Select a Purpose of your Market Research
If you want to avoid vague market research, make SMART market research goals. The term SMART goal means that the goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.
There are always reasons for market research, your goal might be reducing costs or creating more customers. Define what you want to accomplish through this market research and organize your efforts to meet the goals.
Before you begin the research, make a research plan, and decide on a budget. If you need a specialist, print questionnaires or will have to travel for research purposes, make a market research budget and try to manage everything within the budget.
Identify the Available Target Market
If you are selling honey flavored peanut butter in a city, you need to know how many people in that city eat peanut butter. How many of those people like honey flavored peanut butter and how can you make them buy your product. Who are other people who don’t eat peanut butter but can buy your peanut butter?
Understanding the Target Market further requires you to do an in-depth analysis based on the age, gender, occupation, location, marital status, and income of these individuals.
Take Your Competitors Seriously
Chalk out the names of all your competitors. Your competitors are the businesses that might steal your customers or vice versa. Do a SWOT analysis of each competitor and find out everything they are doing?
What is their business turn-over, what prices do they offer and how many customers do they have? What are their weaknesses and what are their strengths? You need to know everything.
If you sell bicycles in a town and you have only one competitor near you. If he starts selling his products at a 30% discount for a month, it can disturb your entire month’s sale. If a competitor’s business decisions can affect your business, you need a plan to counter-attack.
