This is a story worth reading about. It might save you a
lot of time and money. It's about an innovative site that
just went live the last weeks of 2007. It was conceived
then born out of necessity and objective, third party
market research. Ian Campbell, the individual investor who
created it was sick and tired of doing financial research
the slow and tiresome way.
Campbell liked to manage his own stock portfolio. But there
was a pain associated with this. It was like a 'hurt' that
needed to be healed; a problem that needed a solution. It
was too laborious to do the analyses, pouring over piles of
charts, other web sites, trying to make sense of all the
inputs for so many different companies. Moreover, in many
cases, the information he wanted and needed wasn't there.
He reasoned that there must be thousands of investment
advisers and other investors - just like him - who craved
such a solution to this onerous problem. During the last 12
months, he has brought to the market a website focused on
Small Cap Canadian Mining and Oil & Gas stocks. Check out
his personal credentials; you'll find that for more than 35
years, Campbell has been viewed as a leading Canadian
expert in the rendering of independent business valuation
opinions.
In fact, he's famous for writing the definitive Canadian
books on it. In fact, Campbell has recently been honored by
the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators.
They have named an annual research grant after him.
I asked Campbell why he conceived this particular website.
He said that his own frustration with the data overload on
the Internet, coupled with the untold hours it took him to
manage his own portfolio, led him to realize there had to
be a quicker, better way to do this.
As a long-time marketer myself, I was particularly pleased
to see that Campbell did not fall into the trap of building
a service based only on his needs. Campbell knew that he
could show others how to save time and money with this new
way of researching just as if they were a company acquirer.
To further test his concept in depth, he had to conduct
market research. Campbell had a seasoned market researcher
work with him to craft and distribute a detailed
questionnaire targeted at thousands of individuals in the
U.S. and Canada. Each had at least $100K in the market and
was interested in individually managing or having an
investment adviser handle his or her portfolio.
The actual 'services' in the site concept were a direct
result of this research. But for me, where the rubber hits
the road, it's about how the website provides member access
to an interesting, yet very efficient way of looking at
one's stocks. I compare this to what it must be like
looking down on an investment from three different
altitudes.
First, there is the Macro-economic overview, as if you were
a plane way up at 38,000 feet of altitude, looking down at
the very big picture. Then there is the ongoing specific
industry overview (viewed within the context of the
macro-economic overview above). Lastly, there are the
individual companies within the industries featured on the
site. This is comprised of research conducted with or on
that specific company.
From my marketer's viewpoint, this site allows one to look
at the major questions one must ask: (1) where is this
company now? (2) Where do they say they want to be? By
when? Thirdly, how are they going to get there? What are
their plans to get there? Being able to look down from a
38,000 foot vantage point forces the stock researcher to
become aware of and take into consideration all the other
inputs that affect the competitive environment in which
this company has to compete.
From the mid-altitude point, the researcher is assisted by
taking into consideration all the pertinent specific
industry inputs, allowing them to decide for themselves
whether or not this particular company has the ability and
resources to move upwards...or not. The investor, or his
advisor, can then make their own decisions to buy or
sell...or not.
©Copyright, Roy MacNaughton, 2008
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To learn more, go to: http://www.stockresearchdd.com
Roy MacNaughton is a business writer and coach. He's a
seasoned marketer, with more than 25 years of international
experience, including eight years online. His specialty is
finding investment "niches" that can be exploited and/or
added to his own portfolio.
Check his blog at:
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