{"id":93,"date":"2019-10-03T21:40:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T20:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/?p=93"},"modified":"2023-11-10T05:03:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T04:03:46","slug":"conduct-initial-market-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/03\/conduct-initial-market-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Conduct initial market research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2019The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service sells itself\u2019\u2019<\/p><cite> Peter Drucker, Professor and Father of Management<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Market\nresearch is the commercial equivalent of \u2018\u2019looking before you leap.\u2019\u2019 Having\nhit on your \u2018\u2019eureka idea\u2019\u2019, you cannot immediately rush to the marketplace to\nimplement. You need to test the receptiveness of your target market to your\nidea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\norder to develop a sound business, you need a concrete strategy. Therefore, you\nare advised to conduct your market research using the 3C\u2019s strategy (customers,\ncompetition and company) by Kenechi Ohimae. The philosophy of the 3C is here\nexplained: <strong>what is that thing that the\ncustomer wants, that competition cannot deliver, but that the company, or a new\ncompany product can offer?<\/strong> The use of the 3C\u2019s demands the conduct of a\nmarket research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Market\nresearch can be conducted in several ways \u2013 surveys, focus group discussions,\ninterviews, observation etc. Market research can be primary or secondary. You\nmay conduct your research online using free tools such as Survey Monkey: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.surveymonkey.com\">www.surveymonkey.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless\nof the means you use to gather information from your customers, the following\ninformation needs to be uncovered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a>1.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What\nthe Customer Wants<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Identify\nyour internal stakeholders (yourself and your team members) You also need to\nidentify your external stakeholders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nyour customers are individuals, they can be segmented according to\ncharacteristics such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Age<\/li><li>Occupation<\/li><li>Gender<\/li><li>Income<\/li><li>Geographic location<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nyour customers are businesses, they can be segmented according to the following\ncharacteristics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Industry<\/li><li>Number of employees<\/li><li>Revenue<\/li><li>Geographic location<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>After segmentation, you need to identify your target market and create a profile of your target market using categories such as geography, behavior, demographics etc. Note the total number of target businesses and the potential market size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a>1.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What\nthe Competition Cannot Deliver<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Identify\nwho your competitors are. Draw the entire competitive landscape of both local\nand international competitors. Which companies are most likely to launch a\nsuccessful attack on your idea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Analyze\nthe messages of your competitors. How are your competitors trying to appeal to\nyour customers? How can your company differentiate itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a>1.3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What\nthe Company Can Offer<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Conduct\nan internal assessment of the company along the following elements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Who you are<\/li><li>Where you are<\/li><li>What you plan to sell<\/li><li>How you are run<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Putting\nall this information together, conduct a SWOT analysis and identify what your\ncompany can deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a>1.4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Integration\nof insights<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Integrate\nall the insights from the customers, company and competition and come up with a\nmarket gap, which your product can fill. It should answer the following\nquestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>What is your value proposition?<\/li><li>Who will deliver it?<\/li><li>What will be delivered?<\/li><li>How will they deliver it?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a>1.5&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Strategic\nimperatives<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In\norder to deliver on your brand promise, how are you going to engineer your\noperations? You need to identify the following strategic imperatives:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Product strategy<\/li><li>Pricing strategy<\/li><li>Place\/distribution strategy<\/li><li>Promotion strategy<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Market research is the commercial equivalent of \u2018\u2019looking before you leap.\u2019\u2019 Having hit on your \u2018\u2019eureka idea\u2019\u2019, you cannot immediately rush to the marketplace to implement. You need to test the receptiveness of your target market to your idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[28],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96,"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/96"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kleosafrica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}