You may have heard the expressions, “we’re drinking our own Kool-Aid,” or “seems like we’re talking to ourselves,” referring to a business plan, market assumptions or even brochure copy that doesn’t seem grounded in the customer’s reality. These cliché’s exist for a reason: too often, companies use only internal assumptions, layered with gut instinct and perhaps an excerpt from a Forrester Research report to formulate their plans.

To help shed some light on why and how emerging companies should go to the marketplace to validate and refine their basic assumptions, the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s (NVTC) Emerging Business Committee asked Bob London, President of London, Ink LLC, to be the featured speaker at its Spring, 2005 event.

The event, titled, “Don’t Fear the Research,” was an engaging discussion of the importance of doing primary research and solid market analysis to back up projections and assumptions without significant expenditures. Subjects covered by Mr. London included:

• What prospects or relevant subjects have critiqued your product?
• How can you approach these subjects to turn them into prospects?
• From what public sources can information be mined with little or no expense?
• How can you construct a basic, credible situation analysis?

Those who missed this informative event can download a copy of the PowerPoint presentation here.

See the PDF at http://www.londonink.com/pdfs/WSJ%20Case%20Study%202.pdf

Bob London is president of London, Ink, a Maryland-based marketing and communications consulting firm, and serves as a Virtual VP of Marketing for growth stage companies that need an injection of marketing experience and leadership to drive key initiatives and results.