Proving Your Market
Put simply,
learning about a market is answering the questions who, where and how
many potential customers you have. First, determine your geographic
region. Next, entrepreneurs must learn who their competitors are, and
discover their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, envision your ideal
customers, and brainstorm ways to reach them. Defining the
market-learning who needs the product/service and where these people
are located and how many of them there are-is critical to successful
entrepreneurship.
Geography
Determining where
to set up shop is among the most important decisions you have to make.
The first step in determining geographic service area is to ascertain
how far the customers are willing to travel. Next, determine how many
"perfect" customers are in the given geographic area. After settling on
a broad geographic region, the next step is to pinpoint the best
available spot in relation to exposure, traffic, climate, neighborhood,
parking and customer convenience. Be sure to check on zoning to be
certain your business fits the zoning codes of your selected site.
Public libraries
and city halls are excellent places to start hunting for this
information.
Competition
 Every
business has competition, if not direct, then for the limited dollars
available in the marketplace. Entrepreneurs must find a draw or niche
to obtain a share of the market.
Once the
competition has been identified, step two is deciding the additional
benefits your customer will receive by choosing your business over
theirs.
Get to know
your competition. In some instances it may be possible to cooperate
with potential competitors and create relationships that may allow each
of you to reach or serve a new and larger market.
Customers
Learning whom is
most likely to patronize a given business is a tough issue that many
entrepreneurs struggle with. The best approach to this problem is to
formulate an
ideal customer by profiling the type of customer likely to yield the
most business.
Demographic Data
can provide information about your potential customers, including age,
income level, spending patterns, address, and family compositions.
Customer
Preference Information gives information about people's lifestyles,
hobbies, beliefs, and attitudes. For instance does your customer prefer
100% organic products?
Combining
demographic and customer preference information will lead you to a
picture of your ideal customer. Western Dairyland can help you access
and assess this information. Call (715) 836-7511 ext. 171 or (800)
782-1063 to setup an appointment with a counselor or reserve time in
our computer lab.
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