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A market assessment contains a detailed analysis of your proposed products and services, and then plans for product/service
development. Market prospects, opportunities and characteristics critical to the survival and growth of your business need
to be analysed.
And Marketing plays a vital role in successful business ventures. How well you market your business
will ultimately determine your degree of success or failure. The key element of a successful marketing plan is to know your
customers – their likes, dislikes and expectations. By identifying these factors, you can develop a marketing strategy
that will allow you to fulfil their needs.
A good market assessment will: - Identify your business position
in the market, nominate marketing strategies and sets directions for future marketing activities.
- Define your market,
how it works, the current trends and opportunities.
- Identify your customers by age, sex, income, educational level
and residence. Which customers are more likely to purchase your product or service? How can you pitch your marketing campaign
to maximise your market share for this customer base? How can you target other types of customers?
- Analyse and select
promotional and marketing strategies, identify future marketing activities, develop reporting systems for marketing activities
and develop training for marketing skills.
- Identify networking opportunities that will help you achieve better market
reach.
To develop a marketing plan for your business, consider the following questions: - What goods or services
do you offer? Are there similar/substitute goods or services available in the market? For what price?
- Who are your
customers? Define your target market.
- What are the characteristics of your customers - what, why, where and how often
do they buy?
- Is there a market for your product/service?
- Are your markets growing? Steady? Declining?
- Is
your market share growing? Steady? Declining?
- Are your markets large enough to expand?
- Have you defined
your market by size, geographic location, life cycle of the product or demographics?
- What will affect your market?
Social trends, the economy, consumer confidence, industrial relations.
- What statistics and trends can you collect
to help with market research?
- What form of marketing activities will best suit your business?
- What are the
various ways you can offer and deliver your product or service to different customers?
- How will you attract, hold,
increase your market share? How will you promote your sales?
- What pricing strategy have you devised?
Armed
with this information, document your market assessment highlighting the key actions and strategies you can take to get your
fair share of the market.
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