1) What is your product or service?

This may sound simple, but before you can market your business successfully, you must clearly define what business it is, that you are in. Many an entrepreneur have bit dust because they simply didn't know what product or service to market. Allow me to ask you this:

What product or service are you going to market?

Has it previously, or is it currently being marketed successfully?

What media are your successful competitors using?

What are their prices?

In their advertising and marketing, what audience are they targeting?

Will you be targeting same audience, meaning how tough will your competition be?

2) Is there a demand for your product or service?

Is projected current demand large enough to justify costs of research, development, design, packaging, marketing and delivery of your product or service?

You must calculate projected demand against start up, manufacturing, labor and all other costs it will take to get your product or service to your potential customers.

Is customer base large enough to support investment of time and money?

Is there room to expand?

Is there back end sales potential?

Do you project that your target market will grow, diminish or remain stable?

3) How can you out do your competitor?

Is your product or service of better quality?

Better price?

Better service?

What's your angle?

If you have competition (which you will 98% of time), how will your product or service be better?

How aggressive will your competitors be?

Will they counter their prices to better their service or product appeal, to beat out yours?

Can you afford to provide your product or service at a lower rate and still keep a substantial profit margin?

4) What is your overall strategy?

Will you be targeting one product or service?

Thomas F. Seymour sells gold jewelry for an internet lowest price of $10 per gram at www.tgoldlink.com. His business achieved front page placement in all major search engines, with over 20 different set's of keywords pertaining to gold jewelry. He has several marketing virus's and articles circulating in his target market. He posts ads religiously in jewelry related ezines, newsletters, and in jewelry discussion forums. In other words he is now making money, from his target market. The income kind of levels off though, and he needs to know how to increase his income and expand his market.

Now, let's say, he would like to get exposure in front of Internet crowd that spends their time looking for free stuff. "FREE" is always in "top 5 most searched word in internet search engines" list. However to post in those areas would be considered spamming because, well, he sells gold, he is not a freebie site.