This assignment builds on the knowledge you’ve been collecting so far. Make sure you include the following:
a. Average revenue / sale
b. Margin – what you’re left with after cost of sales
c. Average cost to acquire new customers
d. Market share expectations for the first 2-3 years
Extra credit will be given to students that make realistic projections...and get their Excel spreadsheet to print out nicely with gridlines.
In this assignment you’ll draw a map of the ecosystem in which your product will play. Clue - your target audience should be at the center of your map.
Be sure to include the following in your map:
a. Influencers
b. Sources of information
c. Purchase channels
d. Competitive products
Oh yes, extra credit will be given for the best use of PowerPoint Smart Art Graphics.
This assignment requires you to find out all you can about your top 5 competitors. Extra credit will be given to those students who collect the most information. Be sure to include the following points in your paper:
a. SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
b. Examples of messaging and collateral
c. Channels and partnerships
This is a critical part of the homework for your Go To Market course. Extra credit will be given to students that create personas for their target audiences. Make sure you cover the following points:
B2B Students:
a. Pertinent industry verticals
b. Company size
c. Job titles
d. Job level
e. Geography
B2C Students:
a. Age
b. Sex
c. Marital status
d. Profession
e. Geography
f. Education
g. Household income
You need to complete this exercise whether you’re looking at one possible market or trying to prioritize when and if to go after several markets.
NOTE: Extra credit will be given to those students who answer all the parts of the question and present their findings in the form of a matrix.
a. Addressable market size – there are some great government information sources that can give you detailed information by vertical–all for free. Analyst reports and articles are also a good source of market size data.
b. Degree of market penetration – this is trickier to determine, but even if you can’t find hard data do your best to come up with an educated guess.
c. Elasticity of demand – is your product a must have or a nice to have for your target audience? Understanding that will help you put together realistic pricing and sales projections, especially in the case of a recessionary economy.
d. Strength of existing incumbents – as is most often the case, your target market is also served by the competition. Try to get a feel for how strongly the incumbents are dug in, and how hard it would be to displace them.
e. Awareness of your type of product – will you need to spend cycles educating the market on the value of this type of product or is it more a matter of differentiating your offering?
f. Barriers to entry – how easy is it for someone else to enter this market?
g. Pricing patterns – is there downward pressure on pricing, or has market consolidation and scarcity driven up price points?