Target markets

Who is going to buy your product, where they are and why they will buy your product(s) has to be determined before any success can be expected. Before completing the information, you will have to gather the requested information.
Getting market information has to be an ongoing activity in any business wishing long term success. Having a marketing analysis program to guide you with this indispensable part of marketing may be a wise choice.

Define the scope of the market you are targeting. How big is it? Who are the main competitors? Try to define all your markets. Local, global, product/market combinations.

You have to obtain all the necessary information to be able to aim and score. Our advice is never to gamble on one horse. Try to define a few product/market combinations and share the available resources according to contribution expectancy ratios.

Thorough market research will increase credibility, belief of yourself, your employees and all external important persons. You'll end up understanding the marketplace much better. You're to develop a realistic market-entry strategy, knowing your customer needs, providing the right product quality at the right price using the correct promotional methods and distribution will help you to more accurately focus on your targeted customer types.

The target share

In the worksheet you'll find tables for collecting geographic and demographic information. You may add another table for psychographics or whatever. Note that any tables added by you are not included in the product line generator.

The market potential

This is the number of user units in a designated area who are capable and willing to fulfill a certain need by purchasing a certain product. The size of the market potential is primarily determined by:

• the number of needs a product fulfills
• the number of organizations/families/inhabitants in a designated area
• the attitudes of the decision makers
• the financial position of the real and the potential users in the designated area

The first table is used to assess the geographic markets in units.

The second table is used to assess the geographic markets in currency.

The target markets

Consumer demographics

If your company sells to consumers it's important to know what type of consumers are purchasing your product(s). Try to gather as much information as possible. Age, gender, marital status, education level, size of household, homeowner, annual income, profession, geographic location and other aspects.

Industrial customer demographics

In order to determine which customers are to be targeted, you'll need to know the historic facts. What kind of customers do you have, how much do they purchase and how much is this of the total turnover. Where are they located and other relevant information.