Targeting Our Market

Market Research

What does your customer look like?

​What is Market Research?

Market: a group of potential customers--people or business--who are willing & able to purchase a particular product or service.

Market Research: an ongoing and organized way to gather and analyze information needed to make business decisions.

Why is Market Reseach Important?

​Researching your market helps you:

1. Understand your market

2. Avoid Costly Mistakes

3. Obtain Finances

Understanding Your Market

Market reaserch tends to focus on THREE main areas to understand your market:

Business Environment
Customers
Competition

​Business Environment

• Refers to any social, economic, or political factors that could impact your business.

  • Includes global, national & industry-related factors.

  • "Industry" refers to the category that businesses are concerned with.

• Gathering environmental data will help you stay aware of trends and events that occur OUTSIDE of your business.

• This info will help you recognize new opportunities and threats.
  

​Customers

• Can be individual consumers OR businesses.

• To be sucessful, businesses need to satisfy their customers while making a profit.

• You need to be able to know:

  • WHO your customers are

  • WHAT your customers need / want

• Market research helps you determine very specific information about potential customers inlcuding their needs and wants.
  

​Competition

• There are usually a number of competitiors already in the marketplace.

• Competitors may offer a product or service similar to yours or one that fills the same customer need or want.

• In regards to your competition, market research helps you identify:

  • WHO your competitors are

  • HOW they operate

• This information will be helpful in planning for sales efforts related to your market.
  

Open Ended

Rising gasoline prices is a market trend that affects various businesses in different ways. What effect could rising gasoline prices have on FedEx who does a lot of ground travel?

Outside factors that can impact your business. Remember, this can be an opportunity or a threat!

​​Business Environment

​What does your customer look like? What are their characteristics, hobbies, nationality, age, etc.?

​​Customers

​Who is in the same market as you? What are they doing? What makes your business different from theirs?

​​Competition

Categorize

Options (10)

Industry-related factors

Age

How your competition operates

Increased need for electric vehicles

Inflation

Climate change

Hobbies

Social class

Beliefs

Another business having similar products / services

Match the factors to the correct areas to understand your market.

Business Environement

Customers

Competition

• Market research helps ensure that your don't misjudge what your potential customers need or want.

• Don't waste your time developing a product / service that won't sell!

• Try testing a prototype, or find out the carrying capacity

  • Carrying capacity: the maximum amount of companies an industry can support based on its potential customer base.

  • If a particular industry has little room for growth (too specific), there might not be enough room for your business to prosper.

Avoiding Costly Mistakes

• Attracting people, banks, or companies to invest in your business or lend you money is easier when you do your market research.

• Most investors aren't willing to risk their time or money without evidence that that backs up your business concept.

• You may even learn more about investors who have invested in competing businesses.

​Obtaining Finances

Multiple Select

What are the two ways we can use our market research to avoid costly mistakes?

• Making prototypes to see how well it sells initially

• Figuring out what the carrying capacity is for the industry you're in

• Finding out the climate of your city

• Reaching out to family members for donations

Multiple Select

What are the three reasons why market research is important?

• It helps you understand your business environment, customers and competition.

• It ensures that your business doesn't fail by doing your homework beforehand.

• It provides comfort to investors & banks to invest in / lend you money to support your business.

• It helps you determine why people prefer spring water over enhanced water.

Grouping consumers or businesses within a particular market that have one or more thing in common. There are FOUR segments to consider.

​Market Segments

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Business-to-Business (B2B)

​Customer Types

Creating a Customer Profile

Demographics

Age, gender, marital status, family size (number of children), ethnicity, education, occupation, income, etc.

Market Segements

Geographics

Country, geographical region, state or province, county, city, neighborhood--and type of climate.

Market Segements

Psychographics

Attittudes, opinions, beliefs, interests, personality, lifestyle, politicial affiliation, and personal preferences.

Market Segements

Behavioral

Market Segements

• ​Customer loyalty (perks)

• Purchase history (what they have bought, how often, and how much they spend)

• Benefits seeking

• Occasion-based

• Engagement across different platforms

Hotspot

Based on the given characteristic, select the correct market segment it categorizes as.

Purchases cavity-prevention toothpaste only.

Hotspot

Based on the given characteristic, select the correct the market segment it categorizes as.

Enjoys playing tennis as a hobby.

Hotspot

Based on the given characteristic, select the correct market segment it categorizes as.

Lives in Bismarck, ND.

Hotspot

Based on the given characteristic, select the correct market segment it categorizes as.

Purchases plane tickets every summer vacation.

Hotspot

Based on the given characteristic, select the correct market segment it categorizes as.

Customer is family-oriented.

Ready for the Exit Ticekt??