Member Article

First Rule of Business - Know Your Marketplace

It may seem obvious to say that every business, however small, should take time to identify its marketplace, its customer types and what benefits these customers are looking for.

However, you’d be surprised how few businesses really do this thoroughly. Research really is a fundamental aspect of marketing. Not only does it provide a snapshot of your business in a competitive context, it can also set the direction for future marketing activity.

Here are some ways you can start to gather information for yourself, whether you are already in business, or just starting out.

Step 1: Existing Information (Desk Research)

Start with available, published information that you can obtain through business libraries, for example your nearest City library may subscribe to particular market reports. It can help you understand, for example, how big the overall market is, if it is growing or declining, what the trends are and what competitive products are available - you may even dig up a few surprises! Likely sources of information include:

• regional directories and publications – for local area/business information

• national company directories – e.g. Kompass

• national market reports – e.g. Key Note and Mintel, which cover hundreds of topics

• trade press – you can identify if there is a suitable magazine related to your market through Benn’s media guide or Willings press guide

• Office for National Statistics www.statistics.gov.uk – for social, economic, business and regional information (e.g population census)

• individual company reports, catalogues and websites – for competitor information

• exhibitions and trade fairs – for market trends

• trade associations – for member and market information

• Chambers of Commerce

Tips:

Start a simple filing system to collect information so that you will always have something to refer back to for inspiration. If you are just starting out, let your friends and family know which areas you are interested in, so that they can also act as your eyes and ears.

If you can’t find something specific to your own marketplace, find out about related products or services that might impact upon your business. For example, if you are setting up a clothing business, do some background social and demographic research to find out how and where people spend their disposable income, it just might save you investing in the wrong areas and you’ll be surprised how much regional information you can find through the Office for National Statistics.

Keep speaking to your suppliers and distributors about market trends, they should also be planning ahead and may be able to provide a good market overview. But if your product or service is truly innovative, you may even be ahead of them!

Step 2: Direct Customer Research

Stage one should help you understand more about the competitive environment and even help with profiling ideal customer groups for marketing purposes. However, you are likely to still have some unanswered questions about your specific product or service. Stage two therefore is about talking directly to existing or potential customers. Assuming that budget will not allow for an external research agency to sample your customer base, then you could try speaking to them yourself, but try to be as objective as possible - friends and family might be a good sounding board, but they don’t necessarily represent the views of your customer base!

If your customers are also the ‘consumer,’ or the direct user of the product or service and you are already in business, you may have an ideal opportunity to gather information through your retail outlet; if you sell to other businesses, the telephone is probably the best option to supplement personal visits. Alternatively, if this proves too daunting or time consuming, allow customers to respond by means of a suggestion box, questionnaire, or other reply paid facility, perhaps involving a competition or an incentive.

Typical areas to probe might include:

• identifying how new customers heard about you

• understanding what specifically appeals to customers about your particular product/service and how important that is to them

• objectively identifying your product/service’s strengths and weaknesses in customers’ eyes (and if there is a difference by customer group!)

• asking how they perceive competitive services/brands

• enabling customers to make suggestions for potential improvements/new products or services

• inviting feedback as you develop new offers – an informal ‘customer panel’

• identifying all the decision makers involved in the purchase and making sure you understand all their different needs (e.g. an IT product might involve an IT contact, several departmental heads, the Finance department and the MD!)

Importantly, the feedback that you gather in stage two should help you pinpoint what makes your business different or unique in the marketplace and what benefits customers perceive that you offer. For more information on this see a further article on: Defining or Refining your USP

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/lorrainedavidson ——

Lorraine Davidson is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has held roles in both marketing and market research for over 25 years, working with organisations in both the business to business and consumer goods sectors.

She set up Freelance Marketing Ltd in 1998, an independent marketing consultancy based in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which provides market research, strategic marketing planning and project management services. The company offers a very hands-on, creative approach to projects.

Freelance Marketing Limited, 2 Lawrence Crescent, Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL10 5QE

Tel: 01748 822063

Lorraine@freelance-marketing.com www.freelance-marketing.com http://uk.linkedin.com/in/lorrainedavidson

Since all businesses have specific requirements, this article should be used for background guidance only and should not be understood as one to one, personal business advice. For this reason, no liability can be accepted by Freelance Marketing Ltd.

© Copyright Freelance Marketing 2014

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Freelance Marketing Ltd .