You're planning to enter a new market. How can you make sure your business strategy is foolproof?

Couple of things that can help: 1. Observe the market 2. Interact with users 3. Interact with other stakeholders 4. Discover the pain/gain areas 5. Do experimentation on target audience/ communication strategy/ positioning /pricing 6. Run Rapid Protoyping and Learn and Iterate 7. Scale Consciously with continuous feedback loops from the market

Understand the regulatory environment by doing research on local, state, and federal legislation that directly impacts the new industry you want to enter. These regulations often dictate what can and can’t be done, serving as a critical foundation to start from when developing a go-to-market strategy.

In the ever-evolving healthcare landscape, clarity of purpose is paramount. Define your objectives with a laser focus on the transformative impact you aim to achieve. In my journey, aligning business goals with the broader vision of enhancing healthcare accessibility has been pivotal.

It is absolutely a courageous step to expand and enter a new market as it involves a lot of investment and experiments into an unknown territory but again the excitement and the opportunities it brings along with it is definitely worth it. There are primarily 3 Key points I suggest: 1. Understanding the local market: The business owners should understand the customers' pulse and the behavior of the respective market. 2. Local connections: It is really important to have trustworthy local connects who are actually willing to help you and believe in making this expansion successful. 3. Patience: Businesses needs to be really patient and willing to bring changes into strategy as and when required while still holding onto the timeline.

Start small, would be my first advice. Opening a new market is something you must do based on various MVP's (Minimum Viable Product). It is important that the strategy leader is present in 100% of the spaces and market opening decisions at least during the first months of consolidation of the operation to, precisely, keep under evaluation whether or not we need an additional resource. After a few months of testing a new market, if the results are even slightly positive, it may be the right time to open the checkbook and invest to multiply your capacity. The important thing about the first stage is the balance point and that first number in green that allows you to say: there is something here

I would also add that’s is vital to be clear on who isn’t your ideal client and stay very clear of them, to the point that you actively repel them. It’s impossible to serve the whole needs of the market, and it’s safe to say that they won’t all want you either. And that’s ok!

Empathy is the heartbeat of any successful strategy. Delve deep into understanding your customers—patients, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders. This personalized approach, honed through my years as a pharmacist, ensures that your solutions resonate with real-world needs.

When doing this element of your research see if you can break the market down even smaller. What niches are there that are being serviced differently? What gaps are there and could your proposition fill them? By shrinking the market and your offer you are creating a hyper niche that can elevate your business and provide clear differentiation.

Competition in healthcare is fierce, and staying ahead demands a nuanced understanding of the field. Drawing from my strategic partnerships and digital marketing experiences, thorough competitor analysis is akin to studying the pulse of the industry—anticipating moves and fostering innovation.

It’s so important to test your product or service in the market and not in your mind. Ideas are worthless if they haven’t been brought into reality. Your test could be small, low cost, and well controlled, but make sure you get it out there with trusted customers who will give you honest and constructive feedback. Then you can refine, retest, increase the test audience and keep going until you feel you’re ready for the big launch!

The healthcare journey is a collaborative symphony. Embrace feedback, not as a critique, but as a compass guiding your trajectory. Drawing from my digital marketing background, feedback loops are invaluable in refining strategies and ensuring they align with the dynamic needs of the healthcare ecosystem.

Adaptability is the hallmark of resilience. Regularly review your strategy, ensuring it evolves alongside the ever-shifting healthcare landscape. This iterative approach, informed by my experiences in digital health, allows for continuous improvement and relevance.

No business strategy is foolproof - full stop. Put your best plan forward, certainly, guided by data, insight into your competitive landscape and your customer, your internal strengths and weaknesses, etc. But perhaps more importantly, plan for the unknown. Game out potential situations you may not expect. Imagine yourself in the shoes of your customer and test your plan from that perspective. Planning for exceptions will help you act nimbly and with confidence with things go a little sideways - because they will!

Target should be successful entry and profitable sustenance in the new business. Here's what is worth considering - 1. Exploring an adjacency (related diversification) may be a better choice as compared to unrelated diversification - lesser financial & operational risk 2. Carry out in-depth Industry analysis of how profits are being shared, the dominant forces which dictate profits to position the company uniquely. 3. Examine the value chain elements, zero-in on the gap area aligned with the company's core competence where you can add value 4. Look for niches based on regular interaction with customers and revisit your strategy regularly & think ahead of competitors. 5. Re-orient and train your people to develop skills for the new business.

I don't think there is a foolproof business strategy as opposed to the best possible business strategy that can be obtained with due diligence. Strategies will always need to be tweaked or sometimes changed as competition, consumers and partners update theirs. Having said that, the easiest way to create a robust strategy is by assessing your 1)consumers 2)your business objectives 3)your retail partners needs. After that create a strategy that adds value to each component of the above in order to make it successful and adopted by all stakeholders.

A 'foolproof' strategy in business, especially when entering a new market, is a myth. The focus should be on clarity of purpose and a robust understanding of the customer's Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD). Start with a crystal clear goal, deeply comprehend your target customers' needs and behaviors, and develop a solid plan. It's crucial to document and regularly revisit the assumptions underlying your strategy. Implement a methodology to test these assumptions and refine your approach based on real-world feedback and market learning. Embrace the process rather than fixating on outcomes. This approach ensures agility, learning, and adaptation, which are key to success in new market ventures.

Entering a new market comes with its risks. All the above steps can help minimize the risks but not completely eliminate it. When developing strategies, one needs to take many assumptions - be it market size, market growth rate, political/economical stability of the market, etc. However, in real life these can easily change. This requires change of course for a business, which could even mean exiting a market a business recently entered at a big cost.