Are,You,Ready,Research,Your,Ma marketing Are You Ready To Research Your Market?
Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie
Are You Ready To Research Your Market?by Dan J. Fry, c. 2003-2004, All rights reserved.Picture this. You develop some product or service, spendcountless hours making sure everything is just right, set up abeautiful web site, make sure the ecommerce end is secure, andthen release what you know will be of utmost benefit to others.Do you really know this? How do you know it? Gut feeling? Someoneelse told you so?In the world of online ventures, researching the currentlydefined marketplace can be even more important than in theoffline world. Why? Things change so incredibly fast. Web sitesand services start and end with the blink of an eye. In part thisis because of the nature of the internet, and most are able tosurvive these types of massive fluctuations. But the ones whosucceed and stay near the top, releasing of product after productare the ones who initially conduct market research and do so on aregular basis.Now, don't let the term intimidate you. Market research is simplyabout getting to know what others are doing, what others want andwho if anyone is supplying it. Yes, in a way this is supply anddemand revisited. But, and this is important, market research isalso about predictions and expectations.By studying and learning about what is going on not only in yourcurrent market but in related areas, you will begin to develop akeen sense of what is needed. Even better, you will begin todevelop a sense of innovation, possible areas that others havenot yet thought about. At this stage your brain will flair withexcitement and your online business ventures will begin to takeon a "cruise and control" nature.Be aware that market research takes time. It must be planned outwith a clear goal in mind. Why? Market research in generalinvolves sampling a multi-variable parameter space. O.k. Dan, sowhat does this mean?It simply means that the question you are trying to answerdepends on more than one thing.For instance, suppose you want to research web usage habits. Thisis an enormously complex topic. It depends in part on what aperson is searching for, time of day, day of week, browser type,computer type, dial-up connection, gender, age, etc..Do you seehow this can be very hard to understand.So what you do is narrow the number of variables. How do youdo this? You focus your questions to areas that limit the numberof dependent parameters - smaller subsets of the entire picture.Supposing that the question to answer is now "What percentage ofsurfers are looking for cosmetics on Wednesday between the hoursof 6 and 10 pm?", we have now removed the gender, day of theweek, and hour of the day variables. The problem is now mucheasier to solve.Market research is a truly rich area. It involves people, who bynature are complex entities to study. But, there is no way aroundit. If you truly want to prosper in this field you must researchyour market, and you must regularly do so. Otherwise, yourefforts will be in large part hit and miss. Take the time to adda research aspect to your business. You won't be sorry. Article Tags: Market Research
Are,You,Ready,Research,Your,Ma