You Can Do It :. Thomas Greenbaum

for a small business. Many, if not most, small entities and start-up companies have a very local focus, anticipating that their business will be generated from a relatively small area from where they are operating. In these situations, the national size and growth of a product or service category is not relevant. For example, if you are opening a dry-cleaning business, you might be concerned with the overall trends in the business on a national level, but the size of the category is important.

      -The market dynamics, in terms of how the category operates in terms of how the business is promoted, advertised, etc.

      -The keys to success in this product or service business. This is a vital part of the research process, as the identification of the keys to being successful in the organization can dramatically help improve the chances of success.

      -The key competitors in the business and how they are marketing themselves to achieve the share of market they have obtained to date. It is vital to fully understand your competition, particularly from the perspective of what they advertise and promote to be their key strengths that they are seeking to communicate to their target audience.

      -The key copy points that represent the market position of each of the competitors (we will discuss Positioning in a later chapter). This refers to what the business is trying to communicate to the marketplace in advertising, promotion, packaging, and social media.

      -The customer dynamics of the business in terms of the various market segments to which you might consider appealing. This includes such things as buying cycles, key distribution outlets, who is the decision maker for the purchase, etc.

      -The unmet needs of the target customers. This might be the most important output of research, as it could direct how you plan to advertise your product to the marketplace. If you can determine what your target customers want, and are not receiving, the chances of a successful introduction are dramatically increased. This, of course, assumes that your product or service can effectively meet that need.

      * Product Research - This is a category of research intended to evaluate your idea and to determine whether it is likely to be successful in the market. At a minimum, this class of research should attempt to learn the following:

      -General reactions of the target customers toward your product or service.

      -Perceived strengths and limitations of your concept. This is vital as you must find a way to correct any perceived problems with your product or service before entering the marketplace.

      -Understanding of your USP (unique selling proposition), in terms of its value to the target customer.

      -Positioning of your product or service in your market. Specifically, is there a gap that you are successfully filling that represents an identified customer need?

      -Reactions to specific elements of your program, such as a product size, packaging, or pricing or a service delivery approach.

      -Learning as to how target consumers talk about products in your category, so you can be sure to use the correct language in all your external communications.

      * Post-Introductory Research - This is a group of research that is intended to help you determine how your product or service was received by the marketplace following introduction. Obviously, revenues or sales are generally an excellent indicator of success, but there are many stories of brands that started off with excellent sales figures, but eventually failed due to the lack of repeat purchase by the consumer. The objective of this type of research is to delve into the reactions to your new product or service to determine whether it might have a future. Some of the questions addressed by this type of research are:

      -How do buyers of the product or service feel about it once they have had actual in-the-market experience? Importantly would they make a second or third purchase; would they recommend it to others, etc.?

      -What is the level of awareness of your offering among the target audience? If the people you are trying to sell to are unaware of your offering, it will be impossible to be successful.

      -What message are they getting from your communications/advertising? Is this the intended positioning?

      -How did the buyers feel about the price-value relationship of your offering?

      -What are the repeat purchase patterns? For a product with a short purchase cycle (i.e., consumer goods, retail outlets, drug products, etc.) it is vital to understand the repeat purchase patterns to get a full picture of the response to the introduction.

      Research Tools Available to Address the Questions in each Category - This section will identify the types of research that a small business entrepreneur could use to research the market, the product, and to conduct post introductory research on your product. Most of this research can be done free or with a very small investment.

      * The Internet - This is the most common ways “research is conducted” today due to the ease of getting information at no cost. The most comprehensive tool for researching on the internet consists of using search engines such as Google to learn as much as possible about the market you are considering. Most people are amazed at the amount of information they can get by spending considerable time with Google to research their marketplace.

      In addition to Google searching for articles and other published data about your marketplace, it is essential to visit and analyze the websites of all organizations that represent even remote competition. From the websites, you can learn a great deal about the competitors in terms of such things as:

      -Their pricing

      -Their key copy points seeking to deliver a USP

      -Their intended positioning in the market

      -Their method of sales and distribution

      -Their promotional programs

      * Social Media Platforms - In the current environment you can learn a great deal by simply posting a question on platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram. They all have very extensive audiences which can provide you with excellent answers to questions you are seeking about a marketplace.

      * Consumer or Trade Publications - There are many publications, whether in print or on-line that can provide extremely valuable information about a market you may be considering entering. One example is the magazine Consumer Reports, which exists to provide comparative information about many different product and service categories. However, there are dozens of other printed and on-line resources that will evaluate products and services.

      * Personal Visitations of Target Customers or Competitors - One obvious research source that is overlooked by many small business entrepreneurs is the opportunity to visit and talk with either the competition or the prospective customers. This cannot be easily accomplished in all product or service categories, but it is very relevant and extremely helpful in many. For example:

      -If you are planning to open a retail store of any type, you should spend considerable time visiting other stores in your area that would be competition. It is also very useful to visit stores outside your market area (i.e., non-competitors) to understand how they do business. Some of the types of information you should be able to learn from these visitations are:

      --How the store is organized

      --How they promote and advertise their store

      --Inventory carried & depth of inventory

      --Pricing strategies

      --Staffing of the outlet

      --Square footage of the store

      --Types of locations that appear to be most successful

      --Most important vendors for them (i.e., who is supplying them with their product)

      -Perhaps you have invented a product that will be sold to a retail store. In this case, it is essential to visit the prospective customers to understand what else they carry that is similar and where your entry would be positioned in the inventory. You should also learn about the pricing and distribution channels into the store. In some cases, you would