| Business is a very complex
operation, hard work and your product or service aren't enough. Market
is very important area where the trading of goods or services takes place.
In order to succeed and correctly identify your target market, your product
or service, you need to do careful market research. This is an organized
study of the facts important to your business. These facts can be gathered
from primary or secondary data. |
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PRIMARY
DATA
|
| You
could hire a market research firm to gather the primary data you need,
or you could gather the information yourself. Primary data can be collected
by observation, survey and experimentation.
OBSERVATION
- People in the market place are observed, or watched, either directly
or using hidden camera.
SURVEY
- Survey is a list of questions that is prepared to find specific information.
A survey can be conducted in person, by telephone or by mail.
EXPERIMENTATION
- Experimentation involves testing the interest in a product or service
by trying it out in a particular area. For example, a local flea market
or craft show could help you determine the possible interest in a particular
product. This type of research can be very costly because you have to develop
your product or service before you can test it. |
|
Marketing
Management
by
Philip Kotler
This worldwide best-selling
book highlights the most recent trends and developments in global marketing-with
an emphasis on the importance of teamwork between marketing and all the
other functions of the business. It introduces new perspectives in successful
strategic market planning, and presents additional company examples of
creative, market-focused, and customer-driven action. Coverage includes
a focus on customer relationship management, partner relationship management,
the Internet and its effects and uses, brand building and brand asset management,
alternative go-to-market channels, and marketing around the globe. Chapter
topics discuss building customer satisfaction, market oriented strategic
planning, analyzing consumer markets and buyer behavior, dealing with the
competition, designing pricing strategies and programs, and managing the
sales force For marketing managers who want to increase their understanding
of the major issues of strategic, tactical, and administrative marketing-along
with the opportunities and needs of the marketplace in the years ahead. |
|
|
How
Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market
by
Gerald Zaltman
Building on research from disciplines
as diverse as neurology, sociology, literary analysis, and cognitive science,
Zaltman offers rich insights into what happens within the complex system
of mind, brain, body, and society as consumers contemplate their needs
and evaluate products. Zaltman illustrates how leading companies are "mining
the unconscious" "-with remarkable results, and introduces innovative tools
and techniques that help marketers:
* Develop research questions
that speak to the unconscious brain.
* Evoke valuable meaning
through a customer's metaphors-and instill those images in brand communications.
* Measure consumer reactions
to marketing stimuli-and alter advertising or positioning strategies accordingly.
* Build "consensus maps"
that reflect a market segment's universal thinking-and reengineer them
to boost customer satisfaction, loyalty, and sales.
* Understand how their own
minds work-and how they can think in creative new ways. The mind of the
market is waiting to be explored. Make sure your competitors don't get
there first. |
|
|
How
to Really Create a Successful Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide
by
David E. Gumpert
This guide leads budding entrepreneurs
through the process of creating effective and successful business plans.
With detailed outlines and examples from thriving companies, new business
owners are counseled to identify the strategic purpose for their plan,
to determine the kind of plan they want to write, and to put their best
ideas on paper. Step-by-step exercises at the end of each section enable
entrepreneurs to develop the plan that is tailored to their needs. A financial
roadmap breaks down the process for making accurate financial projections,
and a follow-up section advises the new business owner on effective plan
revision. Included are excerpts from plans of famous business moguls Frank
Carney, founder of Pizza Hut, Mo Siegel, founder of Celestial Seasonings,
and Ben Cohen, founder of Ben & Jerry's. |
|
|
How
to Really Start Your Own Business, Fourth Edition by David E. Gumpert
W.D.Bygrave, professor of entrepreneurship,
Babson College "Gumpert's how-to book is simply the best. No would-be entrepreneur
should launch a business before reading this book." |
|
|
COMPETITIVE
STRATEGY: TECHNIQUES FOR ANALYZING INDUSTRIES AND COMPETITORS by Michael
E. Porter
More than a million managers
in both large and small companies, investment analysts, consultants, students,
and scholars throughout the world have internalized Porter's ideas and
applied them to assess industries, understand competitors,, and choose
competitive positions. The ideas in the book address the underlying fundamentals
of competition in a way that is independent of the specifics of the ways
companies go about competing.
Competitive Strategy has
filled a void in management thinking. It provides an enduring foundation
and grounding point on which all subsequent work can be built. By bringing
a disciplined structure to the question of how firms achieve superior profitability,
Porter's rich frameworks and deep insights comprise a sophisticated view
of competition unsurpassed in the last quarter-century. |
|
|
Marketing
Insights from A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Needs to Know
by
Philip Kotler
|
|
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SECONDARY
DATA
|
| Information collected by
other people for some other purpose is known as secondary data. Secondary
data is available from various government agencies, professional and trade
associations, universities, libraries, and other businesses. Keep in mind
that effective marketing needs up-to date market research. Sometimes the
material you collect from secondary data is useful, but you may need to
invest in primary data to ensure you have the most current information
in your field.
It is very important to examine
your product or service as it is to understand your target market. You
need to learn all you can about your potential clientele and competition
by acquiring as much accurate and specific information about them as possible.
That, basically, is what market research is all about. In order to properly
identify the market for your business, you need to consider a number of
issues and questions, but market research basically breaks into three categories: |
|
|
 YOUR
PRODUCT OR SERVICE |
| YOUR
CUSTOMERS |
| YOUR
COMPETITION |
|
|
|
YOUR
PRODUCT OR SERVICE
|
To
increase your chances of product or service success, you must know many
important things about your product or service. Visiting the competitors,
testing manufactured goods or the services of potential competitors
is an informal and very valuable process.
Keep a
record of the answers to these questions:
1.
Is there a need for your service or products? If yes, is that seasonal
or year-long?
2.
Do you know what to charge to cover your costs?
3.
Are your prices competitive?
4.
How important is low price?
5.
Is service more important?
6.
Must you include delivery cost in your price?
7.
What will discounts do to your markup?
8.
Must you give discounts for cash, volume, distributors, salespeople?
9.
Are your products unique, eye appealing, higher quality or better designed?
10.
Must you offer a guarantee?
11.
What will be your return policy?
12.
Must you stock parts for service?
13.
How much is normal advertising costs for your products?
14.
What media? How often? Seasonal?
15.
Is any free publicity available?
16.
Do you have a trademark or logo? Is it registered?
17.
Will you need an advertising agency?
18.
If you are buying how much of each (size, color ) will you buy? From whom?
19.
Can you return unsold merchandise?
20.
Have you stock control plan to avoid overstock, under stock and out of
stocks?
21.
Have you established a line of credit with your suppliers? How long?
22.
If you are a manufacturer how will you sell - through dealers, distributors,
sales agents or direct to the your consumer?
23.
What type of distribution is common in the industry?
24.
Do transportation costs dictate the best method of distribution?
25.
What percentage of the market will you get? |
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YOUR
CUSTOMERS
|
| Experience
has shown that the more focused you are about your target market, the greater
your chances of success. You must identify as precisely as possible WHO
will buy from you and WHY.
Any target market is broken down into smaller groups or segments known
as market segments. The most common market segments are based on age, income,
ethnic background, geographic location and education. |
| AGE -
Buying habits and tastes differ from one age group to another. Each of
these age groups has different needs and wants. For example teenager will
spend money on entertainment and clothing, people in family years will
spend most of their money on shelter, food, clothing and education for
their children. You need to know what age groups your product or service
will appeal to. Use the following groups as a guide: |
| YOUTH
(up to 13 years) |
| TEENAGERS
(13 to 19 years) |
| YOUNG
ADULTS (20 to 29 years) |
| FAMILY
YEARS (30 to 50 years) |
| GOLDEN
YEARS (50 to 65 years) |
| LEISURE
YEARS (from 65 years on) |
|
|
| INCOME
- The amount of money a person earns is an important factor in his or her
spending patterns. Discretionary income is the amount of money left over
after all necessities have been paid for, it is money available to spend
on luxury items.
ETHNIC BACKGROUND
- Our country is mosaic, made up of people from many cultural and religious
backgrounds and they preserve their cultural heritage by maintaining the
customs and traditions of their ancestors. It will be wise to investigate
these customs and traditions if your market includes people from various
ethnic background.
GEOGRAPHIC
LOCATION -
Geographic location also has a large influence on buying patterns. People
living in rural area have different needs, and wants than people living
in a large urban centers.
EDUCATION
- Education gives people the knowledge to be selective. Today people achieving
higher levels of education and becoming better-informed consumers. They
know good value for their money and, as result, demand better quality products.
Market research helps you answer
many questions:
1. Who are your customers?
(age, sex, income bracket, level of education)
2. Where do potential customers
live, play, shop?
3. What are their household
compositions?
4. What are their current
buying habits?
5. What motivates them to
buy your products?
6. Do they have specific
needs or wants that aren't being fulfilled?
7. How often do they buy?
Seasonal?
8. What do they like and
not like about the products/service of your potential competitors?
9. What price would they
be willing to pay for your service?
10. What are the key criteria
in making the buying decision?
11. Who makes the buying
decisions?
12. How they will pay for
your product or service? Cash or credit?
13. Can you afford to carry
accounts receivable?
14. If you are selling to
other businesses you need to know how many employees they have?
15. What are their main
products or services? |
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YOUR
COMPETITION
|
Analyze the market and accurate
all information about your competition. The clearer you are at outset about
the competition you'll face, the better your business will be and the greater
your chances of success will be. Doing your own research is good way to
start.
Try to answer to these questions:
1. How big, how old, how
strong they are?
2. What percentage of the
market do they have?
3. What makes their product
or service different from others?
4. Do they concentrate on
quality or volume?
5. Are their prices perceived
as low, medium or high?
6. Do they offer discounts?
What kinds? How often?
7. Is their product or service
known by name?
8. What kind of promotion
do they use? Free samples? Giveaways?
9. How do they distribute
their service or product?
10. Where are they located
and is location important to their success?
11. Are they targeting specific
customers?
12. What's good or bad about
their product or service? |
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