Successful marketing activities

involve:

Finding out what people need;

Providing the products or services to meet this need;

Selling them in places where people can get them to
buy;

Setting prices that people are willing to pay; and

Informing and attracting them to buy your products or
services.
Market and Market Research
To a producer, the "market" is the sum total of all
potential customers. It is important to know as much as
possible about your customers and what they want and
need. Learning about the market can be called "market
research." Although this sounds sophisticated, it is as
important to the micro entrepreneur as it is to the huge
multi-national corporations.
In order to increase sales:

Find out who your buyers are;

Find out how large your market is; and

Make sure your market gives you a reasonable profit
margin.
Simple Market Analysis
Market analysis is very important for the MSE. It means
getting information about the market. Market analysis can be
done in many practical ways. Here are some examples:

Talk to your customers. Ask them, for example:

Where do they usually buy from?

If they are satisfied with your goods and services;

If there are other goods and services they would like;

Listen to what your customers say about your goods and
services;

Find out why some customers do not stop to buy from you;
and

Study your competitors businesses.
Research your competitors to
find out about:

Their products or services, quality and design;

What prices they charge;

How they attract customers;

What customers say; and

Why customers buy from them.
Ask other producers and
distributors:

Which goods sell best;

What they think about your products; and

What they think about your competitors products.
To satisfy your customers, increase
your sales and make a profit, you
need to find out:

What product or service your customers want;

At what location your micro-enterprise should be so
that you can reach your customers;

What price your customers are willing to pay; and

What promotion activities you can use to inform your
customers and attract them to buy your products or
services.
These are collectively called the
"Four Ps" of marketing:

Product;

Place;

Price; and

Promotion