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Marketing-Strategy
Essentials
It s a
common mistake of smaller businesses to believe, that only large corporations
need to have a profound understanding of their market, their competitors, and
the demographics and psychographics of their customer base. Often, this is
driven by the sheer necessity to keep expenses low and also by just not
knowing, what they don’t know.
For every
business it is essential to know and understand their market and “intimately”
know their potential customers, and as well the competitive environment. How
can you perform your research? Assuming that you have a business selling a
product or service already in demand (or in other words: there is already a
market for it), here is what you can do:
Start
your research by having a close look at your existing competitors. You will be
surprised how much information you will get by just showing up at their place
and asking questions:
- Ask
them about their business.
- Check
out their offering and pricing.
- What
kind of specials do they have?
- Ask
even about their revenue per month.
- Check
out their sales people…how good are they?
- Ask
about the market size…the more competitors you ask the closer you come to the
true market size.
- Ask
them which one of their competitors they fear the most.
- Watch
how they are doing business: Check their strengths and their weaknesses.
- Find
out as much as you can about their customers: Who are they? Where are they
located? Check the demographics. What do they like the most and what don’t they
like?
Of course,
your local chamber of commerce is also a great resource you should use.
Do your
research also in the internet and for similar markets. What is out there
already and what is about to come into the market? How do the trends develop?
Assuming
that you have your Vision and Mission
statements in place, you can now work on your marketing strategies taking into
account your research results. And once you have done that it will become clear
to you what actions you need to take in order to succeed. Write these actions
down, put a deadline next to it and as well who is performing the action. Keep
track of your actions taken and measure the results…then adjust accordingly.
Nothing can be more obsolete that yesterday’s assumptions…so don’t fall in love
with them.
Walter H.
Groth
Refer :
Walter H. Groth is the founder of Concise Coaching: Effective business coaching
facilitating the improvements for the business owners through raising their
awareness and igniting positive change, which not only translates into business
related benefits but also into their personal lives. You provide the fuel...we
provide the spark! http://concisecoaching.blogspot.com
contact:
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