With all new business ventures comes risk. Once an entrepreneur begins the process of developing a strong business concept and model, they need to consider the market they are about to enter. The key to success is taking the time to thoroughly understand the market landscape, which means investing in market research to analyze all aspects of the market.
Researching the following list can help you learn more about your potential market and help you determine your strategy do before entering it.
1. Identify market entry points and develop an entry strategy.
One of the key elements of pursing a new business idea is understanding the market and those who are involved with it. First you will need to clearly identify who you are going to be selling to. With this in mind, it’s also important to recognize that you can choose a small market instead of a large share.
After you’ve identified your market, you need to determine how you are going to reach them. When you try to determine different points of entry, it is going to be most important that you choose an entry point that will lead to the most future growth opportunities in your target market and adjoining ones. Take the time to research each potential entry point to ensure when you make your decision, you are putting your resources to their best use.
2. Determine key market factors: Cost, Consumer Demographics, Challenges, Opportunities.
When developing your market strategy, it’s important that you understand all the potential factors that contribute to your market. These factors will help you determine how you will need to market to consumers, face your competition, and develop your overall business plan.
Consider the following factors:
- Costs: Know all the potential costs your business might face. This includes taxes, import and export costs, pricing strategies, etc. If unexpected costs occur, will your business be able to afford to pay them? Being able to budget your marketing tactics, as well as your overall business, is important for the future of your company.
- The Consumers: Who are you going to be selling to? What are their biggest problems and how is your product or service going to fix them? How are they going to react to your marketing strategy? And what is their view on the competition?
- Challenges: There is a chance that new challenges will arise that you might not know how to face. Being flexible and open minded will allow you to face challenges as they come and be prepared for new ideas to deal with them.
- Opportunities: Even with business success comes new opportunities. Be open to changing and adapting to new opportunities to grow your business.
3. Identify global market opportunities.
Success for your business has the potential to lead to international opportunities. When considering expanding into the global market, you need to be able to learn about a few things before making the transition.
Here are a few tips on how to prepare for international business:
- Become knowledgeable on the customs and business etiquette of the new market.
- Understand the economic situation of a country, as well as their currency value fluctuation and import and export timelines and regulations.
- Be an expert on the country’s business laws and regulations.
- Research the country’s consumers and culture to understand how your product will be viewed by the locals.
- Understand your new competition in that country.
Just because there are opportunities for your business in a new country or region doesn’t mean you should go in blindly. New global opportunities require the same research and time as your original business venture. Be prepared to conduct new market research so your business can thrive globally.
4. Analyze the current competitive landscape.
Understanding the competition is key to having a successful business. You need to take the time to research different successes and failures of your closest competition. Also, when determining what market you should enter you need to know if there are already too many competitors present. You might not be able to successfully push your product if the market is already too saturated.
5. Define an exit strategy.
No matter how your business pans out, you need to have an exit strategy planned in the back of your head so you will be prepared for the future. Know what your plans will be if you have tremendous success. Or, be prepared to discuss what needs to happen if your business begins to fail. Either way, your next step will be most successful if you have a plan in place.
No matter what your next step is for your business, it’s important that you are well-prepared and knowledgeable in all aspects of the market. Investing in a market research solution like MarketResearch.com’s Profound service will allow you to research all of these market aspects on an entrepreneur's budget, without purchasing multiple research reports. This cost effective solution provides users access to individual sections, chapters, tables or charts from the syndicated reports that you’re most interested in.
To learn more about how Profound can help you, visit our website and sign up for a free trial.
Thanks for reading!
Caitlin Stewart
Marketing Associate
MarketResearch.com
