Startup businesses should consider that a successful business marketing plan has little to do with a gut feeling or a hunch; it is rather based on sound market research. A competitive advantage will be given to any small business that realizes this. This is not however, where entrepreneurs focus there attentions. Even though well done market research is crucial for understanding the competition, most entrepreneur ideas center on entrepreneur business opportunities and creating successful products. If an entrepreneur spends time understanding competition on all levels: product competition, segment competition, demand competition, technology competition and future competition, entrepreneurs would be well equipped to implement competition …show more content…
Not to mention: delaying will allow the competition to get a lead.
Market research to determine what business the needs are and then deciding how to allocate time, energy and money correctly is so crucial. The reality is that it is also so often ineffectively done. Ultimately it will determine whether entrepreneurship successfully launching an idea will ever even happen.
Why then do entrepreneurs fail to do these two steps? Simple and trite as it may seem, it is nevertheless true. Most entrepreneurs do not know what they do not know. They do not know how to research their market. They do not know how to create an effective business plan, based on their time, energy and money, which will get them to where they want to go. They don't know how to get the market research data that they need to create a competitive marketing strategy. They don't know about the best practices for a real online marketing strategy and how it will create a powerful web identity.
The following three reasons are typical ways that entrepreneurs respond when they do not know.
The first response is the hit or miss approach of just taking action. The success of this will depend on how adroit a business owner is at developing the necessary skills and making the adjustments on the fly. This approach can lead to a lot of wasted resources which will be spent because of lack of knowledge. It is not cost effective.
A second type of response is to expect to learn every skill that is
Starting a business, one may ask some questions to evaluate his or her ability to run a business successfully. An owner needs to question the finances, the challenges, the strengths, and weaknesses. First, the owners need to know finance: how much capital to startup business, what loans are available based on the business plan and financial statements, and how to keep up with profits and losses to determine the future of the business. Besides determining capital, the owners need to know what challenges they will face. Writing a well-executed business plan is the first challenge and important because it is a guideline to start business and to show lending institution or to attract investors for the business. Also, owners need to think who ideal customers are and who they can target to make a successful marketing strategy. Moreover, they have to think about their competitions because no business operates without competition whether it is direct or indirect. The competition has a significant impact on customer’s buying decisions. In order to compete with their competitors, they have to know their strengths and weaknesses: Are their products unique? Is the product better than the competitors’? Is the price
A business must be highly competitive in the business markets today. For a business to grow successfully, remain sustainable, and competitive a business needs a good understanding of a marketing plan, and the knowhow to put the concepts to work for the business achieving a successful marketing strategy. Remaining successful when an economic growth has leveled out shows a sustainable business. Competitors that follow the same marketing concepts will need to develop a good marketing plan, and implement the concepts into a marketing strategy to remain a competitive business. A good marketing strategy contains a marketing plan describing the products offered, and taking into account
Marketing research is very important component of a business used to identify and define the opportunities and problems that they will encounter on the market. The aim
A market analysis, or market research, helps to understand the community an organization is working for, as well as come up with ideas for the future (Berkowitz, 2011). This is true for any organization, and even more important for smaller organizations, as that may not have a large amount of money to use for new ventures, services, and products. Not to mention the organization needs to determine the best plan of action for their consumers, as well as those that are not yet utilizing the services and products being offered.
Before launching or expanding a business venture, there needs to be an understanding of the industry, its competitors, and its customers. Market research is vital in assisting companies in the decision-making process and their marketing direction. Data from marketing research is important because it provides companies with ways to identify opportunities, identify market potential, minimize chances of loss, devise effective marketing strategies, gauge customer satisfaction, and serve as an evaluation tool.
Many successful entrepreneurs tend to follow a process to develop their businesses. This process contains four stages toward achieving their dreams. The processes are identifying an opportunity, developing a business plan, assessing the need for resources, and finally developing a management program designed to achieve success. The entrepreneur must develop an understanding of this process as an important step. Developing an understanding of the entrepreneurial process can determine if a business venture is to be successful. Some phases of the entrepreneurial process may appear more important than the others but in reality each phase must be completed in succession in
Market research is utilized by companies to make the right decisions when it comes to
Market research can provide companies with vital information which allows them to make choices based on what the customer wants. It can allow businesses to predict what might happen in the future of a
Most of the businessmen consider market research the key to a successful business empire. It is quite essential to conduct a thorough research to analyze the prospects of an existing or new product. A well-conducted research proves fruitful in evaluating the business situations, the potential sales of a product, prospective customers and so forth.
In general, manager’s look at competition has been too narrow. There is a broad set of competitors that need to be looked at, which are described in “The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy” by Michael E. Porter. The model explains that there are several other forces in the competition for profits that the strategist should be aware of when forming a stagey. Those forces determine the profitability of the industry and are the most important to look at when you are forming a strategy. These five forces are are the “industry structure” model which contain: New Entrants, Suppliers, Buyers, Substitutes, and Existing Competitors.
“Competitive strategy involves positioning a business to maximize the value of the capabilities that distinguish it from its competitor’s” (Porter 1980:47). A successful business plan requires first and foremost the formation of an appropriate strategy. Through the implementation of a suitable strategy, the company is able to obtain its own industry niche and gain an understanding of its customers (Porter 1985). Whichever strategy is adopted it must be adequately integrated within the firms goals and missions to achieve a competitive advantage (Parker and Helms 1992).
In addition to the insight that you’ll gain into customer needs, market-research studies can help you avoid costly mistakes, such as introducing an unpopular line of goods or developing a service that no one really wants
As an entrepreneur who has formed a new small business I understand the need for a marketing strategy. A marketing strategy identifies the planned marketing programs, all the marketing activities that a business will use to achieve its marketing goals, and when those activities will occur (Ebert and Griffin 349). A marketing strategy is all about planning the marketing mix, which includes product, price, place, and promotion. But, first selecting and analyzing a target market for the marketing mix and product is best for satisfying the target market and the firm’s marketing efforts. As an entrepreneur, it is my responsibility to understand the marketing strategy, to select and analyze a target market, and create and maintain a marketing
Market research will be helpful in identifying the potential customers and regions, competitors in the business. Thereby one can keep their focus in the relevant areas to succeed in the market. A complete market analysis will provide a good idea about the market size and segmentation, product differentiation and all the relevant data to solve marketing challenges. While introducing a new product into the market, the market analysis will determine whether is there any demand for this kind of product and is producing the new product will be profitable or not? In general, companies will perform the market research
Knowing who your competitors are, and what they are offering, can help you to make your products, services and marketing stand out. It will enable you to set your prices competitively and help you to respond to rival marketing campaigns with your own initiatives. You can use this knowledge to create marketing strategies that take advantage of your competitors ' weaknesses, and improve your own business performance. You can also assess any threats posed by both new entrants to your market and current competitors. This knowledge will help you to be realistic about how successful you can be.