Businesses truly need to understand the ins and outs of the economic, social, and cultural context of demographic markets. Thorough and focused market research for the planning phase of a startup business, and before launching products and services, have an undeniable impact on success rates.
Qualitative research, surveys, social media, online traffic analysis, and data analytics are showing consistent growth rates among businesses, with data analytics seeing a 350% rise in usage from 2012 to 2016.
Companies should consider the accessibility, measurability, and possible maturation and size of each market segment to determine the potential ability to find customers and develop a winning strategy.
Competitor analysis is one of the most valuable information sources for startup businesses because they can understand what works well and what doesn’t for similar companies and have a blueprint of overall success.
Defining an approach to competitor research can be done with a few questions:
- Which businesses do you directly compete with?
- How are these companies positioned about a customer base, their key products and services, and pricing?
- What’s their success rate for market growth?
- Which marketing strategies have they used successfully?
- What types of online reviews do they have?
