CONDUCTING A MARKET ANALYSIS - Amazon S3



CONDUCTING A MARKET ANALYSIS

Intro:

Welcome to Conducting a Market Analysis, powered by Virtual Advisor. To navigate through the workshop, click on the Continue and Previous buttons. To begin the workshop, click on the Continue button.

Section 1:

A light bulb just went off in your head, you can’t contain your excitement. You’ve just come up with the most brilliant business idea. Your gut tells you the idea will be a huge success. But how can you tell for sure? How can you tell, with some degree of certainty, that your instincts are correct and that you can build a business from your brilliant idea? Well, the answer is to conduct a market analysis.

A market analysis is an in depth assessment of the potential target market, competition, and need for a product or service and provides a realistic and honest assessment of the viability of your new idea. This workshop will show you how to discover if your idea can attract a target audience, if there is room for you to compete in the marketplace and if there is a need for your product or service.

Just don’t be afraid of the results. You may learn that your idea will work if you reassess your target audience or adjust the price points on a product or you may learn that the market is already saturated but if you develop a unique competitive advantage, you can take market share away from your competitors and become a player.

Regardless of your findings, a market analysis provides you with the critical information and data necessary to successfully start and grow a business.

Section 2:

The first step to begin the process is to identify your market and to determine if there is a need or desire for your product or service. So let’s begin by creating a customer profile of your target audience. If you’re targeting consumers, determine for example the age, gender, income level of your audience or if you are targeting businesses, determine the company’s size, industry, number of employees and who makes the purchasing decision within the company. To learn how to create a comprehensive customer profile, click on the Worksheet button at the top of the page.

Next, if appropriate, identify the geographic location of your audience. Where does your market live and where does he or she purchase products or services? This can be as broad as the country or state in which they live or as narrow as the county, city or neighborhood. Once you have this information, you can begin collecting the following additional data.

Section 3:

Chances are, if you have been in a toy store lately, or even a starbucks coffee shop, you’ve seen the newest game craze to his the market, a board game called Cranium. Click on the case study to learn how two entrepreneurs carefully assessed and researched the market to ensure that their product’s launch would be a huge success.

Section 4:

I know this is a lot of work, but it’s necessary if you want to build a sustainable business and if you read the Cranium case study, you see firsthand the huge commitment it takes from a business to be totally in sync with it’s customers needs and wants, but as the founders of Cranium have proved…it’s well worth it.

So, let’s continue on with the analysis and focus on your competition. Rarely is there a business that does not have a competitor. So, look closely at who you will be going head-to-head with and get a complete picture of who your competitors are and how they are running their business. You will want to find out the answers to the following questions.

Section 4, click 1:

Let’s take a look at two companies within the same industry. Each of them entered into a saturated market dominated by mega corporations. Both of the companies did their research and learned that there was room for them in the marketplace because they were targeting a niche market. Click on the case studies to learn how AND 1 and RYKA have competed and succeeded against giants like Nike and Reebok.

Section 5:

Understanding your industry is the next important component to your analysis. You’ll want to consider paying special attention to current and business buying trends. You’ll also want to evaluate the trends within your industry. Take some time to research the following questions.

Section 6:

Once you feel certain that your business idea has a good chance of success, consider going one step further to make sure the market will be receptive to your product or service. Remember, if you’re investing your own hard-earned money or someone else’s money into your venture, you’ll want to protect your investment by making sure that you’ve done all of your homework. Talking directly with your customers through personal interviews, surveys, and focus groups is the best way to measure your ventures feasibility and ultimate success.

There are two standard methods to market research. They are qualitative research and quanitative research. Qualitative research utilizes open-ended questions to obtain in-depth answers. Quantitative research is a more scientific method that produces numerical and statistical information. Click on each term to learn more.

Section 7:

Asking the right people the right questions is key to gathering the data you need to make solid business decisions. You’ll want to find a sampling of the types of people who will be purchasing your products or services. It’s best to sample as many people as possible. Just in case you’re wondering, asking family members and friends doesn’t count as valid market research, sorry folks.

Section 7, click 1:

Deciding what specific questions to ask and how to ask them depends on how you plan to contact respondants. Click through the following options to learn more.

Section 8:

If you’re now ready to construct your survey or questionnaire, here are some tips to keep in mind. To see several samples, click on the worksheet button at the top of the page.

Section 9:

Well, at this phase of the process, you should be sitting on a mound of valuable information. Take the time to honestly analyze your findings. Don’t be afraid to make some changes in your strategy, if that’s what your research is telling you to do. Also, consider conducting market research and analysis any time you launch a new product or service while your business grows. If your idea or business has been validated, congratulations and good luck. If you found some holes in your idea, don’t give up. Tweak your plan and come up with a solution. It’s what being and entrepreneur is all about.

Section 9, click 1:

For additional information on this topic, click on the resource and worksheet buttons at the top of the page. To talk with peers or an expert on the subject, click on the discuss and ask the expert sections at the top of the page. Good Luck.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download