Ten Rules of Success!

 I have attempted to list three rules that have been used consistently in each of the market analysis and research sample documents. While reviewing these documents, I tried to look at how the structure of each document was made specifically to serve their objectives:

1.     Brevity: Use short sentences.

“Never use four words when three would say just as much.” (Luntz). In the market analysis document by “Tree house”, they have always kept their sentences short and sweet. Most of the times, we tend to involve long sentences to probably show our understanding of the material being presented i.e. in this case our target market and our marketing strategy. However, that is not the case. When you are presenting your document to potential investors, they are in no position to understand your ideas and your point of view without reading the entire document. So, if your document has sentences that don’t say things to the point, investors might tend to think negatively and look at your idea as a big risky investment opportunity. Luntz says quite aptly, “So when it comes to effective communication, small beats large, short beats long, and plain beats complex. And sometimes a visual beats them all.” In most of the documents, there is are crisp graphs and pie diagrams that saw a lot about the market research and make it easier on the eyes of the investor.

2.     Credibility is as important as philosophy

“People have to believe it to buy it” (Luntz). And the same goes for a potential investor. While writing a market analysis, one needs to research the market carefully in order to include only the things that matter and that are accurate. Credibility is as important as the market research and sometimes even more. In the document by Treehouse, they have explicitly mentioned facts and figures from credibile sources and have gone to the lengths of mentioned a source for every sentence that needs justification. Similar is the case with the other two sample documents as well. And the reason is clear. If you mentioning a fact or an idea that has no backing from any credible source, an investor would be afraid to even think about your product. It would be even worse if you have mentioned a source that you think is credibile, but isn’t. A sharp, experienced and well-read investor will catch that in a matter of seconds.

As Luntz puts it – “Credibility is established very simply. Tell people who you are or what you do. Then be that person and do what you have said you would do. And finally, remind people that you are what in fact you say you are.”

3.     Novelty

“Americans are easily bored. If something doesn’t shock or surprise us, we move on to something else.” Think about an experienced investor who is confronted by a thousand people every week and a million ideas a day. Cleary, a market analysis and analysis document won’t get him instantly interested and won’t stand out until it does sweep him off his feet. Otherwise, if two different people share the same basic idea, you are bound to get rejected in most cases if you don’t make a good impression. Any market analysis and strategy document should have novel ideas that would blow some away. These are the ideas that would make someone feel – “Why didn’t I think of that”. Luntz tries to point out that novelty of ideas presented in a document shows the knowledge and insight of the person writing it. For example, in the Market analysis document by “Treehouse”, they talk about their consumers as “individuals seeking to feed their hunger in a healthy and tasty manner.” They also show a graph that shows the consumer attitudes about healthy foods. This clearly shows that they plan to target those millions of people who are health conscious, which is a novel idea. Subway has been a runaway success because they took a similar approach. Similarly, in the document by “Hair to soul”, they show a graph of the U.S. spending on personal care services from 1984-2004. It shows a very steep increase and ends at about 30 Billion dollars in 2004. An obvious approach would be to open their services to everyone. But from what I see, they identify their customers to be both conscious about the way they look, but also about the way they feel. A hair saloon with a spa can help nourish your physical appearance and also your mind. Luntz ends this section with – “There’s a simple test to determine whether or not your message has met this rule. If it generates an “I didn’t know that response, you have succeeded.”