Online resources include blog posts and articles from a variety of business and marketing experts, including Tim Berry, business-planning expert and original author of Business Plan Pro. These additional resources are provided to enhance the Required Reading for this class. They are recommended, but unless otherwise included within the Reading section, they are optional.
Two examples of addressing a market need:
- The right way (identify a need and fill it): Turbo Pascal
- The wrong way (build a product and sell it): Apple Newton
Need vs. Recognized Need
Sometimes you can see a need, address it, and still not be able to explain it to consumers. This post, True Story, Good Idea, but Hard to Explain, is an example. On the other hand, sometimes you can make people more aware of a need they already have with good marketing strategy – that’s in this post, Marketing: Creating Wants or Filling Them?
Demographics
The best free source for this is still the U.S. Census online, offering information on housing, income, business and economic trends, and more.
Psychographics
The original source for psychographics research is the VALS Framework, dividing people up by motivation and resources. You can see their segmentation scheme at the website, and click the links there to see more detail about the different types.
More resources
For more background information on marketing segmentation, market analysis, and marketing in general, visit mplans.com.
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