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Casual Articles - Essential Market Research For Your Small Business
While I’m not prone to stereotyping, it has been my experience that there are generally two types of people: those that don’t know what they don’t know and those that do, in fact, know what they don’t know. All other things being equal the difference between the two groups boils down to experience and discernment.Those people who don’t know what they don’t know typically tend to be either younger professionals beginning their careers who have a lack of experience, or older professionals who have not gained wisdom and maturity as they have progressed along their career path.The Early Stage Professional: On the positive side of the equation young, inexperienced and energetic professionals sometimes accomplish great things because they don’t have t
The primary component of any successful market research is gaining insight into your competition. At some point you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP. Your Unique Selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other competitor.
Your entire marketing and operational success should be built upon your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP can touch any part of the marketing gamut, price, service, quality, or exclusivity. You gain a unique selling advantage by
A large number of individuals dream of owning their own business. A number of those individuals are able to make that dream come true. If you are one of those individuals, there may come a point in time when you have too much business. Too much business often means a large amount of money. Instead of complaining about too much business, there are many business owners who take action. This action often involves outside assistance, such as an answering service.An answering service is designed to provide your customers with a real voice instead of an automated answering machine, when you are unavailable to answer their calls. Answering services operate all around the world. Their goals are the same, but there are many individuals and co
If your business is going to be successful you must know everything that is going on in the marketplace. You have to know who your prospects are, who your customers will be, and most importantly who your competitors are. There are many forces and factors behind how customers purchase products and services. Gaining the right knowledge goes a long way toward your success in business.
There is little room for guesswork in business today. Obtaining the correct information and knowledge that is to the point, objective, and thorough is essential to your business success. You can only gain this knowledge through research and testing.
You need to find out what problems need to be solved and if the market wants them to be solved? You need to find out what price the market will pay to have its problems solved. The answers to these questions will form the foundation for your business plan.
Good market research gives you the best return on investment you can have, but it is important to realize that it pays off in the long run, not in short run. There are two types of market research you need to be aware of. The first is quantitative which measures numbers and percentages of how much customers buy. The other is qualitative which gives you the reasons why customers buy a certain product or service.
Quantitative research reveals market share or how many people in a certain group buy or do something. Radio and TV ratings are quantitative research. Preference studies are quantitative in nature.
For example suppose you were doing a study on coffee and you found that 74 percent of the tested group preferred caffeinated coffee over decaffeinated coffee. Based on this study, if you were introducing a specialty brand of decaffeinated coffee, you would know that your market size is drastically less than the segment that prefers caffeinated coffee. Without this knowledge you would have no idea what size your market opportunity is, whether you should be shooting at this particular target, or whether you will even hit it.
The primary component of any successful market research is gaining insight into your competition. At some point you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP. Your Unique Selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other competitor.
Your entire marketing and operational success should be built upon your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP can touch any part of the marketing gamut, price, service, quality, or exclusivity. You gain a unique selling advantage by o
Making the most of your media efforts is important to every organization. Even more important is maximizing your profit potential when advertising through radio, television, and other methods of exposure.The two most common forms of advertising consist of radio and television. First off, let's talk about how radio spots can be an effective form of advertising.Radio has many distinct advantages that a media buyer should take into consideration. Radio spots can be had on both local and national levels. This allows targeted marketing efforts to be coordinated. In other words, if you are advertising for a local company, you would be best off using local radio stations. Also, radio can be used in cooperation with other media efforts. Many companies
There is little room for guesswork in business today. Obtaining the correct information and knowledge that is to the point, objective, and thorough is essential to your business success. You can only gain this knowledge through research and testing.
You need to find out what problems need to be solved and if the market wants them to be solved? You need to find out what price the market will pay to have its problems solved. The answers to these questions will form the foundation for your business plan.
Good market research gives you the best return on investment you can have, but it is important to realize that it pays off in the long run, not in short run. There are two types of market research you need to be aware of. The first is quantitative which measures numbers and percentages of how much customers buy. The other is qualitative which gives you the reasons why customers buy a certain product or service.
Quantitative research reveals market share or how many people in a certain group buy or do something. Radio and TV ratings are quantitative research. Preference studies are quantitative in nature.
For example suppose you were doing a study on coffee and you found that 74 percent of the tested group preferred caffeinated coffee over decaffeinated coffee. Based on this study, if you were introducing a specialty brand of decaffeinated coffee, you would know that your market size is drastically less than the segment that prefers caffeinated coffee. Without this knowledge you would have no idea what size your market opportunity is, whether you should be shooting at this particular target, or whether you will even hit it.
The primary component of any successful market research is gaining insight into your competition. At some point you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP. Your Unique Selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other competitor.
Your entire marketing and operational success should be built upon your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP can touch any part of the marketing gamut, price, service, quality, or exclusivity. You gain a unique selling advantage by
Sure, these motivational CDs will give you a quick adrenaline rush to get out there and get those prospects! After all, how can it get more motivational than listening another testimonial rags to riches story?The stories are motivational alright and the upline will tell you that you need to keep on buying these tapes because it is food for your mind that will keep you going on with the business. What they forgot to tell you is that they are profiting BIG from you buying those useless tapes or CDs!Think about it, if one of the biggest distributors in your company has about 5,000 downline in his team and each and every week you buy another stupid motivational tape for $7 a pop, how much money did he just make? He just made $35,000 PER WEEK if everyo
Good market research gives you the best return on investment you can have, but it is important to realize that it pays off in the long run, not in short run. There are two types of market research you need to be aware of. The first is quantitative which measures numbers and percentages of how much customers buy. The other is qualitative which gives you the reasons why customers buy a certain product or service.
Quantitative research reveals market share or how many people in a certain group buy or do something. Radio and TV ratings are quantitative research. Preference studies are quantitative in nature.
For example suppose you were doing a study on coffee and you found that 74 percent of the tested group preferred caffeinated coffee over decaffeinated coffee. Based on this study, if you were introducing a specialty brand of decaffeinated coffee, you would know that your market size is drastically less than the segment that prefers caffeinated coffee. Without this knowledge you would have no idea what size your market opportunity is, whether you should be shooting at this particular target, or whether you will even hit it.
The primary component of any successful market research is gaining insight into your competition. At some point you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP. Your Unique Selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other competitor.
Your entire marketing and operational success should be built upon your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP can touch any part of the marketing gamut, price, service, quality, or exclusivity. You gain a unique selling advantage by
In this world, we have set some rules for ourselves. We break them as we wish, and we fear to break some of them. Education and employment has one such rule. It is called ‘qualification’.How does one know if a person is qualified? Grant them a piece of paper. That piece of paper, in civilized language, is called a ‘degree’. This degree tells the outside world that this person is ‘qualified’ to do the job listed in the degree details. That the degree holder has had NOT a minute of practical real world experience is another matter.There is a person who has been doing his job, say, getting sales, for about 7 years, say. He has been doing his job well, that is why he is still holding it, right? In comes a young fellow, with a paper stating that he is ‘qu
For example suppose you were doing a study on coffee and you found that 74 percent of the tested group preferred caffeinated coffee over decaffeinated coffee. Based on this study, if you were introducing a specialty brand of decaffeinated coffee, you would know that your market size is drastically less than the segment that prefers caffeinated coffee. Without this knowledge you would have no idea what size your market opportunity is, whether you should be shooting at this particular target, or whether you will even hit it.
The primary component of any successful market research is gaining insight into your competition. At some point you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP. Your Unique Selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other competitor.
Your entire marketing and operational success should be built upon your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP can touch any part of the marketing gamut, price, service, quality, or exclusivity. You gain a unique selling advantage by
Businesses can be incorporated in any state in the U.S., regardless of where the business is operated. Corporate laws vary from state to state. Many small business owners prefer to incorporate in their own state, to reduce costs as well as to simplify the incorporation process. If a business owner incorporates in a different state, then he still needs to qualify himself to conduct business in his own state. Business owners incorporating in their own state, also save on paying franchise taxes and filing annual reports in two different states. Business owners usually choose the state where they want to incorporate, depending on the taxation rules of the state and their registration requirements. Delaware and Nevada are the most favored states for incorporation as th
The primary component of any successful market research is gaining insight into your competition. At some point you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP. Your Unique Selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other competitor.
Your entire marketing and operational success should be built upon your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP can touch any part of the marketing gamut, price, service, quality, or exclusivity. You gain a unique selling advantage by offering a big, unique, and appealing promise that’s not being offered by your competitors.
How do you pick a USP for your business? You must identify which needs are going unfulfilled within your industry. Here are six examples to get you started:
1. You offer the broadest selection.
2. You offer the biggest discounts.
3. You offer the best advice and assistance.
4. You offer the highest quality products.
5. You offer the fastest service and delivery.
6. You offer the longest and most comprehensive guarantee.
Because of today’s technology it is easier to research and gain competitive intelligence about emerging competition than ever before. The Internet is a tremendous research tool. Surfing the Internet and looking at a competitor’s Web site is an easy thing to do. When you buy something from a competitor’s Web site it not only gives you valuable information but it also allows you to remain anonymous, something that purchasing offline doesn’t.
Here are some other ways to conduct competitive research online:
• Participate or visit newsgroups and information forum.
• Conduct surveys.
• Extract and explore databases.
• Find and contact strategic alliances.
• Test market products, surveys, headlines, and advertising.
The more information you gather, the better equipped you will be to compete in the marketplace. It is always best if you do your research on a regular basis because the market and your competition are constantly changing. Once you have gathered new information you must be prepared to react quickly depending on what the research reveals about your competition and customer demands.
For example, if your customers start doing business with your competitors, it might be signal that you need to reposition yourself against the competition or at least research why your customers are moving to your competitors.
When it comes to customer research you need to find out three basic things: What does your competition offer to your prospects that they like best? What is your competition doing that your prospects don’t like? What do your prospects want that your competition does not offer?
Some businesses that can afford to, hire a marke
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