Читать книгу Start & Run an Event-Planning Business - Mardi Foster-Walker - Страница 9

What do you need to know? By properly defining your needs, you can save valuable time and avoid having to cope with too much information. To give your special events business a realistic chance of success, and to have the information necessary to write a comprehensive business plan, you must define what data is relevant for your proposed business.

When you are starting out, you should collect information about the following aspects of the industry:

(a) Number of potential markets

(b) Size of each market

(c) Market trends

(d) Demographics of the clients served within markets

(e) Competitive companies

(f) Market share

Within the market as a whole, you will also want to identify demographics, industry outlook, growth potential, economic trends, population shifts, consumer trends, and relevant economic indicators.

For example, if your proposed business is located in an area with a convention center, you could consider convention management, trade shows, event or conference registration, and spousal programs as potential markets and gather all relevant data. The size of the market is the number of meetings and conventions booked each year. Market trends would be the size of the conventions, conferences, and trade shows booked and the types of associations, industries, and corporations booking the facility. Your target customers would be the decision-makers at the companies who organize the meetings and events. Competitive companies are the number of other companies in your area that offer their special events services to the convention center. Market share is the percentage of the convention center special events you realistically think you could attain.