Market Research Tools

To grow your business, market research should be carried out again to see if the idea would work for your business. Questionnaires and competitor scans will help you to make a more informed decision. If you have not carried out any research and would like to learn some of the basic methods as to how to carry out market research, Contact Us

The following sections are very relevant if you wish to grow your business.

Questionnaire
Press Release
Competitor Scans
Business Letters


Questionnaires:

A questionnaire contains a series of questions designed to produce relevant information with regards to your product or service. The questionnaire should be aimed at your potential customers to gain effective feedback.

The questionnaire can be structured or unstructured. A structured questionnaire is a series of pre-planned questions and an unstructured questionnaire is a series of open-ended questions.

Some key issues to consider when designing the questionnaire:

  1. The opening question should determine whether it is appropriate to continue or not Keep the questions in logical order
  2. Keep the wording easy to understand
  3. Avoid questions that lead the person to answer the way you want them to
  4. Make sure the questions are relevant to the subject matter
  5. Have easy questions at the beginning

Press Releases:

This is a short, simple story relating to your business, designed to inform your target customers of the latest news related to your product or service. The advantage is that it is a free service to communicate with potential customers through a medium that can be quite expensive.

A Press Release must catch the reader's eye quickly before they discard it. Every Promotion should have four clear sections:

Attention
A headline to draw the reader to your Promotional material
Interest
Tell the reader your unique selling point to gain their interest
Desire
Inform the reader of what benefits they will receive if they use your products/service
Action
Include your contact details / website for further information.

Some pointers for your interest:

Never talk about yourself - Always write about the customer - "You will get…" Use short, sharp and precise sentences to capture the audience - Try and include key words such as free, new and now open. This will help encourage people to contact you for further information.

Competitor Scans:

This is a crucial function when carrying out market research. As well as analysing your business and the industry, competitors can also provide you with vital information for your business. When carrying out research, phone or visit several competitors and gather as much information as possible. Use the information to determine:

  1. What their price range is
  2. What products/service they offer
  3. Where their location is
  4. Who the typical customer is
  5. What are the typical opening hours in your industry?
  6. Are there any existing businesses providing the product or service you wish to provide?
  7. What do your competitors charge their customers?
  8. Are there any gaps in your market?
  9. What equipment and methods do they use?
  10. Are your competitors seen to be good at what they do?
  11. Is there any of your competitors located close to you?
With all this information, you are in a better position to know and understand what will and won't work for you business. Having identified your potential customers, you can more effectively target them with promotions etc. It will also help you determine your price, product/service and the ideal location for your business.

Business Letter:

Are you having trouble with the standard layout of a business letter? Here is an example that you can follow when sending out any letters on behalf of your business. Remember, the letter is often the first point of contact with a client or a supplier - therefore it is extremely important to have the correct layout as well as punctuation and grammar.

Use Letter headed paper if possible.

Name of recipient
Title
Name of Company
Address of Company
Address line 2
Address line 3
Postcode
Date of writing

Dear 'Name of recipient'

Opening paragraph should explain what the business is and why you are writing to the company.

Main paragraph should state what is on offer or the selling point of the letter. Do not over elaborate, but rather make it short and to the point. You must give the recipient a reason to use or buy your product/service.

The closing paragraph should thank the person for their time in reading the letter. You can either welcome them to call you for further information or sales or if it suits the letter, state that you will call them in 3 or 4 days.

Yours sincerely

Your Name
Title

If you require any help developing your questionnaires, Press releases, business letters or carrying out competitor scans, contact us to receive expert help and advice to ensure that your business is researched and can grow.


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