Things to know about quality market research and how you can do it effectively.
What to know about market research
Market research is the most crucial role of an entrepreneur. It means the study of one’s market, competition and the proper customer or target customer for a business by its owner or manager. It consists of the accurate enquiry, study, trial and observation of certain task based on the Market. Conducting market research helps you pin-points exactly what your Prospect actually wants or even discover if a product will be successful before you launch it. Just to identify what really works out.
Why is market research so important?
Now, look at this, there is one productive company I know, along Onitsha-owerri road in Onitsha here.
This company once made a product and packaged it into a pretty-sachet, hailing themselves; yeah, at last we have made it, we have created a product that has no substitute in the market.
Truly, the product will not have substitute if the natural one is limited or no more there. And the form they made the product would have been the best for storage if the people were ready to buy it at all.
When they carried it into the market, nobody ask them how much. They advertise up and down, and the advert sounded like decoration and entertainment. Over a year half, no body ask them how much. And they wondered why!
What was wrong they asked? They sent the marketing department manager with some sales agents to come to the street to ask the people, what they think and how they feel about the product.
To know if the product was not good, or did people just hate the product? or if they have an “active substitute.”
None of the above open questions did the people respond “yes”.
But the pre-dominant replies from those many that did were “we have the product in natural form which we use for meal, and we don’t have any problem using it.
How can we leave it and be purchasing a processed one which might contain a chemical substance we don’t know about”.
From the dominant answer from the people, I understood the problem the company was having with their product.
It was not that the people loath their product but they don’t need it. The reason why the company can be running a great loss is because they did not seek to find out if people actually need or are ready to buy what they were about to produce. Such is an improper market research strategy.
Researching for your market can also reveal to you, the hidden ideal product, to be. A product that people need so much but are not supplied to them.
It will also help you to grow your mentality and confidence in your business growth potential.
How do one conduct market research?
Best research is done practically, because, along the line you can learn something you will never forget; and also you will have a tremendous first impression experience and know your customer better.
You can research online, depending on the kind of product you make. If it is something that is used globally and you can actually supply around the world or to far distant countries, then online research is for you.
And you can use some of the following: Amazon, social Mention on social media, survey-Marketing App, and many more.
When you engage in proper research of your market, there is nothing in your field that you can’t handle, as regards selling, business development, marketing, etc.
The heart of every business is the value of its product and services and anything that happens to any of the products or services usually reflects to the business' success accordingly.
Every business has a mission, the mission of your business whether well performed or not, is its value, if fulfilled. What you use to fulfill your mission could either be your product or services.
Study your competition:
Knowing who your competitors are, is practice in the entrepreneurial world that can enable you get to set your product price competitively and to respond to rival marketing campaigns with your own initiatives.
It is all about knowing who your competitors are and what they offer, that can also make your product and services to stand out.
You can use this marketing strategy that takes advantage of your competitors’ weakness and improve your own business performance.
You can also find out any change or challenges injected both by new beginners and current competitors. It helps you to measure how far you can go in the field in a long time.
Who are your competitors?
Competitors are the business or businesses; whose product or services can in any way be a substitute to your own in satisfying your customer. Competitions exist everywhere, both between you and your immediate neighbor, or between you and somebody far away.
Competition, due to the rampant spread of the internet doesn’t only exist in the public market place but also on the internet.
And it may not just be another business that takes money away from you, but can be another product or service that is being developed which you are supposed to license before somebody else takes it up.
And don’t just reserve what is already out there. You also need to be constantly on the lookout for possible new competition.
It is just all about who occupies there first and actually stays.
You can check for the existing competition from:
Local Business Directory;
Your Local Chamber of Commerce;
Adverts;
Press Report;
Trade Fair;
Search on the Internet; and
Information provided by Customers
What should I know about my competitors?
There are things you need, to monitor about the way your competitors do business, watch:
The product and services they provide; and how they market them to customers;
The price they charge;
How they distribute and deliver;
The device they employ to enhance customers loyalty and what back-up service they provide;
Their brand and design value;
Whether they innovate business method as well as products;
Their staff members and the kind of staff they enact/adopt;
And...
What they are planning to do;
Trying to go beyond what is happening now is another important study of your competitors.
The most effective strategy for success in your competitive market is this attentive study of your competitors.
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