Market analysis is the foundation of the marketing plan. Every marketing plan should include a clear explanation of the market segmentation, target market focus, and a market forecast. An accurate assessment of your market, your environment and your competitors will add reality and practicality to your marketing plan. To develop an effective plan based on your customers’ needs and nature, you should be able to answer these questions:
• Who are they?
• Where are they?
• What do they need?
• How do they make their buying decisions?
• Where do they buy?
• How do you reach them with your marketing and sales messages?
Knowing the answers to these questions is critical no matter who your potential customers may be. This is also true when a nonprofit organization goes into a market looking for funding, in-kind contributions and volunteer participation. The specific research related to this market analysis begins with statistics that provide total numbers of households, classrooms, businesses, and workers in a market. These are your basic demographics. What you need depends on whether you’re looking at businesses, households, or individuals as your main target groups. When possible, you should be able to segment households by income level, businesses by size, and workers by job type, education, and other factors.
Employment statistics can add information about types of workers and their education and background. You can also divide your target customers into groups according to psychographics. This is your strategic market segmentation, a core element of your marketing strategy.