Partner Article

Why you should read up on your market

Having come from a journalistic background, you may be forgiven for assuming a bit of bias here or a secret agenda, but whichever trade you are involved in, it is crucial to read up on your market. I don’t just mean research before you dive in, but I mean regular updates and a steady stream of information about what is happening and developing.

A lot of business-running can end up feeling like fire-fighting. You will build contingency plans for failure, you’ll make sure your public liability insurance is in order, you’ll make sure your tax records are up to date, that your bills are all paid up and that all your HR affairs are squared up. The demands of keeping things running to the status quo can feel like the entirety of your work, but arguably the most important role that you have when running a business is to move forward and do new things.

Competition in pretty much every industry is constantly rising and standards are rising with it. For this reason, keeping up with developments in your market are absolutely critical as this will help inform you of the directions you should be taking and the issues you should be looking out for. Without being informed of which way the wind is blowing in your particular industry, you can find yourself blind-sided by easily avoidable complications.

Whilst resisting the temptation to state in a patronisingly mock-sage attempting-to-be-inspirational manner that “knowledge is power”, it is worth stating that if you don’t know stuff you are more likely to fail. Not only that, but you won’t always be certain why you’ve failed at something and will be doomed to repeat your failure again.

Where to look

Whatever your industry is, there will be at least one publication or regular broadcast of some form dedicated to its inner workings. It doesn’t matter how niche it is, there will be something. In some cases there will be only on publication, but there will always be one.

If you have ever seen Have I Got News For You, you will be aware of this through their mocking of niche publications which are frankly sometimes dedicated to a niche within a niche.

A print or online publication that is relevant to you will however exist, no matter how ridiculous it might seem to the general public. If you give me an industry, I will find a website dedicated to it and probably some kind of counter-website that disagrees with everything the first website says because they claim it is too mainstream or populist to serve the industry properly. That’s not due to some kind of research skill or long-running experience either.

Some industries will be luckier than others with more plentiful publications, but there will always be at least one. A morning’s googling will turn up a handful of results that you can then go on to examine and find more from there.

How much to read

There is one caveat to the reading up on industry developments in that it is equally important not to overdo it. Too much reading and not enough doing can easily become just as much of a problem as no reading in the first place.

You can also find yourself second guessing your decisions based on widespread industry opinion. Bear in mind that if you think you have a good idea that flies in the face of industry common practise, that does not necessarily mean you have a bad idea. You might, but most people that find true success in this world tend to do so by doing something unconventional that nobody else has tried or been brave enough to test.

Information informs

Keeping up with industry events and general current affairs is a healthy thing to do when you run a business. It keeps you adaptable, it keeps you on your toes, and it gives you ideas for how to drive things forward when you’re done dealing with the day-to-day greasing of the corporate gears in your organisation.

Moving forward and doing new things is the only way you will thrive and gives you a better chance of actually surviving at the same time. Knowing what’s going on in your wider market is the best way of picking a sensible direction.

Written by David Hing, editor of the YOUR Insurance blog. YOUR Insurance specialises in landlord insurance and public liability insurance for small businesses.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by YOUR Insurance .