is shown below. In general, I would recommend that this report would be made about
each of the major competitors. While most of this report is intended to focus on the
overall analysis of the competitor, you should recognize that you are primarily
interested in how this information may impact your company and, specifically, a
product or product line to you affiliates.
For this reason, you should make sure, where possible, to focus your information on
how it impacts the markets in which your products will compete with theirs. That is
how your report will stand out among the other marketing affiliates in a merchant’s
eye. It should be included in your proposal whenever it is possible. I have listed the
guidelines in sections to make it easier for you to read and then furthered the report
guidelines for you as well for easier reading.
Please note each sub-section within a section will contain 1-5 sentences that
explain the sub-section.
• General Company Information which includes name, location (headquarters,
other locations of importance), website address
• Summary of the Business which includes a section that will summarize the
company, business units and the general nature of the business
• Business Overview should include sections on the history, ownership structure,
types of businesses, mission, strategy/objectives, and key executives
• Recent News/Developments such as important company developments within
last 6-12 months (e.g., reports from news sources, press releases, financial
statements)
• Financial and Market Share Analysis – includes sections on corporate
performance, trends, market share for product
• Marketing in general should include sections on products and services that are
offered, target markets, positioning, customers/users, pricing model,
promotional efforts, sales force, and distribution
• Other Miscellaneous Issues like adding sections on technology capability,
partnership arrangements, and intangible issues
• A list of your Competitors where you will list key competitors facing this
company
• SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Below, I am going to actually pin point what should be included in the market study
like I did above, however in more detail and with explanation on how to write it. I am
listing them in steps rather than points to make it easier.
1. The information that is provided in a market study should be based on the
research that you have collected AND NOT on one’s own perceptions,
guesstimates or other unsupported statements. This information should be
based on fat alone! The only exception to this may be within the SWOT
analysis; however, even most of this should be supported with some evidence.
2. If you are unable to find any specific bit of information it is probably a good
idea to make this known so that the person reading the report would know of
this potential limitation of the market study and be ready for it. Obviously you
need to collect good research so you do not end up having too many of these
statements.
3. It is generally a good idea to define the most important terms and concepts
when you first introduce them so as not to confuse the reader. This will
benefit those reading the report who may not already possess knowledge in this
area. Alternatively, you can create a glossary or definition section in the
End notes area of the report.
4. Wherever it is necessary you should explain how the research was conducted or
how data was collected (e.g., explaining how survey was done). This just helps
the reader to understand your methodology so that they can decide how
trustworthy the information is.
5. Make note of any limitations of secondary research (research you obtained from
other sources) that you used. Unless there are very any significant limitations
you can generally include this as an end note.
6. If you are investigating a new/different way of doing something with present
customers, then you will need to provide a discussion of the cost/benefit of
alternative options. That is, what will customer give up to use something new
versus what they will get from using the new product?
7. Remember to reference as much stuff as you have to in order to get the best
information. I would suggest using end notes instead of footnotes of texts
because this gives you the most accurate account. End notes appear next to the
sentence, word, quote, number, etc. but usually not as a superscript and
usually in parenthesis like this (1). The full reference would appear at the back
of the report in an End notes section.
Once you have completed your market analysis and target audience, you will want to
present it to the companies that you are looking to affiliate with. That is what the
next section deals with. It is going to show you how to create partnerships with the
merchants.
Brought to you by Christopher Bankole
http://chrisban.savingshighway.com
http://clickmeter.9nl.com/SH2WI
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