Securing Online Marketing Success Successful online marketing is much more than ordering up a website and hoping that people will visit...
Researching and defining your market niche can pay huge dividends if you "get started" the right way.
Running a small business or launching a start-up company is very time consuming. Most of the time it feels as if there aren't enough hours in the day to get the job done. Because of this, many small businesses skip some of the most important details in securing their online success.
Market research is one of these crucial steps that many businesses omit. How can you go ahead with a plan to sell a product when you don't know if it's going to sell? How can you set a price when you don't even know your customer's price sensitivity or your competitors' prices? Market research, although time consuming and frequently omitted by small companies, is largely necessary to ensure a business's success. This article will define market research and provide a step-by-step approach to tackling the subject as a small business.
Market Research - An Introduction
Market research is the process of collecting data on consumers, competitors, marketing and sales channels, and the forces affecting your industry. Consumer research usually contains data on basic customer characteristics and their buying behavior. Competitor research includes gathering data on product lines and pricing, competitors' current advertisements, and some perceptual mapping. Channel research simply means that you must view the overall picture. How do you fit into the industry value chain? Who are the best suppliers, distributors, and retailers? How will your product reach the end consumer? Finally, gathering industry research involves analyzing Porter's Five Forces along with market history and probable forecasts. Legalities and any political issues that may concern your business fit in here as well.
Step 1: Set Goals for Yourself
As with any project, your first step towards completing quality market research is to set some goals. What do you want to accomplish while doing the market research? These goals should focus on the process itself. Setting dates in a timeline is always a good idea if you've outlined multiple steps for your market research campaign. Here are some ideas for goals:
• Segment your market by age, income, and location
• Test interest in new products and services through product comparisons
• Improve customer relations
• Develop new strategies to hedge competition
• Optimize product prices
Step 2: Turn Goals into Results
A little research can pay huge dividends. Remember your online presence is the NEW front door to your business.
Now that you've outlined all the goals for your campaign, transform your ambitions into the results you want. Where as the goals focused on your accomplishments during the market research, the results focus on what you want to get out of the market research. Think of the ways you envision your business improving after the research is done. Some examples:
• You can target the best customer segment possible
• You set the best price to ensure high product movement
• You close sales more quickly by knowing customer psychographics
• Your business has contingency plans
• You are more responsive and you move faster than your competition
Step 3: Start Your Research
All the preparation is done. You have your goals and your desired end results. The task of doing all the market research may seem daunting, but start small and start easy. Start with the easiest category "customers" and ask every possible question. Who are they? How old are they? How much do they make? Do they have families? Are they risk takers? Etc, etc. Move on to "competitors", "channels", and "environment" while still asking about all of the details. Answer as many questions as possible.
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Saturday, July 1, 2006
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