Instructor: _______________
• Small Businesses CANNOT be
all things to all people.
• Each business MUST reach
specific customers and satisfy
their particular needs.
The process of
finding and
studying potential
customers
Newton
Moment…….
• Be a valuable tool for small businesses.
• Allow small businesses to develop products
and marketing mix that fit a particular
‘niche’.
• Allow small businesses to focus their
resources on a specific customer base.
• Maximize profit.
•Be a primary function of
marketing management
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&gbv=2&client=firefoxa&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla%3AenUS%3Aofficial&q=fly+fishing&btnG=Search+Images
• A nationwide manufacturer of fishing
equipment is looking to sell its newest, most
innovative fly rod. In order to determine
which customers might most likely purchase
this top of the line rod – the CEO of marketing
decides it would be a waste of time and money
to randomly market this product to the entire
U.S. population – especially because this fly
rod is most likely to appeal to die-hard outdoor
enthusiasts and fishermen and not your
everyday suburbanite.
• But where do these outdoor enthusiasts live?
Where do they shop? What websites do they
visit? Where do they go to fly fish?
• Rather than waste money shooting in the dark,
this savvy CEO decides to conduct market
research – and he/she uses tools such as
demographic reports, market surveys, and
trade shows, to determine which customers
would be most likely to purchase the new fly
rod and how to market to them and their
vulnerabilities.
•Once he/she has this information in
hand, the CEO is able to more efficiently
spend their limited resources in an
effort to persuade members of the
target group(s) to buy the rod.
• Advertisements and promotions would then
be specifically tailored for each segment
of the target market – including emails,
web banners, flyers, magazine
advertisements, television advertisements
in specific markets etc.
www.wanakaflyfishingacademy.co.nz
• WHO are your customers?
• WHO will buy your product?
• Identify and serve a particular
customer group – your target market!
DO NOT try to be ‘all things to all people!’
Become a specialist!
www.pineyvalley.com
www.pineyvalley.com
• To satisfy basic needs.
• To solve problems.
• To make themselves feel good.
www.pineyvalley.com
www.pineyvalley.com
• Define the scope of your product:
– Is your product international or national in
scope?
– Is it likely that you will sell it primarily in
your own region or community?
• Identify Market Demographics:
– WHO are the people in your community?
– HOW old are they?
– HOW many of them are young, middle aged,
elderly?
– WHAT is their level of education?
– WHAT is their income level?
• Identify Market Demographics:
– Age: children, teens, young, middle, elderly.
– Gender: male, female.
– Education: high school, college, university.
– Income: low, medium, high.
– Marital status: single, married, divorced.
– Ethnic and/or religious background
– Family life cycle: newly married, married for
10 – 20 years, with or without children.
• Segmenting the Market – breaking consumers and
their spending habits into categories:
– Lifestyle: conservative, exciting, trendy, economical.
– Social class: lower, middle, upper.
– Opinion: easily led or opinionated.
– Activities & interests: sports, fitness, shopping, books.
– Attitudes and beliefs: environmentalist, security conscious.
–Technologically driven: likely to purchase
items online or not?
• You KNOW – the types of people in your market
• You KNOW – who’d you’d like to target
NOW. . . .
• You NEED to Know What They Want!
• 6 ways to Identify Consumer Wants/Needs:
1. Study your market and your customers.
2. Study your competitors & their customers.
3. Observe and ask questions – lots of questions.
4. Find out what customers will respond to in your
type of product or service.
5. Find out what is most important to them.
6. What motivates them?
• Product Identification Questions:
1. Is your product a necessity or luxury?
2. What is the product’s lifecycle? How
often will customers need to re-purchase?
3. What is the product’s availability?
4. Are there any foreseeable future
changes in this industry?
5. What is the price of an average
purchase?
• Turning Motivators into Messages
•From the targets and purchasing motivators
you’ve identified:
•Start with one or two words you want to
associate with your business.
•From these words, develop either a motto
or a tag line for your business.
•"Fly the Friendly Skies," "We Try Harder"
and "Do It Your Way" are all well known tag
lines.
www.pineyvalley.com
• Interact with/get to know your customers
•TALK with your customers:
•Use surveys and analytics:
•Place surveys at your place of business.
•Incorporate questions into online checkout.
•Issue surveys via email.
•Surveys allow you to capture information about your
customers.
Information is power, and this type of
feedback from customers may show you
opportunities for improvement.
• Use the information you’ve gathered!
Keep a pulse on the industry.
Refresh your data with new research regularly.
Utilize this information heavily whenever you
are re-investing in your marketing strategy.
Instead of letting your current
customer base define you, use target
marketing to determine who your next
customers or clients should be.