Getting to know your Target Market (MARKET RESEARCH)
Posted On Sunday, November 23, 2008 at by Sun JunRESEARCH IT: Getting to Know Your Target Market
A good way to ensure the success of your venture is to take concrete steps to know if there is a market for your business, how big it is, how it regards the product or service you're going to offer, and the best strategy to reach them. You have to do a MARKET RESEARCH. This section covers how to do a market research and the benefits of doing market research.
Doing market research would allow you to:
- Have an idea of your product or service's acceptability
- Have a grasp of your target market, its profile, and preferences
- Have an estimate of how big or small your market is
- Have an idea of the needs and wants of the market that you can satisfy
- Decide on the best entry strategy for your business
- Find a means to differentiate your product or service from what is existing
- See if you have enough resources to be in the playing field
- Check if you have a fighting chance against competition
- Find out if there would be other possible hindrances to starting your business
Conducting a market research doesn't have to be expensive. Here are some tips on where you can get useful information for your market research.
- Search your network - Friends, friends of friends, family friends, officemates, colleagues can be a starting point. Don't hesitate to consult with them about your venture and see what they think.
- Tapping the supporting cast - They may not be your target market but some people's industry presence or exposure makes them qualified to serve as respondents. And example is talking to a caddy if you want to be in the golf accessories business.
- Talking to former employees - You'll be surprised at how much information people are willing to share, such as day-to-day operations, sales performance, best practices, usual problems and challenges, compensation, and other issues about their former job.
- Chatting up the front liners - Sales clerk, booth people, and crew members are ideal sources of information if you want to find out how the competitors' business is faring, and what the customers think of them.
- The Internet
- Syndicated Reports - studies released by research firms like AC Nielsen.
- Industry Reports - Get insider information through regular updates and reports released by various industry associations.
- Government Agencies - go to www.gov.ph to get the links to the different government agencies.
- Academic Papers
- Annual Reports
- Publications
Nice and informative post. Continue writing useful contents for the Filipinos and for the world. One thing, we should first verify the reliability of internet sources before we rely on them. We can check their authors and their warranty and disclaimer with regards to their articles.