Market Overview: Getting to Know Customers & Competitors – Going Solo Part 5
Market overview: Customer & Competitor Analyses – Central answers here are mainly the typical W-questions: who are your customers? Where are your customers? How do you reach your customers? Here you show in your business plan who will be interested in your product and who the potential buyers are. Above all, you demonstrate that you understand and know which methods you must choose in order to reach exactly these defined target groups. Besides the pure facts, such as geographical data or interests, it also involves deeper psychological characteristics. Certain behaviors lead us to adopt similar patterns in our daily lives. Here you return to: Starting a business.
Market overview: Know your competition, reach your customers
A very simple, daily recurring situation is the regular working hours. Almost half of the people leave the workplace in the afternoon or evening. When should we air too much advertising for shopping at the supermarket? Early at 10 o’clock or better shortly before the end of the workday? Exactly. All such questions are answered here.
Looking more deeply, you take a look at future developments. Particularly with agencies, it happens quickly that you become dependent on a few large clients. But even as a supplier, you usually have only a few customers who demand full attention. If one of these customers leaves, revenue deficits of a magnitude that you wouldn’t have in a business with a large customer base can quickly arise. Where do the risks lie and how will you deal with these situations?
Questions for your business plan
Answer the following questions about your customers in this part of your business plan:
- Who are your customers? Where are your customers?
How does the target group buy and where / from whom? - Psychological characteristics such as attitudes and behaviors
After the initial analysis of your customer, it’s time to look at the details. From their needs and competing products to your own reference customers, who enhance the image of a brand (reliability with similar-sized or larger companies) and thus increase sales. When and why do your customers buy and, if so, what do they buy?
- What needs/problems do your customers have?
- What products are already available?
- Do you already have reference customers? If yes, which ones? What short- and long-term revenue potential is associated with this?
- Are you dependent on a few large customers?
- How will the target group develop in the future?
Customer Analysis: The goal is marketing strategies
Depending on the depth of your business plan, you should describe these points in detail. Because from this, many other factors ultimately emerge, such as marketing strategies that specifically target these customer groups.
Who are your customers? Where are your customers?
Define your customers clearly in a few bullet points. It is particularly important to describe the target group as accurately as possible. This means making clear and precise statements about demographic characteristics, interests, personal life circumstances, from monthly income to living situations, from singles to couples and families, typical professions, typical places where the people are located. Furthermore, it is also about the specific needs and basic problems of your customers. Where is there a specific problem? Many things have already made life easier for people, from the bicycle to candlelight, up to electric power, the computer, smartphone, and many more. Where does your product come into play? What problems does it solve, and how does it make people’s lives easier? Start with an exact listing of your customers and their characteristics. Individual segments then come together.
- Age
- Gender
- Income
- Occupation
- Purchasing behavior
- Private or business customers
- …
Competitive product analysis
Here comes the first, small competitive rating in the business plan.
What products are already available?
Always take a look at the competition and learn from them what is currently available on the market, that is, what works. Maybe your product is already available in the same form, perhaps from another country? Do you have enough unique features to position your product alongside existing ones? If yes, what makes your product special and what distinguishes it from the others? Questions upon questions! You must find the answers and of course think for yourself whether there are further questions you need to answer based on your individual business idea.
Guide: Going self-employed & Business plan
Do you want to go self-employed as a real estate agent or with another business idea? We support you with tips for your business plan and concept. Whether self-employed full-time or part-time self-employed: anyone who wants to start their own company needs to think about many things, both in advance and in the day-to-day operations. From the right idea to health insurance – what should you consider when becoming self-employed?
For entrepreneurs, there is no training or further education. You are either a managing director or you are not. What matters is your own drive, because only this way can you improve yourself every day.
Overview of the topics:
- Business plan
- Founders and founding team
- Product / Service: USP
- Increase Customer Satisfaction
- Market Overview: Customers & Competition
- Reference Customers: Positive Image Transfer
- Market Analysis / Validation: Business Idea
- Location Choice
- Marketing Concept: Sales
- Advertising: Google Ads, SEO, newspaper, radio?
- Marketing: Media Advertising, costs and CPM
- Marketing: Trade Fairs, training and trade advertising
- Marketing: Sales Conversation, phone call and psychology
- Marketing: Promotions, discounts and special offers
- Marketing: Social Media and online advertising
- E-Business: Electronic commerce in the company
- Cooperations: Cooperation principle
- Financial planning: Capital and financing
Here you go back to the overview:
- Start a company
- Legal forms: OHG, KG, GmbH, AG & Co.

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