How to Identify Customer Demand for Your Products & Services

Customer need, demographics and preference help determine and drive product demand.

Marketing plans help entrepreneurs and organizations develop ways in which to market and sell their products. These plans outline an overall strategy by defining the target market, sales and revenue goals, marketing budget and elements of the marketing mix. According to Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson & Son, Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, "marketing is the social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others."

Instructions

1. Determine what needs and wants exist for the product or related products and services. Needs represent a dissatisfaction or unmet desire, so analyze your product or service offering to determine how it aligns with the potential needs of the consumer base. Differentiate its strength in areas of preferences for version, brand or customization, remembering that the goal is to find a need and fill it.

2. Select a target market. Identify the largest group of people with purchasing power, willingness to buy and authority to do so. This will become you customer base.

3. Perform market research. Take note of the market segmentation (or characteristics) in areas such as geography (region, population and density), demographics (age, gender, income, family size and occupation), and psychographic (lifestyle, attitudes, behavior and personality) in business-to-consumer settings and industry, design, and sales revenue in business-to-business settings. Develop specific strategies for these targets.

4. Analyze the market. Mine the data and identify patterns of behavior such as growth trends, income ranges, concentration of ethnic groups, personal preferences and buying habits. Be purpose driven to understand exactly what factors would influence or motivate members of this target population to buy the product or service being promoted.

5. Engage the opinions and perspectives of potential customers and current service providers, their feedback and insight can help avoid potential mishaps and provide alternate strategies for future challengers and competition. Statistics are helpful but they cannot provide the total picture.

References

• "Contemporary Business"; Louis Boone and Daniel Kurtz; 2011
• "Marketing Management: Analysis, planning, implementation and control"; Philip Kotler; 1997