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Archive for the ‘market research’ Category

As an entrepreneur, you may know every detail about your small business, but can you say the same about your customers? In order to effectively market your products or services, you need to know who’s purchasing them! Market research consists of gathering and analyzing data about your customers in order to understand them better. “By gathering as much data as possible about your clients you can not only keep the customers you already have but also find more customers and increase your profits,” says Louise Johnsson-Zea, small business marketing consultant at ACCION.

You don’t need to hire a pro to conduct research on your target market-put your own investigative skills to use and do it yourself! For example, as a storefront owner, you can gather data inexpensively by conducting a survey at your store. By following the steps below, you’ll be well on your way to understanding the market your business serves.

Step 1: Determine the Questions You Need Answered. In order to understand your customers, list the questions that are relevant to both your customers and your business. Johnsson-Zea recommends asking yourself and your customers the following:

-Who are your current or potential customers? Where do they live?

-What do they like about your product or service?

-What suggestions do they have for improvement of your product or service?

-How did they hear about you?

-What newspapers do they read? What radio stations do they listen to?

-How much are your customers willing or able to pay for your services?

-How much are your competitors charging for similar products, services?

-How unique is your product? What makes it unique?

Step 2: Get Data from Primary and Secondary Sources. By using basic surveys, information you already have in hand, and conducting basic internet research, you can find the answers to your research questions.

Primary sources. This is information obtained directly from your clients through surveys or by analyzing information you already have available in your records. “You can do a simple analysis of billing zip codes to determine where your customers live or look at their title (Mr, Ms., or Mrs.) to find out their gender,” suggests Johnsson-Zea. “Also, simple observation of customer behavior can go a long way. Determine areas of your store where customers linger at make note of what products they ask for.”

Secondary sources. This is information that has already been gathered and published by someone else, such as the U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Visit your local library for resources, or spend a few hours online. You can access census information at http://www.census.gov

Most new internet marketers ignore a systematic three-step approach to market research when they embark on an online business. They either have no clue as to where to start or end up creating a product with little or no demand.

It is essential to follow through this three-step approach, namely niche market identification, opportunity identification and lastly production creation. You will save much effort and disappointment by not jumping the gun on the sequence.

Market research is about niche identification. Big brand names create demand. As small business owner, we do not exert the same market influence. Instead our focus should be finding a specific market with specific need and creating a solution to target this niche market. Use free tools that provide these research functions

http://www.FreeWordTrackerTool.com

http://www.FreeAdwordsTool.com

http://www.FreeKeywordDiscoveryTool.com

Start with a single keyword e.g. Guitar. Say, you have an interest in blues guitar. The natural instinct will be to research keywords – blues guitar. By doing that though, you have precluded yourself from other potential market opportunities associated with guitar e.g. second-hand guitars, guitar chords, guitar lessons online.

Look for less competitive keywords that appear in the search results. They represent potential niche markets that may yet to be fully exploited. Do a Google search to verify your suspicions using this method – type allintitle: keyword. This will return websites with your targeted keywords. This gives you a feel of your competition especially if you are planning to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to promote your product.

Extend your research by exploring micro-niche markets with common root words e.g. Blues guitar + learn/teach/online class. Some useful root words to help identify niche markets are: fix, help, learn, buy, solution, solve, successful, prevent, problem, get rid of, do it yourself, recipe, unrevealed etc.

Take advantage of other valuable tools you can use to uncover niche markets:

http:// www.google.com/press/zzeitgeist.html

http://buzz.yahoo.com

http://www.blogpulse.com

http://www.eBay.com

http://www.amazon.com

Now that you have identified your niche, the second step is to identify the problems faced by people in that niche market. You can research through search engines, forums, blogs and even offline resources e.g. Papers, advertisements, magazines and TV. When you have identified a problem, you have identified an opportunity!

The final step is to find/create a product to satisfy your niche market. There are several approaches to accomplish this.

- Create content websites (Content Publishing)

- Promote other people’s products (Affiliate Marketing)

- Selling other people’s product through resale license ( Resale Rights Marketing)

- Sell your own products/ services (Product Creation)

It is important to get the first step right as it gives you confidence and a clear goal to work with. Once you have defined your niche market and target audience, creating the perfect solution that will bring you money and credibility would be much easier.

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