Find your Target Market

To be able to make a clear decision on the progress of a business, we must first analyse all market factors to ensure an informed decision and plan can be made. In new age business with social environments, analysis needs to not only of identified opportunities, perceived advantages, limitations and potential market threats, but also the social behaviours that compete with chance of achieving success.

To do this there are a number of tools that can be used conduct a market situation analysis to determine market size, competition, customers, and behaviours of potential customers to determine the target market. These include 5 C’s Analysis, swot analysis and market segmentation.

5 C’s Analysis

5 C’s Analysis considers forces that affect customers, context, company, collaborators and competitors. With the social purpose in mind the 5 C’s analysis will take into consideration not just the company but the solution, not just customer but the problem, and not just competition but behaviour. This approach will ensure a formative evaluation of the behaviour, individuals, and communities.

Company Analysis fundamentally describes what the company does and how they make money.

Collaborators are organisations or companies that assist with marketing efforts to customers.

Customers analysis needs to be completed on two levels by understanding their needs and purchase process.

Context involves analysing external environments and how they may impact the business.

Competition analysis is of competing brands but also competing behaviours in a social setting.

SWOT Analysis

More commonly known a SWOT analysis provides a snapshot of the current situation and identifies critical factors. Swot analysis provides a summary of strengths and weaknesses internally and external opportunities and threats.

Internal strengths which are positives of your product and service which provide value.

External opportunities which show where you see potential for your product, marketing, or gap in the market.

Internal weaknesses are what you need to work on which may prevent you from achieving your goal or limit the value of your product.

External threats are external competition or conditions which may limit your market potential or the limit your products success.

Once you have analysed your business, competitors and the industry environment you can build market segments or persona’s that might be interested in your product. This can be done by assessing their demographic, geographic, psychographic, income, gender, occupation, and education in relation to your market analysis.

Using government resources such as business.gov.au or Australian Bureau of Statistics for your business location this enables you to define what market size exists.

Is there enough customers, is your business in the right location, do your prices match the market, are you sharing this with market competition? There are many questions you can assess once you have this information.

Additionally product or industry trends can be assessed using products such as google trends.

Need any help defining your market or with your business planning? Feel free to ask a question or look at our planning tools.