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Market Research
How to collect certain information about your customers, market and competitors. This information tells you about your potential market, prices, trends, competition, target customer, its preferences, income, habits, accessibility, convenient time and plans. This information should be accurate, and reliable to help you make the right business decision.

Important questions
What kind of business should I do? What is the demand for my business? Who are my customers? What are the market forces that will affect my business? Where should I locate my business? How much profit can I get at different locations and times? Who are my competitors and what kind of product, price and service they offer? How I differentiate my business from my competitors? What types of service do my customer prefer? What types of advertising attract my customers? What is the market price and how I can change my price accordingly?

 What are the new trends, product, time, location and service in the market? And how I adapt them? What are my weaknesses and strengths in my business compare to my competitors? How I can differentiate my business and make it unique? Should I change and redirect my advertising campaign according to the recent situations? How can I change my customers spending habits? How can I expand my business with minimum cost?

An Existing business

Marketing techniques
Unique product and distinguished service. Customer recognition & referral reward policy. Reactivation policy. Track advertising effectiveness. community service and charities. Letter of news. Public image & identity. Join business groups. Be visible in your community. Sales, sampling & coupons. Service guarantees and full money back policy. Survey your customer opinions and satisfy them.

Tips to conduct market research?

The public & college library. Vocational schools. Observation /questions. Chamber of commerce. Potential consumers/ survey. Business competitors. Wholesalers and manufacturers. Federal & state government agencies. Trade associations. Business publications & magazines. Media representatives.

Surveys
Survey is the first step of market research. A survey collects information from a specific group of people or data on a specific subject: Forms of survey interviews:

Personal interview Telephone interview Mail interview Focus group and group interview
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How to design a questionnaire

Keep your questions very short, understandable, and clear. Ask direct questions. Ask questions that can be answered easily, open/closeended . Ask questions that do not have more than one meaning. Make sure your questions do not offend anyone. Make your questions only in your subject matter. Customize your questions to encompass more than one group of people, male/female. Be honest with the intent of the questionnaire. Give enough time answer. Be courteous and friendly when asking people to participate in your survey. Ask questions in different repeated ways, so you minimize missing data.

Marketing plan summary

Goals & objectives: short & long. Potential customers characteristics: race, age, location, gender, income, etc. Target market characteristics, free market, monopoly, etc. Competitors strengths, weaknesses. Your company analysis; strengths, and weaknesses, and opportunities and threats . How you will differentiate Your competitive position and how you will be unique. Marketing strategies and tactics. Marketing personnel, job description and duties. Timetable for start-up, retention and expansion. Marketing, promotion and advertising budget.

 Build public relations. Become certified. Send personal letters to public figures. Join non-profit societies and give out charities . Design a logo and letterhead on all your stationery. Provide a press release for the media.

Improve your business image

Publish newsletters, fliers and brochures. Contact all the civic and professional organizations. Always give careful and professional advice. Distribute business cards. Always be in good professional appearance.

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Publicity kit
Company description. Product and services description. Personal biography. Customer identification. What makes you unique. Include previous experience. Letters of support from community leaders and customers, these will enhance your image & reputation. Publications, brochures, fliers, pamphlets, articles.

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Comprehensive Marketing Plan

I. Executive Summary
Brief description of the project/company. Introduction to Product or service. Objectives of the project and Potential customers. Competitive position/market niche/market share. Market problems and marketing plan/strategies. Projected sales & profits.

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II. Marketing Analysis

Market survey for data collection. Market research; market forces and forms. Market demand and customers characteristics. Product-services characteristics and analysis. Feasibility study, needs assessment, personnel and financial resources. Company weaknesses and strengths. Competitors weaknesses and strengths and their market share. Interpretation, evaluation, decision making, and future plan.

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III. Market research

The process of collecting, organizing, analyzing, interpreting and utilizing specific information for the purpose of making future

marketing decisions.

Identify your problem and objectives. Design a research methodology. Conduct survey and collect data. Organize, analyze and interpret the data. Make the right business decision. Solve your problems and plan for future.
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IV. Market segmentation

Location: countryside, town,
county, state, national & regional market.

Consumer satisfaction:
demand, needs, wants, & preferences

Size: based on volume of dollar

sales/votes, area/shopping center & number of customers.

Convenient service: alter or

extend your hours to accommodate customer needs.

Product and Seasons:

market can be identified by different product, winter, summer, and etc.

Demographics: age , race,

religion, nationality gender, marital status, occupation, education, job title & etc.

Demand factors: price,

people, places, income & things that influence demand must be identified and satisfied.

Competition:market can
segmented according to free, perfect, monopoly market.

Potential growth: quality and

price are different according to the degree of growth.

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V.Marketing Mix( 4 -Ps)

Price:
services. How much your customers will pay for your product &

Product : What kind, and quality of product & services you offer
to customers that satisfy their needs.

Promotion:

The communications and advertising devices you use to inform customers & referral sources of your products & services and price. to display your products and services to be appealing to your customers.

Place: Where you will locate your business also what is the best way
There are other important factors: Positioning, People, Politics, & Profit, and Service.

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VI. Marketing strategies & tactics

Business problems, goals & objectives. Marketing advantages and disadvantages. Marketing strategies: how to measure your business and what conceptual procedures you use to solve your business problems. Marketing tactics: action plans and implementation.
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VI. Promotion

Communication to activate strategies & tactics Advertising program: to give information about your business, through newspaper, radio, T.V., magazines, brochures, fliers, forms, displays, personal referrals and word of mouth Publicity: how to change purchasing behavior to increase your reputation and creditability. Public relations: to foster your image. Direct mail, telemarketing, speeches, personal selling, samples, sales, networking, charity and community service.

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VII. Evaluation and follow-up

Evaluation of action plan and strategy. Checking your sales, cash flow and income statement and balance sheet. Achievement of projected goals, market share & unique competitive advantage. Recommendations for future opportunities, and change of market plan accordingly .

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VIII. Appendices: Budget, forecasting, charts and graphics

Projected budgets including variable/fixed cost, salaries/wages, equipment/tools, inflation/depreciation, miscellaneous expenses and etc. Projected cash flow month-to-month. projected income statement. Pro-forma balance sheet. Advertising copy, layout and forms. Tables, charts & graphics. Legal documents & required licenses, approvals.

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Strategic Analysis
Goals & Objectives: Goal is
long term aim & objective is short term aim to achieve the goal.

Strategies & Tactics:

Strategies are the decision making about what should be done & how should be done to enable your business to achieve its goals & objectives. Tactics are the methods by which strategies are implemented. Strategic influences: expected market forces/conditions which influence the operation of small business.

Strategic comparative advantages( strengths):these will improve

your marketing position.

Strategic Barriers and disadvantages (weaknesses): you must

overcome to start, retain and expand your business.

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Company Analysis
Advantages/strength:such
as Unique product and services, large customer volume, location, management, financial support or personnel.

possibilities of partnerships, bankruptcy of competitor and etc.

Disadvantages/weaknesses, such as lack of capital and

management, strong competitor and lack of customer services.

Market threats: new

strong competitors having lower price and better services, financial crisis, labor strike, changes in taste & preferences, some political threats, new monopoly, and etc.

Market opportunities: more

training for better customer services, more demand, price drop, more money available, easy access to recent technology,

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Lecture No 2 (M.Raashid), Chemical Engineering Economics, 2008 session

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