kind of market do you have?

• Where is the marketplace?

This entire article is almost absurdly simple, but, if you really examine these fundamentals you will almost certainly find opportunities in your personal approach to reaching goals or in the business you are involved with building.