how do you write a market analysis for a business plan

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How to Write a Market Analysis for a Business Plan

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A lot of preparation goes into starting a business before you can open your doors to the public or launch your online store. One of your first steps should be to write a business plan . A business plan will serve as your roadmap when building your business.

Within your business plan, there’s an important section you should pay careful attention to: your market analysis. Your market analysis helps you understand your target market and how you can thrive within it.

Simply put, your market analysis shows that you’ve done your research. It also contributes to your marketing strategy by defining your target customer and researching their buying habits. Overall, a market analysis will yield invaluable data if you have limited knowledge about your market, the market has fierce competition, and if you require a business loan. In this guide, we'll explore how to conduct your own market analysis.

How to conduct a market analysis: A step-by-step guide

In your market analysis, you can expect to cover the following:

Industry outlook

Target market

Market value

Competition

Barriers to entry

Let’s dive into an in-depth look into each section:

Step 1: Define your objective

Before you begin your market analysis, it’s important to define your objective for writing a market analysis. Are you writing it for internal purposes or for external purposes?

If you were doing a market analysis for internal purposes, you might be brainstorming new products to launch or adjusting your marketing tactics. An example of an external purpose might be that you need a market analysis to get approved for a business loan .

The comprehensiveness of your market analysis will depend on your objective. If you’re preparing for a new product launch, you might focus more heavily on researching the competition. A market analysis for a loan approval would require heavy data and research into market size and growth, share potential, and pricing.

Step 2: Provide an industry outlook

An industry outlook is a general direction of where your industry is heading. Lenders want to know whether you’re targeting a growing industry or declining industry. For example, if you’re looking to sell VCRs in 2020, it’s unlikely that your business will succeed.

Starting your market analysis with an industry outlook offers a preliminary view of the market and what to expect in your market analysis. When writing this section, you'll want to include:

Market size

Are you chasing big markets or are you targeting very niche markets? If you’re targeting a niche market, are there enough customers to support your business and buy your product?

Product life cycle

If you develop a product, what will its life cycle look like? Lenders want an overview of how your product will come into fruition after it’s developed and launched. In this section, you can discuss your product’s:

Research and development

Projected growth

How do you see your company performing over time? Calculating your year-over-year growth will help you and lenders see how your business has grown thus far. Calculating your projected growth shows how your business will fare in future projected market conditions.

Step 3: Determine your target market

This section of your market analysis is dedicated to your potential customer. Who is your ideal target customer? How can you cater your product to serve them specifically?

Don’t make the mistake of wanting to sell your product to everybody. Your target customer should be specific. For example, if you’re selling mittens, you wouldn’t want to market to warmer climates like Hawaii. You should target customers who live in colder regions. The more nuanced your target market is, the more information you’ll have to inform your business and marketing strategy.

With that in mind, your target market section should include the following points:

Demographics

This is where you leave nothing to mystery about your ideal customer. You want to know every aspect of your customer so you can best serve them. Dedicate time to researching the following demographics:

Income level

Create a customer persona

Creating a customer persona can help you better understand your customer. It can be easier to market to a person than data on paper. You can give this persona a name, background, and job. Mold this persona into your target customer.

What are your customer’s pain points? How do these pain points influence how they buy products? What matters most to them? Why do they choose one brand over another?

Research and supporting material

Information without data are just claims. To add credibility to your market analysis, you need to include data. Some methods for collecting data include:

Target group surveys

Focus groups

Reading reviews

Feedback surveys

You can also consult resources online. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau can help you find demographics in calculating your market share. The U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration also offer general data that can help you research your target industry.

Step 4: Calculate market value

You can use either top-down analysis or bottom-up analysis to calculate an estimate of your market value.

A top-down analysis tends to be the easier option of the two. It requires for you to calculate the entire market and then estimate how much of a share you expect your business to get. For example, let’s assume your target market consists of 100,000 people. If you’re optimistic and manage to get 1% of that market, you can expect to make 1,000 sales.

A bottom-up analysis is more data-driven and requires more research. You calculate the individual factors of your business and then estimate how high you can scale them to arrive at a projected market share. Some factors to consider when doing a bottom-up analysis include:

Where products are sold

Who your competition is

The price per unit

How many consumers you expect to reach

The average amount a customer would buy over time

While a bottom-up analysis requires more data than a top-down analysis, you can usually arrive at a more accurate calculation.

Step 5: Get to know your competition

Before you start a business, you need to research the level of competition within your market. Are there certain companies getting the lion’s share of the market? How can you position yourself to stand out from the competition?

There are two types of competitors that you should be aware of: direct competitors and indirect competitors.

Direct competitors are other businesses who sell the same product as you. If you and the company across town both sell apples, you are direct competitors.

An indirect competitor sells a different but similar product to yours. If that company across town sells oranges instead, they are an indirect competitor. Apples and oranges are different but they still target a similar market: people who eat fruits.

Also, here are some questions you want to answer when writing this section of your market analysis:

What are your competitor’s strengths?

What are your competitor’s weaknesses?

How can you cover your competitor’s weaknesses in your own business?

How can you solve the same problems better or differently than your competitors?

How can you leverage technology to better serve your customers?

How big of a threat are your competitors if you open your business?

Step 6: Identify your barriers

Writing a market analysis can help you identify some glaring barriers to starting your business. Researching these barriers will help you avoid any costly legal or business mistakes down the line. Some entry barriers to address in your marketing analysis include:

Technology: How rapid is technology advancing and can it render your product obsolete within the next five years?

Branding: You need to establish your brand identity to stand out in a saturated market.

Cost of entry: Startup costs, like renting a space and hiring employees, are expensive. Also, specialty equipment often comes with hefty price tags. (Consider researching equipment financing to help finance these purchases.)

Location: You need to secure a prime location if you’re opening a physical store.

Competition: A market with fierce competition can be a steep uphill battle (like attempting to go toe-to-toe with Apple or Amazon).

Step 7: Know the regulations

When starting a business, it’s your responsibility to research governmental and state business regulations within your market. Some regulations to keep in mind include (but aren’t limited to):

Employment and labor laws

Advertising

Environmental regulations

If you’re a newer entrepreneur and this is your first business, this part can be daunting so you might want to consult with a business attorney. A legal professional will help you identify the legal requirements specific to your business. You can also check online legal help sites like LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer.

Tips when writing your market analysis

We wouldn’t be surprised if you feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information needed in a market analysis. Keep in mind, though, this research is key to launching a successful business. You don’t want to cut corners, but here are a few tips to help you out when writing your market analysis:

Use visual aids

Nobody likes 30 pages of nothing but text. Using visual aids can break up those text blocks, making your market analysis more visually appealing. When discussing statistics and metrics, charts and graphs will help you better communicate your data.

Include a summary

If you’ve ever read an article from an academic journal, you’ll notice that writers include an abstract that offers the reader a preview.

Use this same tactic when writing your market analysis. It will prime the reader of your market highlights before they dive into the hard data.

Get to the point

It’s better to keep your market analysis concise than to stuff it with fluff and repetition. You’ll want to present your data, analyze it, and then tie it back into how your business can thrive within your target market.

Revisit your market analysis regularly

Markets are always changing and it's important that your business changes with your target market. Revisiting your market analysis ensures that your business operations align with changing market conditions. The best businesses are the ones that can adapt.

Why should you write a market analysis?

Your market analysis helps you look at factors within your market to determine if it’s a good fit for your business model. A market analysis will help you:

1. Learn how to analyze the market need

Markets are always shifting and it’s a good idea to identify current and projected market conditions. These trends will help you understand the size of your market and whether there are paying customers waiting for you. Doing a market analysis helps you confirm that your target market is a lucrative market.

2. Learn about your customers

The best way to serve your customer is to understand them. A market analysis will examine your customer’s buying habits, pain points, and desires. This information will aid you in developing a business that addresses those points.

3. Get approved for a business loan

Starting a business, especially if it’s your first one, requires startup funding. A good first step is to apply for a business loan with your bank or other financial institution.

A thorough market analysis shows that you’re professional, prepared, and worth the investment from lenders. This preparation inspires confidence within the lender that you can build a business and repay the loan.

4. Beat the competition

Your research will offer valuable insight and certain advantages that the competition might not have. For example, thoroughly understanding your customer’s pain points and desires will help you develop a superior product or service than your competitors. If your business is already up and running, an updated market analysis can upgrade your marketing strategy or help you launch a new product.

Final thoughts

There is a saying that the first step to cutting down a tree is to sharpen an axe. In other words, preparation is the key to success. In business, preparation increases the chances that your business will succeed, even in a competitive market.

The market analysis section of your business plan separates the entrepreneurs who have done their homework from those who haven’t. Now that you’ve learned how to write a market analysis, it’s time for you to sharpen your axe and grow a successful business. And keep in mind, if you need help crafting your business plan, you can always turn to business plan software or a free template to help you stay organized.

This article originally appeared on JustBusiness, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.

On a similar note...

How to do a market analysis for a business plan

A key part of any business plan is market analysis. This section needs to demonstrate both your expertise in your particular market and the attractiveness of the market from a financial standpoint.

This article first looks at what we mean exactly by market analysis before looking at how to make a good one for your business plan.

What is a market analysis?

A market analysis is a quantitative and qualitative assessment of a market. It looks into the size of the market both in volume and in value, the various customer segments and buying patterns, the competition, and the economic environment in terms of barriers to entry and regulation.

How to do a market analysis?

The objectives of the market analysis section of a business plan are to show to investors that:

• you know your market
• the market is large enough to build a sustainable business

In order to do that I recommend the following plan:

Demographics and Segmentation

Target market, market need, competition, barriers to entry.

The first step of the analysis consists in assessing the size of the market.

When assessing the size of the market, your approach will depend on the type of business you are selling to investors. If your business plan is for a small shop or a restaurant then you need to take a local approach and try to assess the market around your shop. If you are writing a business plan for a restaurant chain then you need to assess the market a national level.

Depending on your market you might also want to slice it into different segments. This is especially relevant if you or your competitors focus only on certain segments.

Volume & Value

There are two factors you need to look at when assessing the size of a market: the number of potential customers and the value of the market. It is very important to look at both numbers separately, let's take an example to understand why.

Imagine that you have the opportunity to open a shop either in Town A or in Town B:

Although Town B looks more competitive (10 competitors vs. 2 in Town A) and a smaller opportunity (market size of £100m vs. £200 in Town A), with 1,000 potential customers it is actually a more accessible market than Town A where you have only 2 potential customers.

Potential customer?

The definition of a potential customer will depend on your type of business. For example, if you are opening a small shop selling office furniture then your market will be all the companies within your delivery range. As in the example above it is likely that most companies would have only one person in charge of purchasing furniture hence you wouldn't take the size of these businesses in consideration when assessing the number of potential customers. You would however factor it when assessing the value of the market.

Market value

Estimating the market value is often more difficult than assessing the number of potential customers. The first thing to do is to see if the figure is publicly available as either published by a consultancy firm or by a state body. It is very likely that you will find at least a number on a national level.

If not then you can either buy some market research or try to estimate it yourself.

Methods for building an estimate

There are 2 methods that can be used to build estimates: the bottom-up approach or the top-down approach.

The bottom-up approach consists in building a global number starting with unitary values. In our case the number of potential clients multiplied by an average transaction value.

Let's keep our office furniture example and try to estimate the value of the 'desk' segment. We would first factor in the size of the businesses in our delivery range in order to come up with the size of the desks park. Then we would try to estimate the renewal rate of the park to get the volume of annual transactions. Finally, we would apply an average price to the annual volume of transactions to get to the estimated market value.

Here is a summary of the steps including where to find the information:

• Size of desks park = number of businesses in delivery area x number of employees (you might want to refine this number based on the sector as not all employees have desks)
• Renewal rate = 1 / useful life of a desk
• The volume of transactions = size of desks park x renewal rate
• Value of 1 transaction = average price of a desk
• Market value = volume of transactions x value of 1 transaction

You should be able to find most of the information for free in this example. You can get the number and size of businesses in your delivery area from the national statistics. Your accountant should be able to give you the useful life of a desk (but you should know it since it is your market!). You can compare the desk prices of other furniture stores in your area. As a side note here: it is always a good idea to ask your competitors for market data (just don't say you are going to compete with them).

That was the bottom-up approach, now let's look into the top-down approach.

The top-down approach consists of starting with a global number and reducing it pro-rata. In our case, we would start with the value of the UK office furniture market which AMA Research estimates to be around £650m and then do a pro-rata on this number using the number of businesses in our delivery area x their number of employees / total number of people employed in the UK. Once again the number of employees would only be a rough proxy given all business don't have the same furniture requirements.

When coming up with an estimate yourself it is always a good practice to test both the bottom up and top-down approaches and to compare the results. If the numbers are too far away then you probably missed something or used the wrong proxy.

Once you have estimated the market size you need to explain to your reader which segment(s) of the market you view as your target market.

The target market is the type of customers you target within the market. For example, if you are selling jewellery you can either be a generalist or decide to focus on the high end or the lower end of the market. This section is relevant when your market has clear segments with different drivers of demand. In my example of jewels, value for money would be one of the drivers of the lower end market whereas exclusivity and prestige would drive the high end.

Now it is time to focus on the more qualitative side of the market analysis by looking at what drives the demand.

This section is very important as it is where you show your potential investor that you have an intimate knowledge of your market. You know why they buy!

Here you need to get into the details of the drivers of demand for your product or services. One way to look at what a driver is to look at takeaway coffee. One of the drivers for coffee is consistency. The coffee one buys in a chain is not necessarily better than the one from the independent coffee shop next door. But if you are not from the area then you don't know what the independent coffee shop's coffee is worth it. Whereas you know that the coffee from the chain will taste just like in every other shop of this chain. Hence most people on the move buy coffee from chains rather than independent coffee shops.

From a tactical point of view, this section is also where you need to place your competitive edge without mentioning it explicitly. In the following sections of your business plan, you are going to talk about your competition and their strengths, weaknesses and market positioning before reaching the Strategy section in which you'll explain your own market positioning. What you want to do is prepare the reader to embrace your positioning and invest in your company.

To do so you need to highlight in this section some of the drivers that your competition has not been focussing on. A quick example for an independent coffee shop surrounded by coffee chains would be to say that on top of consistency, which is relevant for people on the move, another driver for coffee shop demand is the place itself as what coffee shops sell before most is a place for people to meet. You would then present your competition. And in the Strategy section explain that you will focus on locals looking for a place to meet rather than takeaway coffee and that your differentiating factor will be the authenticity and atmosphere of your local shop.

The aim of this section is to give a fair view of who you are competing against. You need to explain your competitors' positioning and describe their strengths and weaknesses. You should write this part in parallel with the Competitive Edge part of the Strategy section.

The idea here is to analyse your competitor's angle to the market in order to find a weakness that your company will be able to use in its own market positioning.

One way to carry the analysis is to benchmark your competitor against each of the key drivers of demand for your market (price, quality, add-on services, etc.) and present the results in a table.

Below is an example of a furniture shop in France. As you can see from the table all the actors on the market are currently focused on the low medium range of the market leaving the space free for a high end focused new player.

This section is all about answering two questions from your investors:

• what prevents someone from opening a shop in front of yours and take 50% of your business?
• having answered the previous question what makes you think you will be successful in trying to enter this market? (start-up only)

As you would have guess barriers to entry are great. Investors love them and there is one reason for this: it protects your business from new competition!

Here are a few examples of barriers to entry:

• Investment (a project that requires a substantial investment)
• Technology (sophisticated technology a website is not one, knowing how to process uranium is)
• Brand (the huge marketing costs required to get to a certain level of recognition)
• Regulation (licences and concessions in particular)
• Access to resources (exclusivity with suppliers, proprietary resources)
• Access to distribution channels (exclusivity with distributors, proprietary network)
• Location (a shop on Regent's Street)

The answer to the questions above will be highly dependent on your type of business, your management team and any relations it might have. Therefore it is hard for me to give any general tips about it.

If regulation is a barrier at entry in your sector then I would advise you to merge this section with the previous one. Otherwise, this section should be just a tick the box exercise where you explain the main regulations applicable to your business and which steps you are going to take to remain compliant.

Now you know how to do a market analysis for a business plan! I hope you found this article useful. If so please share it, and if not let us know what we need to improve.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• Free business plan template to download
• TAM SAM SOM, what it means and why it matters
• Business model vs business plan
• What is a business plan and how to create one?

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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Business Plan Market Analysis - Your Road Map to Success

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on the business plan market analysis section of a business plan. Market Analysis is a key part of any good business plan, which will help you better assess and understand your market. ‍ The business plan market analysis section is the heart and soul of your strategy, impacting everything from marketing to operations to the financial forecast. The market analysis helps you understand your position within the industry, the potential size of your market, the competitive landscape, and most importantly, it assists in identifying your target customers. In this blog post, we'll take you through the essentials of market analysis: what it is, why it's crucial, and the components it comprises.

Table of Contents

Business Plan Market Analysis - What Is It?

• Key Components
• How To Implement

Tips and Best Practices

• Market Analysis Case Study

Wrapping It All Up

Market analysis is a comprehensive examination of the dynamics, trends, and competitive landscape of the business environment within which a company operates. It is a vital component of a business plan as it allows entrepreneurs and business owners to understand their industry and market better, enabling them to make well-informed decisions. The business plan market analysis section has two main benefits. Firstly, it Allows you to Identify key opportunities in the market. By studying the market, a business can identify gaps, trends, or customer needs that aren't currently being met and then plan to cater to them effectively. Secondly, it also allows you to recognise potential threats and competition. By understanding your competitors, their offerings, strategies, strengths, and weaknesses, you can position yourself better against their position in the marketplace. Overall the role of market analysis in a business plan cannot be understated. It serves as the foundation upon which the marketing and sales strategies are built. In the following sections, we will take a deep dive into the key components of market analysis and how to conduct it effectively. 

Remember, the opening of your Executive Summary sets the tone for the entire document. Make it memorable and compelling to encourage the reader to continue exploring.

What Are The Key Components of Market Analysis?

Understanding the key components of a market analysis is crucial to conducting one effectively. Each element contributes a unique insight into your market, providing a comprehensive overview of the environment in which your business will operate. Here are the key components:

• Industry Description and Outlook: This involves describing the industry within which your business will operate. Look to identify the key trends influencing it and the outlook of the future of the industry based on reliable industry forecasts.
• Target Market: It's vital to identify and understand your ideal customers. This involves defining the demographics (age, gender, income, etc.), psychographics (interests, values, behaviours, etc.), and geographic location of the customers your business aims to target. Furthermore, it's important to understand their needs, preferences, and buying habits.
• Market Size and Trends: Here, you need to determine the total size of your target market. This involves quantifying the number of potential customers, the total sales volume, or the total market value. Furthermore, it's crucial to identify key market trends, which may include changes in customer behaviour, new technologies, or shifting regulatory environments.
• Market Segmentation: This involves dividing your target market into distinct groups (segments) based on certain characteristics. These might include age, location, buying habits, or customer needs. By taking the time to segment your customers you can develop better targeting strategies for your marketing campaigns.
• Competitive Analysis: This component involves identifying your key competitors and analysing their products, sales strategies, market share, strengths, and weaknesses. A competitive analysis will help your business identify its unique selling proposition (USP) and differentiate itself from competitors.
• SWOT Analysis: Finally, conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis will allow your business to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats in the market. This can help your business leverage its strengths, address its weaknesses, capitalise on opportunities, and prepare for potential threats.

Business Plan Market Analysis - How to Implement 

Conducting a business plan market analysis might seem like a daunting task, but you can make it more achievable by breaking it down into key tasks.

• Industry Description and Outlook: Start by gathering data on your industry. This can include industry reports, market research data, news articles, and government statistics. Remember to cite your sources to add credibility to your analysis.
• Target Market: Identifying your target market requires an understanding of who is most likely to buy your product or service. You can conduct surveys, interviews, or focus groups to gather data on potential customers. If you already have a customer database, try to delve into this further by conducting post-purchase interviews with customers. Try to identify demographic, geographic, and psychographic characteristics, as well as buying habits and needs. The aim is to create a clear and specific profile of your ideal customer. You will aim to use this data to generate customer segments to target with your marketing campaigns.
• Market Size and Trends: Estimating market size can be challenging but can be done by looking at industry reports, government data, and market research studies. You can also look at the sales of competitors or analogous products. Identify key market trends by examining changes in customer behaviour, technological advances, and regulatory changes.
• Competitive Analysis: Identify your key competitors and analyse their offerings. Look at their products, pricing, marketing strategies, and market share. Try to understand their strengths and weaknesses. You can gather this information from their websites, customer reviews, and industry reports. Use this analysis to identify opportunities for your business to differentiate itself.
• SWOT Analysis: You can consolidate all of your initial research into a SWOT analysis which will help synthesise your learning and make it easier to develop strategies from your research.

Remember, conducting a market analysis isn't a one-time task. Markets are dynamic, with customer preferences, competition, and external factors continually changing. Your aim should be to continually update your business plan market analysis periodically. Here at Action Planr we have a full guide on how to conduct a SWOT Analysis for more detailed information on the full process.

Successfully conducting a market analysis involves more than just understanding its components and knowing where to find the necessary data. Here are some tips and best practices to help make your market analysis more robust, reliable, and useful for decision-making:

• Using Reliable Data Sources for Market Research: The quality of your analysis is directly tied to the quality of your data. Therefore, it's important to use reliable sources such as government databases, industry reports, reputable market research firms, and academic studies. Be wary of data that doesn't come from reliable sources.
• Understanding the Importance of Both Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Quantitative data, like statistics and numerical facts, provides a solid base for your analysis. But don't underestimate the power of qualitative data—opinions, anecdotes, and experiences—which can provide deeper insight into customer behaviours and preferences.
• Keeping the Analysis Current and Updated: Markets change rapidly. What was true last year—or even last month—may not hold today. Regularly updating your market analysis can help you keep up with changes and adjust your business strategies accordingly.
• Ensuring Your Analysis is Relevant to Your Specific Business Model: The insights you need depend on your business model. A B2B company will need a different kind of analysis than a B2C company. Tailor your market analysis to your specific business needs and objectives.
• Importance of Validating Assumptions: In the course of conducting a market analysis, you'll likely make assumptions. Be sure to validate these assumptions with solid data whenever possible.
• Keep your Audience in Mind: If your business plan is read by investors, they'll be interested in market size, growth opportunities, and competitive landscape. Make sure your market analysis addresses these topics and is presented in a clear, easy-to-understand format.

Business Plan Market Analysis - Case Study

To understand how the principles and processes of market analysis work in a real-world context, let's look at a case study of an innovative tech startup, "Techie Toys." Techie Toys is a company that produces educational toys based on augmented reality technology, targeting children aged 6 to 12. Their goal is to make learning fun and interactive.

• Industry Description and Outlook: Techie Toys reviewed multiple industry reports and found that the educational toy market has seen substantial growth over recent years, and this growth is expected to continue due to increasing focus on interactive learning methods. The integration of technology into educational toys, specifically augmented reality, is a significant trend shaping the industry.
• Target Market: Through surveys and focus groups, Techie Toys identified their target customers as parents of children aged 6 to 12 who value educational development and are comfortable with technology integration in toys. These parents have middle to upper-middle income, are mostly city dwellers, and are willing to invest in their children's education.
• Market Size and Trends: By analysing industry reports and sales of similar products, Techie Toys estimated a sizable target market for their augmented reality educational toys. The trend of "edutainment" was identified as a key market trend, with technology-based educational toys gaining popularity.
• Market Segmentation: Techie Toys segmented their market based on age (6-8, 9-12), type of toy preferred (science, math, language arts), and parents' willingness to spend on educational toys. They plan to tailor their products and marketing strategies according to these segments.
• Competitive Analysis: Techie Toys identified several key competitors offering educational toys but found a gap in those providing augmented reality-based learning. They also discovered that their unique selling proposition – interactive learning through augmented reality – is an aspect where they outshine their competitors.
• SWOT Analysis: Strengths identified included a strong development team, unique product offering, and alignment with market trends. Weaknesses involved a higher price point and lack of brand recognition. Opportunities included a growing market and a trend toward edutainment, while threats were potential competitors and rapid technological change.

By conducting this detailed market analysis, Techie Toys was able to effectively position itself within the market, identify its unique selling proposition, and tailor their product development and marketing strategy to their target audience. This comprehensive understanding of their market greatly contributed to their success.

The business plan market analysis section of a business plan is one of its most critical components. Conducting a detailed and accurate market analysis can be a challenging process, but as we've seen in our guide, the benefits are large. Business is all about planning and conducting an in-depth market analysis process, It will allow your business to navigate its environment with knowledge and foresight. The insight gained can help you identify growth opportunities and provide a strong basis for the development of effective marketing and sales strategies. Keep these insights, steps, and tips in mind as you work on your market analysis and remember markets are continually changing so don't make this a one-and-done exercise. If you are looking for help with other sections of the business plan, please check out our Learning Zone homepage.

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Market Analysis

Connecting the Dots, Quantifying Technology Trends & Measuring Disruption

How to do a market analysis for a business plan

A market analysis is an important part of a business plan because it helps you understand the market in which your business will operate. It involves researching and analyzing the target market, competitors, and industry trends in order to identify opportunities and challenges. Here are the steps you can follow to do a market analysis for a business plan:

Define your target market: The first step in a market analysis is to identify the specific group of customers that you will be targeting with your products or services. This may include demographics (age, gender, income, education level, etc.), geographic location, and other characteristics that are relevant to your business.

Research the market size: Next, you’ll need to determine the size of the market you are targeting. This will help you understand the potential demand for your products or services and determine whether the market is large enough to support your business. You can use various sources of data, such as industry reports and government statistics, to estimate the size of the market.

Analyze competitors: It’s important to understand who your competitors are and what they are offering. This will help you identify unique selling points for your business and determine how you can differentiate yourself from your competitors. You can research your competitors online, ask customers about their preferences, and even visit their stores or websites to get a sense of their product offerings and pricing.

Assess industry trends: Understanding industry trends can help you anticipate changes in the market and position your business to take advantage of them. Look for trends in areas such as technology, consumer behavior, and regulatory changes that may affect your business.

Determine your target market’s needs and preferences: To effectively market your products or services, you need to understand what your target customers need and want. You can gather this information through customer surveys, focus groups, and other market research methods.

Determine your target market’s purchasing power: It’s important to understand how much your target customers are willing and able to pay for your products or services. This will help you determine your pricing strategy and determine whether there is enough demand at your target price point.

Analyze your target market’s attitudes and behaviors: Understanding your target customers’ attitudes and behaviors can help you tailor your marketing efforts to their preferences. For example, if your target market values sustainability, you may want to highlight the eco-friendliness of your products in your marketing materials.

By conducting a thorough market analysis, you can gain a better understanding of the market in which your business will operate and make informed decisions about your marketing, pricing, and product development strategies.

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How to Conduct a Market Analysis in 4 Steps — 2024 Guide

Posted february 5, 2021 by noah parsons.

Understanding your customers is the key to success for any startup. If you don’t have a deep understanding of who your customers are, you’ll have trouble developing products that truly fit their needs, and you’ll struggle to develop a successful marketing strategy.

This is where a market analysis comes in. It may sound like a daunting and complex process, but fortunately, it’s not.

What is a market analysis?

A market analysis is a thorough qualitative and quantitative assessment of the current market .

It helps you understand the volume and value of the market, potential customer segments and their buying patterns, the position of your competition, and the overall economic environment, including barriers to entry, and industry regulations.

Why you should conduct a market analysis

Whether you are writing a one-page plan or putting together a detailed business plan for a bank or other investor, a solid market analysis is expected. But, don’t just do a market analysis because you’re developing a plan. Do it because it will help you build a smarter strategy for growing your business.

Once you have in-depth knowledge of your market, you’ll be better positioned to develop products and services that your customers are going to love. And while diving into market research may seem like a daunting task it can be broken up into four simple elements:

• Industry overview: You’ll describe the current state of your industry and where it is headed.
• Target market: Who are your actual customers? You’ll detail how many of them are there, what their needs are, and describe their demographics.
• Competition: Describe your competitors’ positioning, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Pricing and forecast: Your pricing will help determine how you position your company in the market, and your forecast will show what portion of the market you hope to get.

How to conduct a market analysis

Now, let’s go into each step in more detail so you know exactly what you need for your market analysis.

1.  Industry overview

In this step, you’ll describe your industry and discuss the direction that it’s headed. You’ll want to include key industry metrics such as size, trends, and projected growth.

Industry research and analysis is different than market research . When you’re researching your industry, you’re looking at all of the businesses like yours. This is different than market research, where you are learning about your customers.

Your industry overview shows investors that you understand the larger landscape that you are competing in. More importantly, it helps you understand if there’s going to be more demand for your products in the future and how competitive the industry is likely to be.

For example, if you are selling mobile phones, you’ll want to know if the demand for mobile phones is growing or shrinking. If you’re opening a restaurant, you’ll want to understand the larger trends of dining out. Are people eating at restaurants more and more over time? Or is the market potentially shrinking as consumers take advantage of grocery delivery services?

If you’re in the United States, the U.S. Census has excellent industry data available . I’ve also found Statista to be useful. You should also look up your industry association—they often have a wealth of information on the trends in your industry.

2. Define your target market

Your target market is the most important section of your industry analysis. This is where you explain who your ideal customer is.

You may find that through the course of your analysis, that you identify different types of customers. When you have more than one type of customer, you do what’s called market segmentation. This is where you group similar types of customers into segments and describe the attributes of each segment.

You’ll need to start broadly and refine your research by defining the following elements.

Market size

Unlike industry size, which is usually measured in dollars, your market size is how many potential customers there are for your product or service. We’ve got a great method for figuring out your market size that you can read about here .

Demographics

Describe your customer’s typical age, gender, education, income, and more. If you could paint a picture of your perfect customer, this is where you’ll describe what they look like.

Where are your customers located? A specific country, region, state, city, county, you’ll want to describe that here. You may even find that your customer base is segmented based on location which can help you determine where you’ll be doing business.

Psychographics

It’s here that you need to get inside the mindset of your customers, know their needs, and how they’ll react. What are your customers’ likes and dislikes? How do they live? What’s their personality?

This piece can even help you better approach analyzing the competition.

This is essentially an extension of some of your psychographic information. Explain how your customers shop for and purchase products like yours.

Customer behavior is always changing. If there are trends that you’ve noticed with your target market, detail them here.

3. Competition

Your market analysis isn’t complete without thinking about your competition . Beyond knowing what other businesses you are competing with, a good competitive analysis will point out competitors’ weaknesses that you can take advantage of. With this knowledge, you can differentiate yourself by offering products and services that fill gaps that competitors have not addressed.

When you are analyzing the competition, you should take a look at the following areas.

Direct competition

These are companies that are offering very similar products and services. Your potential customers are probably currently buying from these companies.

Indirect competitors

Think of indirect competition as alternative solutions to the problem you are solving. This is particularly useful and important for companies that are inventing brand new products or services. For example, the first online task management software wasn’t competing with other online task managers—it was competing with paper planners, sticky notes, and other analog to-do lists.

How you’re different

You don’t want to be the same as the competition. Make sure to discuss how your company, product, or service is different than what the competition is offering. For a common business type, such as hair salons, your differentiation might be location, hours, types of services, ambiance, or price.

Barriers to entry

Describe what protections you have in place to prevent new companies from competing with you. Maybe you have a great location, or perhaps you have patents that help protect your business.

The best way to research your competition is to talk to your prospective customers and ask them who they are currently buying from and what alternate solutions they are using to solve the problem you are solving. Of course, spending some time on Google to figure out what else is out there is a great idea as well.

4. Pricing and forecast

The final step in a market analysis is to figure out your pricing and create a sales forecast to better understand what portion of the market you think you can get.

Pricing your product or service

First, think about your pricing . Of course, you should ensure that your price is more than what it costs you to make and deliver your product or service. But, beyond that, think about the message that your price sends to consumers.

Customers usually link high prices to quality. But, if you are pricing on the higher end of the spectrum, you need to make sure the rest of your marketing is also signaling that you are delivering a high-quality product or service. From what your business looks like to its logo and customer service experience, high-prices should come with a high-quality experience during the entire sales process.

On the other end of the spectrum, maybe you’re competing as a low-priced alternative to other products or businesses. If that’s the case, make sure your marketing and other messaging are also delivering that same, unified message.

Forecasting for initial sales volume

Once you have an idea of your pricing, think about how much you expect to sell. Your industry research will come into play here as you think about how much of the overall market you expect to capture. For example, if you’re opening a new type of grocery store, you’ll want to know how much people spend on groceries in your area. Your forecast should reflect a realistic portion of that total spend. It’s probably not realistic to gain 50 percent of the market within your first year.

However, don’t make the mistake of assuming that you can easily get 1 percent of a very large market. 1 percent of a 3 billion dollar market is still $30 million and even though 1 percent seems like a small, attainable number, you need to understand and explain how you will actually acquire that volume of customers.

When you build your forecast, use it as a goal for your business and track your actual sales compared to what you had hoped you would sell. Tools like LivePlan can help you automatically compare your forecast to your accounting data, so it’s easy to do. But, even if you use a spreadsheet, tracking your progress will help you adjust your business strategy quickly so that you can do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t.

Prepare your business with a market analysis

Creating a good market analysis is a very worthwhile exercise. It will help you uncover your blind spots and prepare you to compete with other businesses. More importantly, it will help you understand your customers so you can deliver the best possible service to them.

Looking for some examples of market analysis? Take a look at our free sample business plans on Bplans . There are more than 500 of them across a wide range of industries, and each one of them has a market analysis section.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2018 and updated for 2021.

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Noah Parsons

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How to Write a Market Analysis for a Business Plan?

Free Market Analysis Kit

• April 11, 2024

13 Min Read

Market analysis is the foundation upon which the success of your business relies.

Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur planning to enter a new geographical market or an emerging startup struggling to place together your business plan—a thorough understanding of the market, customers, and competitors is essential for a business to thrive successfully. 

Now, writing a market analysis for your business plan is quite a challenge. But with this step-by-step guide, we have made the entire process quite simple and easy to follow. 

Also, get tips to write this section and our curated market analysis example for a business plan. 

Ready to dive in? Let’s get started.

What is Market Analysis?

Market analysis is a detailed analysis of your business’s target market and the competitive landscape within a specific industry. It is an important section of your business plan offering a thorough insight into the state of the industry, the potential target market, and your business’s competition.

A well-targeted market analysis forms the base upon which the foundation of your business relies. It assures the readers that you have a thorough understanding of the market you are about to enter.

Why should you Conduct Market Analysis?

Wondering how market analysis will contribute to the success of your business? Well, check these benefits of conducting a comprehensive market analysis for your business:

1. Reduces the risk

Instead of operating on instincts and gut feelings, market research enables you to make decisions based on data and analysis. When you know with surety what works and what doesn’t, you will make decisions that are more likely to succeed than fail.

To summarize, having an in-depth market analysis will reduce the risks associated with starting a business in a thriving marketplace.

2. Identifies emerging trends

A market analysis identifies emerging market trends and patterns and thereby helps you stay at the top of the competition. Not only the trends, but you can also identify challenges that may potentially arise in your business and design a pivot plan.

3. Assist in product development

A detailed analysis of the target market, industry, and competitors helps you create the product that the customer will be willing to buy. The analysis will not only assist in product development, but also with pricing, marketing, and sales strategies to ensure thriving business conditions.

4. Optimize your target market

Your business is not for everyone and the sooner you realize this the better. A target market analysis helps in understanding who your potential customers are and accordingly strategize your marketing efforts to attract them.

5. Establishes evaluation benchmarks

Market analysis benefits your business by offering evaluation metrics and KPIs. Such metrics help in measuring a company’s performance and its edge over the competitors.

Lastly, a thorough market analysis is quintessential if you are planning to secure funds. As a matter of fact, it is non-negotiable.

Now that you know how important having a market analysis section is, let’s learn a detailed way of conducting such analysis.

How to Simplify Your Market Analysis?

Market analysis is a broad concept covering a wide range of details. There’s no denying that it is a tiring task requiring extremely dedicated efforts.

From understanding the purpose of research to undertaking surveys, gathering data, and converting it into worthy analysis—the research itself is a lot for an individual to cover.

Upmetrics market analysis tool kit includes a variety of guidebooks and templates that will help you with target customer analysis , surveys, and competitor surveys.

The documents will guide you in a strategic direction to conduct qualitative research and analysis. They are well-crafted and quite simple to follow even for someone with no prior experience at market analysis.

Got it? No more side talking, let’s get straight to what you are here for.

How to Conduct a Market Analysis?

Conducting thorough market research and analysis could be a hassle, but not with this easy-to-follow 7-step guide. Let’s get over it.

1. Determine your objective

When you write a business plan , market analysis is going to be one prominent component.

However, it is important to know the clear objective of conducting such analysis before you kickstart.

For instance, are you planning to acquire funding from investors or are you conducting this research to test the viability of your business idea? Are you looking to add a new product segment to your business or are you looking to expand in other states and countries?

That being said, the purpose of your market analysis will determine the extent and scope of research essential for your business.

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2. Conduct an Industry Analysis

In this part of your analysis, you will highlight the state of the current industry and show where it seems to be moving. Investors would want to know if the industry is growing or declining, so present accordingly.

This section should include metrics for market size, projected growth, average market growth rate,  product life cycle, and market trends.

Ensure that you gather data from highly authoritative sites like the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Bureau of Economic Analysis, and industry publications to make your analysis.

To make this section enriching and meaningful, begin with a macro industry overview and then drill down to your specific market and business offering as thorough details as possible.

3. Identify your target audience

This section of your market analysis is dedicated to your potential target customers.

And, although your product might be suitable for everyone, there is a high possibility that not all of them will be your customers due to many reasons.

It is therefore better to target a specific category of customers to grow your business effectively and efficiently.

Now, you can begin by creating a buyer’s persona of your ideal customer describing their demographic and psychographic details. This includes talking about the age, gender, location, income, occupation, needs, pain points, problems, and spending capacity of your target customer.

You can conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and gather data from high-end sources to get essential details for a customer profile.

However, make sure that you dig into details to make this section resourceful for business planning and strategizing.

4. Analyze your competitors

Competitive analysis is the most important aspect of your market analysis highlighting the state of the competitive landscape, potential business competitors, and your competitive edge in the market.

Now, a business may have direct as well as indirect competitors. And while indirect competition won’t affect your business directly, it definitely would have an impact on your market share.

To begin this section, identify your top competitors and list them down.

Conduct a SWOT analysis of your top competitors and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses against your business.

Identify their USPs, study their market strategies, understand how they pose a threat to your business, and ideate strategies to leverage their weaknesses.

Don’t undervalue or overestimate your competitors. Instead, focus on offering a realistic state of competition to the readers.

Additionally, readers also want to know your strengths and how you will leverage a competitive edge over your competitors. Ensure that this section highlights your edge in terms of pricing, product, market share, target customer, or anything else.

Want to create a SWOT analysis for your business?

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5. Calculate your market share

The analysis section of your business plan must also include details of your market share.

If your estimated market share is not big enough, chances are your business idea might not be profitable enough to pursue further.

Now, you can use these proven metrics to forecast your market share:

TAM (Total available market)

It represents the total demand available in the market. In other words, it is the maximum amount of sales or revenue the market has to offer.

SAM (Serviceable available market)

It represents the segment of TAM that you can obtain with your solution within your limitations. These limitations can be geographical location, business model, type of product, etc.

SOM (Serviceable obtainable market)

It represents the segment of SAM that you can realistically capture after considering your competitors, customer preferences, production capabilities, etc.

SOM is your estimated market share. Once you have calculated it, you can actualize it via suitable pricing strategies.Apart from this method, you can also use other approaches like top-down, bottom-up, and triangulation to estimate your market share.

However, whatever method you use, ensure that the projections are realistic and attainable.

6. Know the regulations and restrictions

Before entering a new market or starting a new business , you need to know the regulations and restrictions in your industry.

Understanding these can help you stay out of legal pitfalls and inspire confidence in prospective investors.

Some of the regulations you need to know are:

• Government policies
• Tax regulations
• Trade policies
• Employment laws
• Environmental regulations
• Security and privacy
• Protection of intellectual properties

Include these details in your market analysis section to help readers understand the risk value and federal regulations associated with your business.

7. Organize and implement the data

After completing your research, it’s now time to make sense of all the data you’ve gathered.

There is no strict structure when it comes to organizing your market analysis. However, ensure that your analysis includes specific sections for objective, target market, and competition.

Focus on creating an easy-to-digest and visually appealing analysis section to help the readers gather essential essence.

Now, it’s a waste if you are not putting all this research to some use. Identify the business areas where you can implement your research be it product development, exploring the new market, or business operations, and develop strategies accordingly.

All in all lay the foundation of a successful business with a thorough and insightful market analysis. And, you can do it by having an organized market analysis section in your business plan.

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Tips to Write Your Market Analysis

After conducting thorough market research, it is important to present that information strategically in a business plan to help the readers get meaningful insights.

Well, here are a few tips to help you write the market analysis for a business plan.

1. Stay in context

Remember the objective of your market analysis and stick to it. Keeping the context in mind, identify what essential information to present and back them up with high-end sources.

Also, tie your data with essential analysis to show how your business would survive and thrive in the market.

2. Add visual graphics

No one prefers shifting through pages of pure text content. Graphics and visuals make your market analysis easy to absorb and understand. You are more likely to capture readers with visual attractiveness rather than risk their attention with pure textual content.

3. Offer an engaging summary

Offer readers a quick overview of your detailed market analysis by including a summarizing text. A summary will help readers gather a macro perspective before diving deep into hard facts and figures.

4. Avoid fluff and repetition

Ensure that everything you present in your market analysis section holds a meaning. Avoid adding inessential and fluff information.

To best identify whether or not the information is essential for the reader, ask this simple question: Will the reader learn something about my business’s market or its customers from this information?

If not, the information is most likely inessential. And, those were some quick tips to ensure effective market analysis for your business plan.

Market Analysis in a Business Plan Example

Before we conclude, check out this market analysis example from Upmetrics’ sample yoga studio business plan.

Business Name: Lotus Harmony

Location: Green Valley

Core Objective for Market Analysis

Our goal for the market analysis at Lotus Harmony is straightforward: to deeply understand what the Green Valley community seeks in yoga and wellness. We’ll closely look at local demand and the competitive scene, shaping our services to precisely meet community needs. This approach promises to make Lotus Harmony a distinct and beloved wellness destination in our neighborhood.

Industry Overview of the Green Valley Yoga Market

Market Size:

Green Valley is home to nearly 1M yoga enthusiasts, predominantly aged 25-45. This demographic suggests a robust market for yoga and wellness, ripe for a studio that offers diverse and inclusive programs.

Projected Growth:

The yoga community is expected to grow by 5% annually over the next five years. This growth is driven by an increasing interest in holistic health, presenting a fertile ground for a new yoga studio to thrive.

Market Trends:

A rising trend is the demand for comprehensive wellness services, including mindfulness and nutrition, alongside traditional yoga. Specialized classes like prenatal yoga are also gaining popularity, signaling opportunities for niche offerings.

By tapping into these insights, a new yoga studio in Green Valley can strategically position itself as a premier wellness destination, catering to the evolving needs of the community.

Target Market Analysis for Lotus Harmony

Lotus Harmony Yoga Studio’s ideal customers are mainly Urban Millennials and Gen Z (ages 18-35) who prioritize:

• Wellness and mindfulness as part of their lifestyle.
• Affordable, holistic health experiences blending physical and mental well-being.
• Convenience with flexible class schedules and online access.
• Community and sustainability, preferring spaces that offer personal growth and eco-consciousness.
• A welcoming atmosphere that supports inclusivity and connection.

Competitive Landscape for Lotus Harmony

Lotus Harmony’s success relies on understanding consumer preferences and income, securing prime locations, attracting patrons, and offering quality services. Competing with gyms, wellness centers, and home fitness, it positions itself as a holistic wellness choice, aiming to stand out in Green Valley’s wellness scene.

Market Share for Lotus Harmony

Regulatory Requirements for Lotus Harmony

Here are a few aspects of legal compliance essential for Lotus Harmony:

• Business Registration and Licensing
• Zoning and Land Use Permits
• Health and Safety Compliance
• Professional Liability Insurance
• Instructor Certifications
• Building Safety Certificates
• Accessibility Compliance
• Tax Registration

Final Thoughts

It takes an extremely dedicated effort to undertake market research and craft it into a compelling analysis. However, it’s a worthy business planning effort that will set a cornerstone of success for your business.

Don’t worry. You don’t need to spend days figuring out what and how to write your market analysis. Upmetrics, an AI-powered business planning app , will help you write your overall business plan in less than an hour.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the 4 c's of marketing analysis.

The 4 C’s of marketing analysis are customer, cost, convenience, and communication which would together determine whether the company would succeed or fail in the long run.

Is SWOT analysis a market analysis?

SWOT analysis is a small but important tool for market research that would determine the success of a business or its edge over other businesses based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

How long does a market analysis take?

Market analysis can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks, given that secondary sources of data are easily available. However, for complex large-scale projects, analysis can take up to months to complete.

What are the three core components of a market analysis?

The three most crucial components of a market analysis are the study of market size and market share, target market determination, and competitor analysis.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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How to Perform a Market Analysis for Your Business Plan

• Market Research

In a recent article we discussed the importance of the role that an effective executive summary plays in a business plan. This article will address another critical component of any business plan — the market analysis.

Conducting a market analysis is an essential process for anyone looking to start a successful business. 

The market analysis portion of your business plan should communicate your profound knowledge of your particular market, and provide an explanation of why that market is enticing from a financial perspective.

What is a Market Analysis?

A market analysis consists of the combination of quantitative and qualitative assessments of a given market. 

A thorough market analysis will convey insights derived from investigating the size of the market in both volume and value, the customer segments that comprise the market, the buying habits that these consumers exhibit, competitors, and any barriers to entry. We’ll go into detail on barriers to entry later on in this article.

The purpose of the market analysis section of a business plan is to prove to stakeholders such as potential investors that you know your market thoroughly, and that there is viable opportunity for a sustainable business venture.

How to Perform a Market Analysis

Step #1: determine market size .

The first step in performing a market analysis is to assess the size of the market.

While doing so, your approach will depend on the scale of your potential business. For example, if you’re looking to open a local coffee shop then you should take a local approach to assessing your market. 

Contrastly, if your business plan is proposing a nationwide chain of coffee shops, then you need to assess your market at a national scale. 

While determining market size, you must look at both volume and value. Volume refers to the number of potential customers, and value refers to the value of the market itself. 

Determining market value can be a challenge. One approach is to see if the figure is publicly available, perhaps shared by a government entity. Other approaches include buying a market research report, or simply estimating the figure yourself.

Step #2: Conduct Market Segmentation

If your proposed business will target certain market segments, then you should segment the market to understand it further. 

A best practice to start market segmentation is to examine the market from a demographic perspective . This provides surface level insights that can help you determine where next to drill into. 

Other segmentation methods that you can use as they pertain to the business’ products and services include geographic segmentation , behavioral segmentation , and psychographic segmentation . 

You can even use these various methods of segmentation in tandem!

Step #3: Define Your Target Market

A target market is comprised of the customers that you will focus on within the market. 

For example, if you were thinking about opening a coffee shop, you could decide to either be a generalist — selling standard, affordable coffee drinks — or you could choose to focus on high-end, expensive gourmet coffee instead. 

Each of these examples would appeal to different market segments, and the approach to connecting with the relevant target market would be different despite having a similar core product (coffee). 

Defining your target market is most important when your market has obvious segments that have differing drivers of demand. 

Step #4: Define The Market Need

Now we are moving on to the more qualitative assessment of the market by defining the market need.

While defining the market need, you should go into detail on the drivers of demand for your product. Why will people buy your product? What problem is it solving? How is it different from what is already in market? Why should this market purchase from your company specifically? 

It helps here to be exhaustive about researching existing competition in the market and their relevant strengths and weaknesses. This will inform your market positioning, which should be thoroughly addressed later on in your business plan. 

The market need can often be derived from looking at the efforts of competitors, and drilling down into the areas that they are not focusing on, or areas that you can provide better value than what they offer. 

Step #5: Outline Barriers to Entry

In this section of your market analysis, you should answer two questions that investors always ask:

• What factors prevent someone from opening a competing shop in proximity to yours and taking 50 percent of your business?

• What factors do you think will make you successful while entering this market?


Simply put, barriers to entry protect your business from new competition. 

Examples of barriers to entry include:

• Brand — the costs required to obtain a certain level of recognition

• Regulation

• Access to resources — such as suppliers and third-party vendors

• Technology

• Investment

• Access to distribution channels


By following the steps outlined above, you’ll be able to put together a comprehensive market analysis for your business plan. 

Doing so will give you the familiarity and knowledge necessary for deciding whether or not to move forward with launching your business plan.

To learn about another vital component of any business plan, an effective executive summary, be sure to read this recent article .

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How to Write a Business Plan: Target Market Analysis

The Business Plan and the Importance of Defining Your Target Market

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

Conducting a Market Analysis

Polling your target market, writing the market analysis, online tools for market research, u.s. online market research sources, canadian online market research, local sources of market research, doing your own market research.

 Creative Commons CC0

The market analysis is basically the target market section of your business plan . It is a thorough examination of the ideal people to whom you intend to sell your products or services.  

Even if you intend on selling a product or service only in your community, you won't be selling that service to everyone who lives there. Knowing exactly what type(s) of people might be interested in buying your product or service and how many of them reside in your projected area or region is fundamental in creating your market analysis.

Once target market data has been established, you'll also work on sales projections within specific time frames, as well as how prospective sales might be affected by trends and policies.

Research is key and cornerstone of any solid  business plan .

Don't Skip This Step!

Don't skip market research; otherwise, you could end up starting a business that doesn't have a paying market.

Use these general terms as linchpins in research data for the market analysis section of your business plan, and to identify your target market:

But don't stop here. To succinctly define your target market, poll or survey members of your prospective clients or customers to ask specific questions directly related to your products or services. For instance, if you plan to sell computer-related services, ask questions relating to the number of computing devices your prospective customers own and how often they require servicing. If you plan on selling garden furniture and accessories, ask what kinds of garden furniture or accessories your potential customers have bought in the past, how often, and what they expect to buy within the next one, three, and five years.

Answers to these and other questions related to your market are to help you understand your market potential.

The goal of the information you collect is to help you project how much of your product or service you'll be able to sell. Review these important questions you need to try to answer using the data you collect:

• What proportion of your target market has used a product similar to yours before?
• How much of your product or service might your target market buy? (Estimate this in gross sales and/or in units of product/service sold.)
• What proportion of your target market might be repeat customers?
• How might your target market be affected by demographic shifts?
• How might your target market be affected by economic events (e.g. a local mill closing or a big-box retailer opening locally)?
• How might your target market be affected by larger socio-economic trends?
• How might your target market be affected by government policies (e.g. new bylaws or changes in taxes)?

One purpose of the market analysis is to ensure you have a viable business idea.

Find Your Buying Market

Use your market research to make sure people don't just like your business idea, but they're also willing to pay for it.

If you have information suggesting that you have a large enough market to sustain your business goals, write the market analysis in the form of several short paragraphs using appropriate headings for each. If you have several target markets, you may want to number each. 

Sections of your market analysis should include:

• Industry Description and Outlook
• Target Market
• Market Research Results
• Competitive Analysis

Remember to properly cite your sources of information within the body of your market analysis as you write it. You and other readers of your business plan, such as potential investors, will need to know the sources of the statistics or opinions that you've gathered.

There are several online resources to learn if your business idea is something worth pursing, including:

• Keyword searches can give you an overall sense of potential demand for your product or service based on the number of searches.
• Google Trends analysis can tell you how the number of searches has changed over time.
• Social media campaigns can give you an indication of the potential customer interest in your business idea.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has information on doing your market research and analysis , as well as a list of free small business data and trends resources you can use to conduct your research. Consider these sources for data collection:

• SBA  Business Data and Statistics  
• The U.S. Census Bureau maintains a huge database of demographic information that is searchable by state, county, city/town, or zip code using its census data tool . Community, housing, economic, and population surveys are also available.
• The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has extensive statistics on the economy including consumer income/spending/consumption, business activity, GDP, and more, all of which are searchable by location.

The Government of Canada offers a guide on doing market research and tips for understanding the data you collect. Canadian data resources include:

• Statistics Canada  offers demographic and economic data.
• The  Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)  offers market research and consulting with industry experts.
• The Canada Business Network provides business information to entrepreneurs by province/territory, including market research data.

There are also a great many local resources for building target market information to explore, including:

• Local library
• Local Chamber of Commerce
• Board of Trade
• Economic Development Centre
• Local government agent's office
• Provincial business ministry
• Local phone book

All of these will have information helpful in defining your target market and providing insights into trends.

The above resources are secondary sources of information, in which others have collected and compiled the data. To get specific information about your business, consider conducting your own market research . For instance, you might want to design a questionnaire and survey your target market to learn more about their habits and preferences relating to your product or service.

Market research is time-consuming but is an important step in affording your business plan validity. If you don't have the time or the research skills to thoroughly define your target market yourself, hiring a person or firm to do the research for you can be a wise investment.​

Small Business Administration. " Market Research and Competitive Analysis. " Accessed Jan. 13, 2020.

How to Write the Market Analysis Section of a Business Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

What is the Market Analysis in a Business Plan?

The market analysis section of your business plan is where you discuss the size of the market in which you’re competing and market trends that might affect your future potential such as economic, political, social and/or technological shifts.

This helps you and readers understand if your market is big enough to support your business’ growth, and whether future conditions will help or hurt your business. For example, stating that your market size is $56 billion, has been growing by 10% for the last 10 years, and that trends are expected to further increase the market size bodes well for your company’s success.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

What Should a Market Analysis Include?

You’ll want to address these issues in your market analysis:

• Size of Industry – How big is the overall industry?
• Projected Growth Rate of Industry – Is the industry growing or shrinking? How fast?
• Target Market – Who are you targeting with this product or service?
• Competition – How many businesses are currently in the same industry?

Learn how to write the full market analysis below.

How to Write a Market Analysis

Here’s how to write the market analysis section of a business plan.

• Describe each industry that you are competing in or will be targeting.
• Identify direct competition, but don’t forget about indirect competition – this may include companies selling different products to the same potential customer segments.
• Highlight strengths and weaknesses for both direct and indirect competitors, along with how your company stacks up against them based on what makes your company uniquely positioned to succeed.
• Include specific data, statistics, graphs, or charts if possible to make the market analysis more convincing to investors or lenders.

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Industry overview.

In your industry overview, you will define the market in which you are competing (e.g., restaurant, medical devices, etc.).

You will then detail the sub-segment or niche of that market if applicable (e.g., within restaurants there are fast food restaurants, fine dining, etc.).

Next, you will describe the key characteristics of your industry. For example, discuss how big the market is in terms of units and revenues. Let the reader know if the market is growing or declining (and at what rate), and what key industry trends are facing your market.

Use third-party market research as much as possible to validate the discussion of your industry.

Here is a list of additional items you may analyze for a complete industry overview:

• An overview of the current state of the industry . How big is it, how much does it produce or sell? What are its key differentiators from competitors? What is its target customer base like – demographic information and psychographics? How has the industry performed over time (global, domestic)?
• Analyze the macro-economic factors impacting your industry . This includes items such as economic growth opportunities, inflation, exchange rates, interest rates, labor market trends, and technological improvements. You want to make sure that all of these are trending in a positive direction for you while also being realistic about them. For example, if the economy is in shambles you might want to wait before entering the particular market.
• Analyze the political factors impacting your industry . This is an often-overlooked section of any business plan, but it can be important depending on what type of company you are starting. If you’re in a highly regulated industry (such as medical devices), this is something that you’ll want to include.
• Analyze the social factors impacting your industry . This includes analyzing society’s interest in your product or service, historical trends in buying patterns in your industry, and any effects on the industry due to changes in culture. For example, if there is a growing counter-culture trend against big oil companies you might want to position yourself differently than a company in this industry.
• Analyze the technological factors impacting your industry . This includes analyzing new technologies being developed in software, hardware, or applications that can be used to improve your product or service. It also includes emerging consumer trends and will be highly dependent on your business type. In a technology-related venture, you would analyze how these changes are impacting consumers. For an educational-related venture, you would analyze how these changes are impacting students, teachers, and/or administrators.

For each of these items, you want to provide some detail about them including their current state as well as what external factors have played a role in the recent past. You can also include many other important factors if they apply to your business including demographic trends, legal issues, environmental concerns, and sustainability issues.

When you are done analyzing all of these factors, wrap it up by summing them up in a statement that includes your view on the future of the industry. This should be positive to attract investors, potential customers, and partners.

If you’re having trouble thinking about all of these factors then it might be helpful to first develop a SWOT analysis for your business.

Once you have an understanding of the market, you’ll need to think about how you will position yourself within that potential market.

Picking Your Niche

You want to think about how large your market is for this venture. You also want to consider whether you’d like to pick a niche within the overall industry or launch yourself into the mainstream.

If you have an innovative product it can be easier to enter the mainstream market – but at the same time, you might face some additional competition if there are similar products available.

You can choose to specialize in a niche market where you’ll face less competition – but might be able to sell your services at a higher price point (this could make it easier for you to get potential customers).

Of course, if your product or service is unique then there should be no competition. But, what happens if it isn’t unique? Will you be able to differentiate yourself enough to create a competitive advantage or edge?

If you are planning on entering the mainstream market, think about whether there are different sub-niches within your specific market. For example, within the technology industry, you can choose to specialize in laptops or smartphones or tablets, or other categories. While it will be more difficult to be unique in a mainstream market, you will still be able to focus on one type or category of products.

How Will You Stand Out?

Many companies are able to stand out – whether by offering a product that is unique or by marketing their products in a way that consumers notice. For example, Steve Jobs was able to take a business idea like the iPhone and make it into something that people talked about (while competitors struggled to play catch up).

You want your venture to stand out – whether with an innovative product or service or through marketing strategies. This might include a unique brand, name, or logo. It might also include packaging that stands out from competitors.

Write down how you will achieve this goal of standing out in the marketplace. If it’s a product, then what features do you have that other products don’t? If it’s a service, then what is it about this service that will make people want to use your company rather than your competition?

You also need to think about marketing. How are you going to promote yourself or sell your product or service? You’ll need a marketing plan for this – which might include writing copy, creating an advertisement, setting up a website, and several other activities. This should include a description of each of these strategies.

If you’re struggling with the details of any of these sections, it might be helpful to research what other companies in your market are doing and how they’ve been successful. You can use this business information to inform your own strategies and plans.

Relevant Market Size & Competition

In the second stage of your analysis, you must determine the size and competition in your specific market.

Target Market Section

Your company’s relevant market size is the amount of money it could make each year if it owned a complete market share.

It’s simple.

To begin, estimate how many consumers you expect to be interested in purchasing your products or services each year.

To generate a more precise estimate, enter the monetary amount these potential customers may be ready to spend on your goods or services each year.

The size of your market is the product of these two figures. Calculate this market value here so that your readers can see how big your market opportunity is (particularly if you are seeking debt or equity funding).

You’ll also want to include an analysis of your market conditions. Is this a growing or declining market? How fast is it growing (or declining)? What are the general trends in the market? How has your market shifted over time?

Include all of this information in your own business plan to give your readers a clear understanding of the market landscape you’re competing in.

The Competition

Next, you’ll need to create a comprehensive list of the competitors in your market. This competitive analysis includes:

• Direct Competitors – Companies that offer a similar product or service
• Indirect Competitors – Companies that sell products or services that are complementary to yours but not directly related

To show how large each competitor is, you can use metrics such as revenue, employees, number of locations, etc. If you have limited information about the company on hand then you may want to do some additional research or contact them directly for more information. You should also include their website so readers can learn more if they desire (along with social media profiles).

Once you complete this list, take a step back and try to determine how much market share each competitor has. You can use different methods to do this such as market research, surveys, or conduct focus groups or interviews with target customers.

You should also take into account the barriers to entry that exist in your market. What would it take for a new company to enter the market and start competing with you? This could be anything from capital requirements to licensing and permits.

When you have all of this information, you’ll want to create a table like the one below:

Once you have this data, you can start developing strategies to compete with the other companies which will be used again later to help you develop your marketing strategy and plan. 

Writing a Market Analysis Tips

• Include an explanation of how you determined the size of the market and how much share competitors have.
• Include tables like the one above that show competitor size, barriers to entry, etc.
• Decide where you’re going to place this section in your business plan – before or after your SWOT analysis. You can use other sections as well such as your company summary or product/service description. Make sure you consider which information should come first for the reader to make the most sense.
• Brainstorm how you’re going to stand out in this competitive market.

Formatting the Market Analysis Section of Your Business Plan

Now that you understand the different components of the market analysis, let’s take a look at how you should structure this section in your business plan.

Your market analysis should be divided into two sections: the industry overview and market size & competition.

Each section should include detailed information about the topic and supporting evidence to back up your claims.

You’ll also want to make sure that all of your data is up-to-date. Be sure to include the date of the analysis in your business plan so readers know when it was conducted and if there have been any major changes since then.

In addition, you should also provide a short summary of what this section covers at the beginning of each paragraph or page. You can do this by using a title such as “Industry Overview” or another descriptive phrase that is easy to follow.

As with all sections in a business plan, make sure your market analysis is concise and includes only the most relevant information to keep your audience engaged until they reach your conclusion.

A strong market analysis can give your company a competitive edge over other businesses in its industry, which is why it’s essential to include this section in your business plan. By providing detailed information about the market you’re competing in, you can show your readers that you understand the industry and know how to capitalize on current and future trends.

Business Plan Market Analysis Examples

The following are examples of how to write the market analysis section of a business plan:

Business Plan Market Analysis Example #1 – Hosmer Sunglasses, a sunglasses manufacturer based in California

According to the Sunglass Association of America, the retail sales volume of Plano (non-prescription) sunglasses, clip-on sunglasses, and children’s sunglasses (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Sunwear”) totaled $2.9 billion last year. Premium-priced sunglasses are driving the Plano Sunwear market. Plano sunglasses priced at $100 or more accounted for more than 49% of all Sunwear sales among independent retail locations last year. 

The Sunglass Association of America has projected that the dollar volume for retail sales of Plano Sunwear will grow 1.7% next year. Plano sunglass vendors are also bullish about sales in this year and beyond as a result of the growth of technology, particularly the growth of laser surgery and e-commerce.

Business Plan Market Analysis Example #2 – Nailed It!, a family-owned restaurant in Omaha, NE

According to the Nebraska Restaurant Association, last year total restaurant sales in Nebraska grew by 4.3%, reaching a record high of $2.8 billion. Sales at full-service restaurants were particularly strong, growing 7% over 2012 figures. This steady increase is being driven by population growth throughout the state. The Average Annual Growth Rate (AGR) since 2009 is 2.89%.

This fast growth has also encouraged the opening of new restaurants, with 3,035 operating statewide as of this year. The restaurant industry employs more than 41,000 workers in Nebraska and contributes nearly $3 billion to the state economy every year.

Nebraska’s population continues to increase – reaching 1.9 million in 2012, a 1.5% growth rate. In addition to population, the state has experienced record low unemployment every year since 2009 – with an average of 4.7% in 2013 and 2014.

Business Plan Market Analysis Example #3 – American Insurance Company (AIC), a chain of insurance agencies in Maine

American Insurance Company (AIC) offers high-quality insurance at low prices through its chain of retail outlets in the state of Maine. Since its inception, AIC has created an extensive network of agents and brokers across the country with expanding online, call center and retail business operations.

AIC is entering a market that will more than double in size over the next 50 years according to some industry forecasts. The insurance industry is enjoying low inflation rates, steady income growth, and improving standards of living for most Americans during what has been a difficult period for much of American business. This makes this a good time to enter the insurance industry as it enjoys higher margins because customers are purchasing more coverage due to increased costs from medical care and higher liability claims.

American Insurance Company provides affordable homeowners, auto, and business insurance through high-quality fulfillment centers across America that have earned a reputation for top-notch customer service.

AIC will face significant competition from both direct and indirect competitors. The indirect competition will come from a variety of businesses, including banks, other insurance companies, and online retailers. The direct competition will come from other well-funded start-ups as well as incumbents in the industry. AIC’s competitive advantages include its low prices, high quality, and excellent customer service.

AIC plans to grow at a rate that is above average for the industry as a whole. The company has identified a market that is expected to grow by more than 100% in the next decade. This growth is due to several factors: the increase in the number of two-income households, the aging population, and the impending retirement of many baby boomers will lead to an increase in the number of people who are purchasing insurance.

AIC projects revenues of $20M in year one, which is equivalent to 100% growth over the previous year. AIC forecasts revenue growth of 40%-60% each year on average for 10 years. After that, revenue growth is expected to slow down significantly due to market saturation.

The following table illustrates these projections:

Competitive Landscape

Direct Competition: P&C Insurance Market Leaders

Indirect Competition: Banks, Other Insurance Companies, Retailers

Market Analysis Conclusion

When writing the market analysis section, it is important to provide specific data and forecasts about the industry that your company operates in. This information can help make your business plan more convincing to potential investors.

If it’s helpful, you should also discuss how your company stacks up against its competitors based on what makes it unique. In addition, you can identify any strengths or weaknesses that your company has compared to its competitors.

Based on this data, provide projections for how much revenue your company expects to generate over the next few years. Providing this information early on in the business plan will help convince investors that you know what you are talking about and your company is well-positioned to succeed.  

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Other Resources for Writing Your Business Plan

How to Write a Great Business Plan Executive Summary How to Expertly Write the Company Description in Your Business Plan The Customer Analysis Section of Your Business Plan Completing the Competitive Analysis Section of Your Business Plan The Management Team Section of Your Business Plan Financial Assumptions and Your Business Plan How to Create Financial Projections for Your Business Plan Everything You Need to Know about the Business Plan Appendix Best Business Plan Software Business Plan Conclusion: Summary & Recap  

Other Helpful Business Planning Articles & Templates

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Table of Contents

A market analysis is a thorough assessment of a market within a specific industry. These analyses have many benefits, such as reducing risk for your business and better informing your business decisions. A market analysis can be a time-intensive process, but it is straightforward and easy to do on your own in seven steps.

To perform a market analysis for your business, follow the steps outlined in this guide.

What does a market analysis include?

In a market analysis, you will study the dynamics of your market, such as volume and value, potential customer segments , buying patterns, competition, and other important factors. A thorough marketing analysis should answer the following questions:

• Who are my potential customers?
• What are my customers’ buying habits?
• How large is my target market ?
• How much are customers willing to pay for my product?
• Who are my main competitors?
• What are my competitors’ strengths and weaknesses ?

What are the benefits of running a marketing analysis?

A marketing analysis can reduce risk, identify emerging trends, and help project revenue. You can use a marketing analysis at several stages of your business, and it can even be beneficial to conduct one every year to keep up to date with any major changes in the market.

A detailed market analysis will usually be part of your business plan , since it gives you a greater understanding of your audience and competition. This will help you build a more targeted marketing strategy.

These are some other major benefits of conducting a market analysis:

• Risk reduction: Knowing your market can reduce risks in your business, since you’ll have an understanding of major market trends, the main players in your industry, and what it takes to be successful, all of which will inform your business decisions. To help you further protect your business, you can also conduct a SWOT analysis , which identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for your business.
• Targeted products or services: You are in a much better position to serve your customers when you have a firm grasp on what they are looking for from you. When you know who your customers are, you can use that information to tailor your business’s offerings to your customers’ needs.
• Emerging trends: Staying ahead in business is often about being the first to spot a new opportunity or trend, and using a marketing analysis to stay on top of industry trends is a great way to position yourself to take advantage of this information.
• Revenue projections: A market forecast is a key component of most marketing analyses, as it projects the future numbers, characteristics and trends in your target market. This gives you an idea of the profits you can expect, allowing you to adjust your business plan and budget accordingly.
• Evaluation benchmarks: It can be difficult to gauge your business’s success outside of pure numbers. A market analysis provides benchmarks or key performance indicators (KPIs) against which you can judge your company and how well you are doing compared to others in your industry.
• Context for past mistakes: Marketing analytics can explain your business’s past mistakes or industry anomalies. For example, in-depth analytics can explain what impacted the sale of a specific product, or why a certain metric performed the way it did. This can help you avoid making those mistakes again or experiencing similar anomalies, because you’ll be able to analyze and describe what went wrong and why.
• Marketing optimization: This is where an annual marketing analysis comes in handy – regular analysis can inform your ongoing marketing efforts and show you which aspects of your marketing need work, and which are performing well in comparison to the other companies in your industry.

What are the drawbacks of running a marketing analysis?

The below drawbacks of running a market analysis pertain less to the method itself than the resources it requires.

• Market analysis can be expensive. If you’re not as familiar with marketing concepts such as market volume and customer segmentation, you might want to outsource your market analysis. Doing so can be great for your analysis’s quality, but it can also leave a big dent in your budget. Narrow your market analysis to a certain group – perhaps current customers – to lower your costs.
• Market analysis can be time-consuming. Market analysis can take precious time away from more directly business-related tasks. You can analyze one area at a time – say, buying patterns or competition – to free up your day-to-day schedule.
• Market analysis can require extra staff. Some larger companies retain in-house market analysis staff, and you can follow their lead. Doing so, though, comes with all the usual costs of hiring a new employee . The question then becomes: Do you conduct your market analysis yourself, outsource it, or hire in-house? The more expensive options can often yield more meaningful insights.
• Market analysis can be narrow. The most successful market analyses use actual customer feedback, which analysts often get through customer surveys. These surveys may reach only a portion of your entire customer base, leading to an inaccurate sample size. The result is that market analysis may not fully detail your customers and what you should know about them.

Market analysis vs. conjoint analysis vs. sentiment analysis

Where market analysis is broad and comprehensive, conjoint analysis focuses on how customers value what you offer. Surveys are often the backbone of conjoint analysis – they’re a great way for customers to share what drives their purchases. Product testing is an especially common application of conjoint analysis. This method can yield insights into pricing and product features and configurations.

Sentiment analysis goes beyond number-driven market and conjoint analysis to identify how customers qualitatively feel about your offerings. It can show you what customers are happy and unhappy about with your offerings or buying process. You can also wade into deeper emotional territory such as anger, urgency and intention, or you can dig up descriptive feedback. It’s a great tool to use alongside market analysis, whereas conjoint analysis is all but included in market analysis.

How to conduct a market analysis

While conducting a marketing analysis is not a complicated process, it does take a lot of dedicated research, so be prepared to devote significant time to the process.

These are the seven steps of conducting a market analysis:

1. Determine your purpose.

There are many reasons you may be conducting a market analysis, such as to gauge your competition or to understand a new market. Whatever your reason, it’s important to define it right away to keep you on track throughout the process. Start by deciding whether your purpose is internal – like improving your cash flow or business operations – or external, like seeking a business loan. Your purpose will dictate the type and amount of research you will do.

2. Research the state of the industry.

Map a detailed outline of the current state of your industry. Include where the industry seems to be heading, using metrics such as size, trends and projected growth, with plenty of data to support your findings. You can also conduct a comparative market analysis to help you find your competitive advantage within your specific market.

3. Identify your target customer.

Not everyone in the world will be your customer , and it would be a waste of your time to try to get everyone interested in your product. Instead, use a target market analysis to decide who is most likely to want your product and focus your efforts there. You want to understand your market size, who your customers are, where they come from, and what might influence their buying decisions. To do so, look at demographic factors like these:

During your research, you might consider creating a customer profile or persona that reflects your ideal customer to serve as a model for your marketing efforts.

4. Understand your competition.

To be successful, you need a good understanding of your competitors, including their market saturation, what they do differently than you, and their strengths, weaknesses and advantages in the market. Start by listing all your main competitors, then go through that list and conduct a SWOT analysis of each competitor. What does that business have that you don’t? What would lead a customer to choose that business over yours? Put yourself in the customer’s shoes.

Then, rank your list of competitors from most to least threatening, and decide on a timeline to conduct regular SWOT analyses on your most threatening competitors.

5. Gather additional data.

When conducting marketing analyses, information is your friend – you can never have too much data. It is important that the data you use is credible and factual, so be cautious of where you get your numbers. These are some reputable business data resources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Census Bureau
• State and local commerce sites
• Trade journals
• Your own SWOT analyses
• Market surveys or questionnaires

6. Analyze your data.

After you collect all the information you can and verify that it is accurate, you need to analyze the data to make it useful to you. Organize your research into sections that make sense to you, but try to include ones for your purpose, target market and competition.

These are the main elements your research should include:

• An overview of your industry’s size and growth rate
• Your business’s projected market share percentage
• An industry outlook
• Customer buying trends
• Your forecasted growth
• How much customers are willing to pay for your product or service

7. Put your analysis to work.

Once you’ve created a market analysis, it’s time to actually make it work for you. Internally, look for where you can use your research and findings to improve your business. Have you seen other businesses doing things that you’d like to implement in your own organization? Are there ways to make your marketing strategies more effective?

If you conducted your analysis for external purposes, organize your research and data into an easily readable and digestible document to make it easier to share with lenders.

Retain all of your information and research for your next analysis, and consider making a calendar reminder each year so that you stay on top of your market.

Making market analysis easy

If you have the time to conduct a market analysis yourself, go for it – this guide will help. If you don’t have the time, hiring an in-house expert or outsourcing your analysis is often worth the cost. Your analysis will help you figure out who to target and how – and that’s a huge part of business success.

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How to Write a Market Analysis for Your Business Plan

An important part of any good business plan is the Market Analysis. Before you can describe your marketing and sales strategies, you need to figure out what market you serve and what need you fulfill. Then, your Marketing Strategy and Implementation Plan, ideally covered in the next section of your business plan, will fit into a logical flow.

I have read many business plans that make the mistake of starting a Market Analysis section, only to wander off into a description of what the company sells, how it will promote its products, and how its product or service is different. These are all undeniably important points; however, they deserve a their own section and should be addressed in turn.

Let’s start with what a market is. A market, in this instance, refers either to a place where goods can be sold, or to a particular class of buyers. So the market is the “Where?” that your product or service is sold, and the “Who?” you sell it to.

So what should you include in the Market Analysis section of your business plan?

Size of the Market

The first number you need to identify is the total annual sales, in dollars, of the market you serve. If you are selling cars, state the total sales of cars in your geographical area for the most recently ended year. This number will be important later when you forecast your sales because it will enable you to calculate what share of the market you expect to capture.

Besides stating the current size of the market, it is also valuable to include forecasts of the future size of the market. Such market projections should be offered only if they come from acknowledged government or research organizations. Certainly you can make up your own projection, but it will lack the credibility of a recognized authority on the subject and probably will serve only to make you look amateurish.

We hope you find this article helpful. For more great information about writing a quality business plan, check out “How to Write a Shark-Ready Business Plan” by our Founder Al Lierman.

Market Segments

There are several ways that you can break a market down into segments. Doing so will help you and the reader of your plan understand where your specific product fits into the total market, and who the potential customers are.

Geography and Location

It is a good idea to indicate the geographic segments of your product’s market, especially the market in which you sell. If you are an international company, then describe the size and characteristics of the international market. If, on the other extreme, you only sell to customers within 10 miles of your location, then provide information about this local segment.

Customer Segments

On one level, all customers who a buy a particular product make up that product’s market. But, not all buyers of the product buy it for the same reason. For example, buyers of Personal Computers can be segmented into business users and home users. This type of market segmentation is essential because your marketing plan, which you will present later, will describe your strategy for targeting these customers.

Further segmentation might be called for in many cases. To continue with the PC example, if your business is selling servers to corporate clients, it makes sense to identify the portion of the PC market that is businesses that buy network servers. The more detail you can provide about the customer segments that you target, the better.

The level of detail you provide about your market’s customer segments depends on the level of detail in your marketing plan. Any customers you intend to pursue with your marketing strategy should be identified and quantified in the market analysis section.

This section is also an appropriate place to provide a profile of your target customer. This profile should include any demographic or psychographic information relevant to buyers of your product or service. For business customers, provide statistics about the size of the typical client firm, number of employees, location, or industry.

Market Trends and Needs

Once you have described the segments of your product’s market, explain the trends, growth, and needs of the market. Turn your focus especially to the trends in the market segments within which your product fits. In this section you should provide statistics for the growth in the market over the last five to ten years. If you can provide forecasted growth rates from an acknowledged agency or research firm, do it.

If your market segment is growing and is projected to continue to grow, talk about it and back it up with numbers. If the trend is for new products like yours to sell well and replace older models, then say so. Ideally, the trends you identify should support the positioning statement and marketing strategy that you are about to present.

As for market needs, a business plan can make a powerful statement about a company’s chance for success if it can show a need in the market that is unmet or underserved, and then present the company’s product as the perfect solution to that problem.

Venture capitalists and angel investors often refer to products as either painkillers or vitamins. Painkillers tend to get the most funding because they are products that, as soon as they come out, people have to have them. Vitamins are products that are good, useful, and maybe even important, but we can live without them.

The ultimate goal of the Market Analysis is to show where the burning need, the source of the pain, is in the market. In the best business plans, the Marketing Strategy describes how the company will position its product to ease the pain.

Industry Analysis

The final section of the Market Analysis is the Industry Analysis. Where the earlier sections of the Market Analysis dealt with issues of who buys the product and where they are located, the Industry Analysis addresses the making and selling of the product: industry participants, distribution patterns, and competition. A thorough discussion of these aspects of the industry will provide a good overview of the industry to a reader who is otherwise unfamiliar with it.

Industry Participants

Industry participants are those firms and individuals that are involved in at least one aspect of bringing the industry’s product to its customers. Examples include manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, wholesalers, distributors, dealers, and reps.

For example, an analysis of the book publishing industry would identify participants such as authors, agents, publishers, book manufacturers, book wholesalers, bookstores, and book clubs.

Distribution Patterns

If you are dealing with a physical product you will probably want to describe how it is distributed, from the time it is created until it makes its way into a customer’s hands. Explain the various ways that finished products are distributed, whether directly to end users, through wholesalers, from wholesalers to retailers, and so on.

A company can often distinguish itself, even if it does not have a unique product, by providing a new way to sell or distribute the product to its customers. Dell Computer was a great example back in the day. The company was successful not because its PCs were better then any other company’s; it made a fortune because it revolutionized the way computers were manufactured and distributed to consumers. It configured its products to its customers’ specifications and sold them direct rather than prebuilding them and selling them through distributors as its competitors did. In short, it’s success was based on a better business model more than on a better product.

Competition

Once you have identified all of the industry’s participants you are in a better position to explain where your company fits in. Unless you have a completely new concept or product with no competition, your industry analysis should include a thorough discussion of your competitors. I have seen many first-time plan writers gloss over this section or ignore it altogether. Don’t make this mistake.

Any smart venture capitalist, angel investor, or lending officer recognizes that every business has competition. By avoiding this topic in your business plan you will show your reader one of two things: either you are naïve about your competition and have not done your homework, or you are less than forthcoming and are hiding something. Furthermore, you miss an opportunity to show exactly how your proposition is unique and different from your competitors’.

The Market Analysis section of your business plan is a great place to show that you know your business inside and out. Stick to the concept of describing the market and the industry as they exist today, a sort of situation analysis. If you do it right, the stage will be set for you to present your plan for conquering the world in your Marketing Plan and Strategy Implementation section immediately following the Market Analysis.

How To Write the Market Analysis of a Business Plan

A key component in any business plan, your market analysis demonstrates that you know your market is ideal for building a sustainable business. When you understand your potential customers and market conditions, you’ll reduce your risk because you’ll have a better chance of developing a viable product or service.

Having a thorough market analysis will also protect you from wasting resources and time on creating a product or service before you’ve determined if the solution is even needed. It will also solidify that your product or service’s need is significant enough that people will pay for it.

So how do you write the market analysis of a business plan?

First, it’s essential to understand what a market analysis is. A quantitative and qualitative assessment of a market, your analysis identifies:

• the size of the market both in volume and in value
• the various customer segments and their buying and shopping patterns
• your competition and their challenges and successes
• what makes you different from your competitors
• the economic environment in terms of barriers to entry and regulation

How to Write the Market Analysis of a Business Plan

Now that you are familiar with what a market analysis is, it’s time to start putting it together. The Internet can help uncover information about your competition and ascertaining market research details. So can considering your analysis from the eyes of your customer. Ask yourself, “What is the problem that needs to be solved? How can I solve it differently than my competitors?”. Alternatively, you can send out surveys and conduct focus groups.

Here are the sections that should be considered:

Industry Description and Outlook

Target market, market need, competition and barriers to entry.

When assessing your market size, your approach will vary depending on the type of business you are selling to investors. You may need to take a local approach or assess the market on a national level. You may also need to divide the market into different segments, primarily if you or your competitors focus on specific segments. Segments may include:

• Market volume (the number of potential customers), trends, life cycle, and growth
• Potential customer
• Market value (may need to estimate using the bottom-up approach or top-down approach)
• Pricing and gross margin (the difference between your costs and the sales prices)

When you are figuring out how to write the market analysis of a business plan, the type of customers you target within the market needs to be specific and front and centre, particularly when your market has clear segments with different demand drivers.

We recommend including your customers’ age, gender, income level, location, and lifestyle preferences. Also, it’s beneficial to include the size of your target market, the purchase potential and motivations of your customer, their interests and buying habits, how you intend to reach your market, and how you are uniquely positioned to fulfill those needs.

This section is critical in showing your potential investor that you have an intimate knowledge of your market. It should prepare the reader to embrace your positioning and invest in your company before reaching your plan’s strategy section. Here you want to focus on the details that drive the demand for your product or services and your competitive edge (without mentioning it explicitly), including:

• an overview of any market research results you conducted, with detailed breakdowns and analyses included in the appendix.
• The amount of time it takes for an order to be fulfilled once a customer makes a purchase.

In this section, your goal is to give an accurate view of who your direct and indirect competition is, their positioning, and their strengths and weaknesses. To do this effectively, you want to analyze your competitor’s angle to the market (price, quality, add-on service, etc.) to find a weakness that your company can then use in its market positioning.  You also want to mention any potential roadblocks preventing you from entering the market, also called barriers to entry.

In considering what your barriers to entry are, consider the following:

• Investment (particularly projects that require a substantial one)
• Technology (for high ticket items)
• Brand (the marketing costs needed to reach a certain level of recognition)
• Regulation (particularly licenses and concessions)
• Access to resources (exclusivity with suppliers, proprietary resources)
• Access to distribution channels (exclusivity with distributors, proprietary network)
• The window of opportunity (for example, does your entry into the market rely on time-sensitive technology?)

If regulation is also a barrier in your sector, you may merge this section with the former. Otherwise, you will want to use this section to explain the principal regulations applicable to our business and which steps you will take to remain compliant. Are there any specific governmental regulations or restrictions on your market? You will also want to address the costs of compliance, especially if you seek investment or money from a lender, and the arrangement needs to be legally squared away and above board.

Do I Need to Write a Market Analysis?

Depending on the goal of your business plan and its audience, the structure and needs of your plan may vary. For example, if your business is relatively small and you know your customers well, you may not need a deep, formal market analysis. Or, if you’re writing the plan for internal use only, rather than to secure a loan or funding, you may not need to worry about spending hours reviewing industry data to corroborate your financial forecast.

Perhaps you are still struggling with what makes your business different from your competitors, or you’ve only made, but not tested, some assumptions about who your customer is. In that case, we’d recommend doing at least an abbreviated market analysis. Finally, suppose you’re using your plan to seek funding. In that case, a market analysis is essential in convincing your audience that your business idea has the facts and numbers to back it up.

When writing the market analysis for your business plan:

• Take the time to assess the value of this information for your business. You want to ensure your business plan demonstrates that you are solving a real problem and that your target audience wants your solution and will pay for it.
• Use visual aids to illustrate the most important numbers, making the information easier to grasp.
• Try to be concise by including the most critical data, results, moving the supporting documentation and statistics to the appendix.
• Always relate to your business, products and services.

Knowing how to write the market analysis of a business plan, even though it can be time-consuming to pull all the research and numbers together; in the end, will reward you with dollars earned and the headaches avoided. It also positions you and your business as professionals, giving you a leg up on your competition who may not demonstrate the same due diligence. Having the market analysis also means that you’ll be able to build what your customers deserve most – the best solution possible for their problem.

A Bsbcon Market Analysis for Your Business Plan

At Bsbcon, our team of experienced business consultants are available to support you in creating a market analysis that will support your business. We have years of experience in working with SMEs to break through the barrier of their industry. We partner with companies to tackle their most significant challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. Contact us today to get started!

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How to Do a Market Analysis for a Business Plan?

• What is Market Analysis in a Business Plan?

Market analysis for a  business plan serves the purpose of exploring the suitability of your product or service for the market. 

Why you should do Market Analysis for a business plan?

What should you include in market analysis, how to do market analysis for a business plan, market research from wisebusinessplans.

• Market Research Institutes and Databases we use

Sample Research

Your market analysis for a business plan lets you see your position in the market. It helps you identify the market trends, product demand, buying trends, seasonality, competition, etc.

A good market analysis will prepare you for a successful launch and steady growth. The time you invest in exploring your target market is well-spent. 

In this article, we have discussed how to conduct market research for a business plan. Make sure you read till the end to fully understand  how to do a market analysis in business plan .

Want to write a business plan? Get help from our business plan writers for hire !

When you analyze your target market in-depth, you understand it better. You understand what market demands are and how your product can serve the market. This market knowledge will help you convince your lenders and investors to work with you. 

These are some reasons why you should include a market analysis business plan.

Reduce Risk

Target on the right customer base, know the trend, project revenues, set growth benchmarks , optimize marketing strategy .

Doing a market analysis will lower your risk of failure by helping you spot market pitfalls. When you know what lies ahead, you can plan better and prepare better. 

A market analysis for a business plan will help you identify the right customer base for your product or service. 

Many people cast a wide net at the start but a market analysis proves them wrong. 

For example, if we say that many Indians live in a neighborhood and an Indian food restaurant will be a sure hit there may be wrong. Maybe all they are eating at home is Indian food and they don’t wish to eat the same food at a restaurant. 

Another example would be thinking that since your product or service is a good match for small businesses, all small businesses are your target customers. 

When you do market analysis and look critically at your customer base, you can dodge false optimism.

All markets are unpredictable in one way or another. Knowing how the market behaves when changes occur and understanding the market trends is important for long-term success. 

Check for seasonality, innovation in the market, and consumer behavior trends. See how your industry responds to the changes in economy.

 A market analysis for a business plan can help you make sound revenue projections for your business. Your projections with data are no longer your wishful thoughts. 

If your revenue forecast is based on solid market research, potential investors and lenders will know it and consider you a serious candidate for funding. 

Every industry moves in a distinct way. Some industries have favorable business conditions and growth is rapid in that industry. 

Doing a market analysis and knowing your industry will help you set realistic growth benchmarks. When you set aggressive growth benchmarks with a reasonable chance of success, you can maximize your business growth. 

Your marketing strategy is how you’ll raise awareness and drive sales for your product or service. Your market analysis can tell you:

• how to reach your customers, 
• how you should design your offers, 
• how much will you need to spend 
• When will you achieve your marketing goals

You will analyze the target market in business plan in this section. Here is what you should include in a market analysis for business plan.

Industry Outlook

Industry outlook shows the direction of your industry. It shows if you are in a growing industry, a stagnant, or a declining industry. 

Consider adding these points to  your industry outlook:

• Are you in a big market like casual wear clothing or a niche market like heavy snow coats 
• Discuss the product life cycle 
• Discuss projected year-over-year growth

Target Market 

Determine and specify your target market. Your initial, super-optimistic estimations about your target market may be incorrect. 

Base your assumptions on data. Specify your target market by using these markers. 

• Identify your target customers’ demographics like gender, age, location, income, education, etc. 
• Create a buyer persona to show what your ideal customer looks like 
• Include research and surveys about your target market like focus groups, and feedback surveys

Product/Service Demand 

Document your product or service demand in the market. See how many units of similar products or services are sold per year and how many people make the purchase. 

Market Growth Prospects 

Assess the overall change in your industry. Every industry has different dynamics. Some industries react to economic shocks with a rapid decline while others may show resilience. 

Many consumer goods industries stay stable for a long stretch of time and you can spot the decline years ahead. On the same lines, discuss the growth prospects of your industry and the market.

Market Trends 

Trends are the sudden changes that disrupt. The fashion industry is one of the best examples to study market trends. 

Watch for similar market trends in your industry and document them. 

Competitor Analysis 

Competitor analysis is the meat of your market analysis for a business plan. These businesses are like case studies as you can learn from their business practices and growth trajectories. 

Industry Entry Barriers 

If the industry entry barriers are low, you’ll compete with a lot of businesses. However, your chances of early success are higher in such industries as you can easily reach the breakeven point and sustain your business. 

Hard entry barriers mean there are established players in that industry and it will take time for you to grab a share of the market. 

Industry Regulations 

See the level of regulations for your industry and make a plan ahead to deal with them. The regulations increase business operating and overhead costs.

When doing industry analysis in business plan, list the industry regulations you’ll need to care for. 

Access our free business plan examples now!

A market analysis is about collecting all the necessary information and research and getting into the details of your industry and competitors. 

You can do a market analysis using this simple framework.

Decide your Purpose 

Do industry research, define your customer, understand competition, collect more data for the market , make use of this data .

You may be doing a market analysis for knowing your industry better or for convincing a potential lender or investor. Once you determine the purpose of market analysis, you can estimate the time and type of research the process will take.

Discuss the industry trends and see how the market is changing over the past few years. You’ll also need to include industry forecasts to complete the picture. 

A comparative market analysis helps you identify your competitive advantage. Make sure to include this in the market analysis.

Defining your customer helps you understand their needs. Define your customer in terms of demographics like:

• Occupation 

Build a buyer persona for your product or service. This will help you understand the customer well and design products and services for your ideal customer. 

Pro Tips: Learn how to write a business plan products and services section.

Understanding your competition will prepare you for the market. Look into their strengths and weakness. See what businesses are successful in your industry and study them to understand how they are doing it. 

Steps for doing competitor analysis business plan.

• List your top competitors 
• Do a SWOT analysis for each competitor 
• Compare their product or service with yours 
• Analyze why a customer chooses their product over others 
• Identify opportunities on how you can improve your product

The more data you have, the better your chances are of doing a top-notch market analysis. 

Collect your data from credible sources. Make sure your data is factually correct. You will be making decisions on the basis of this data. 

Here are some reliable and credible data sources that you use in your market analysis. 

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Local Chamber of Commerce & Industries 
• Trade Journals and Academic Research
• Your own SWOT analysis
• Market surveys or feedback

It is time to make sense of the numbers. 

The market analysis includes details from business conditions to long-term success in the industry. It calculates risk for your business.  Some factors may not be in your favor and you’ll have to decide on your chances of success.  

Keep your data organized in sections. Organize your data with a goal to present it before investors, lenders, and the team. That way, you’ll keep it simple and easy to understand.

Do you want to see an example of market analysis in a business plan? See our business plan examples to understand how it is done. 

Still wondering what is a market analysis in a business plan? See this example of market analysis in a business plan and writer a killer market analysis. Download the  Business Plan Market Analysis Example PDF  here. 

At Wise Business Plans™ we pride ourselves on giving you the best market research for business plans available. We subscribe to commercial software programs and pay hefty licensing fees to give your business a competitive edge. 

Instead of spending hours on figuring out how to do market research for a business plan, hire professionals from WiseBusinessPlans and get a top-notch market research report for your business plan. 

Market Research Institutes and Databases we use 

IBIS World’s Industry Market Research Reports are powerful business tools that provide strategic insight and analysis on over 700 U.S. industries. 

ESRI: Market Research combines GIS (Geographic Information System) technology with extensive demographic, consumer spending, and business data for the entire United States to deliver on-demand, boardroom-ready reports and maps.

Dun & Bradstreet: D&B’s products and services are drawn from a global database of more than 130 million companies.

Hoovers : Hoover’s database of industry information, 65 million company records, and 85 million people records you can deliver valuable business insight to your employees and customers.

First Research: First Market Research is the leading provider of market analysis tools that help sales and marketing teams perform faster and smarter, open doors, and close more deals.

Worried about writing a business plan? Hiring a business plan writer can ease your worries and create a strong plan.

Base your Market Research on data and expertise you can trust.   Hire professional market researchers from WiseBusinessPlans and take a solid start. 

A market analysis in a business plan is an assessment of the target market and industry in which your business operates. It involves researching and analyzing factors such as market size, competition, customer needs, trends, and growth potential.

Gather information for a market analysis by conducting market research through various methods like surveys, interviews, online research, and analyzing industry reports. Collect data on customer demographics, market trends, competitors, and customer preferences.

Include key components in a market analysis, such as an overview of the industry, target market segmentation, customer profiles, competitor analysis, market trends and growth projections, and barriers to entry. Use this information to identify opportunities and assess the viability of your business.

Analyze the competition by identifying direct and indirect competitors in your target market. Assess their strengths, weaknesses, market share, pricing strategies, and unique selling propositions. This analysis will help you understand your competitive landscape and differentiate your business.

A market analysis is crucial for a business plan as it provides insights into the market potential, customer demand, and competitive landscape. It helps you make informed decisions, develop effective marketing strategies, and demonstrate to investors or lenders that there is a viable market for your products or services.

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How to Write a Customer Analysis

Elon Glucklich

9 min. read

Updated October 27, 2023

You’ve been hard at work conducting market research into your potential customers— developing a deep understanding of industry dynamics and the potential size of your market .

Hopefully, you’ve also spent time interviewing potential customers—learning about their behaviors and needs, and digging into publicly available data to support your research. 

But you still need to document these findings in a way that gives you an actionable road map to grow your customer base.

This is where a well-written customer analysis can be extremely useful. 

Including a customer analysis in your business plan will boost your marketing efforts by identifying your target customers , their needs, and how your product or service addresses these needs.

• Customer analysis vs market analysis

A market analysis is a broader exploration of the market and potential customers.  A customer analysis zooms in on the specific behavioral or demographic characteristics of individual customer segments in your target market.

The market analysis includes details like the number of customers you hope to serve and the types of competitors you must contend with. 

By contrast, the customer analysis looks at the specific attributes of your potential customers – their personal habits, values, beliefs, and other characteristics that might affect their purchasing decisions.

• What should a customer analysis include?

Demographics

Some of the earliest information you’ve collected probably about your customers includes:

• Gender/ethnicity
• Income level
• Geographic area
• Education level

Example: Suppose you own a business that creates an environmentally friendly cleaning product . Your customer demographics might include: 

• Age range: 30-60 (old enough to have used a variety of cleaning products in their homes)
• Income: Above average (more likely to buy a higher-priced alternative to discount cleaning products)
• Education level: college degree or equivalent (high enough education level to understand the product’s societal benefits).
• Employment: full-time employee

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Values and beliefs

This section captures the psychological and emotional factors that influence customer behavior. 

• Cultural backgrounds
• Ethical values

Let’s return to the environmentally friendly cleaning product example. You are more likely to attract customers who prioritize sustainability and are willing to pay more for products that match their values.

Buying behaviors

Analyzing buying behaviors involves understanding how, when, and why customers purchase. These behaviors impact:

• The channels customers prefer for shopping
• Price sensitivity
• Factors that trigger a buying decision

Example: Suppose you’re running an environmentally friendly cleaning products business. In that case, you might discover that most of your customers buy their cleaning products from a magazine for homeowners or that they typically buy multiple cleaning products simultaneously. 

Technology use

Nearly three-quarters of small businesses have a website . Even if your business doesn’t have one, your customers are, without a doubt, browsing the internet. 

So it’s critical to understand how your target customers interact with technology and to set up an online presence for your business if you aren’t already active. 

Key questions about customers’ technology habits include:

• Are they active on social media? If so, which platforms? 
• Do they prefer online shopping or in-store visits? 
• Are they more likely to respond to email marketing, blog content, or social media campaigns?

Example: Let’s say you discover that significantly more of your target customers visit websites like yours on a smartphone than a desktop. In that case, it would be important to optimize your website for mobile viewing or develop a user-friendly app . 

• 5 steps to write a customer analysis for your business plan

Now that we understand the individual pieces of a customer analysis, we’ll examine how to write a customer analysis for your business plan .

1. Use existing data

Regardless of your country, there are likely numerous sources of data published by government agencies, private industry, or educational institutions that could be relevant to your business.

Finding existing data is the best starting point for your customer analysis. It’s easy to find, it’s regularly updated, and it’s immensely valuable for providing context for your research. 

For instance, if you determine that your target demographic is people between 30 and 60, Census data can help you determine the number of residents in your selling area within that age range.

We’ll look at some examples of publicly available data for businesses operating in the United States.

U.S. Census Bureau

The Census Bureau publishes official population counts for the country, states, and local communities. Demographic characteristics like age, gender, and race sort the data. Census data also includes useful data for businesses, such as the total number of businesses, employment counts, and average incomes in local communities across the country.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks changes in the U.S. workforce and the overall state of the labor market. The BLS publishes the Consumer Price Index , tracks consumer spending, and gauges overall consumer confidence. 

Examining this data can give you insights into the willingness of consumers to pay for your product or service.

Bureau of Economic Analysis

The Bureau of Economic Analysis takes a broader look at the performance of the U.S. Economy. You can use BEA data to find personal income and corporate profit data by industry. 

If you make a product or service used by other businesses, these figures can help you understand the financial health of the broad customer base you’re targeting.

Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve publishes various financial reports, such as consumer credit and spending statistics , as well as the health of banks. 

This data can give you important context about the financial health of your customers, which could help you determine pricing strategies—like whether you should offer flexible payment plans.

Industry associations

There are thousands of private sector industry associations in the United States alone. These organizations not only advocate for the businesses in their field. They provide members with a wealth of helpful information, such as “state of the industry” reports and business surveys. 

You should leverage customer data from these peer organizations as a business owner.

Academic institutions

Many university business schools make their research publicly available online. Scholars make a career out of researching market and industry trends, and much of their work is available through online searches. 

2. Review customer feedback

One of the most direct ways to show an understanding of your customers in your analysis is by reviewing their feedback.

If you’re a new business without direct customer feedback yet, that’s OK. Instead, look around at what people are saying about your competitors . You might find common complaints from customers in your industry about the products available. 

You can then reach out and interview potential customers to better understand their needs.

If you have an existing business, there may already be reviews of your company on Google or social media sites like LinkedIn. Doing so can help you determine if customers are struggling to use your product or have suggestions for improvements. 

Read as many reviews as possible, and use them to show an understanding of your customers’ needs in your analysis.

3. Use third-party data

So far, we’ve discussed free, publicly available sources to find information about your customers. 

But for those willing to dig deeper, third-party data providers can help you uncover information that’s truly unique to your business and your customers.

Google Analytics

Third-party data providers like Google track the activity of users across numerous websites. Google has its own tool, Google Analytics , which makes that information available on your company’s website.

This data is a gold mine for understanding your customers. Besides giving you a demographic and geographic breakdown of your visitors, it can tell if they view your site on a desktop or smartphone, what pages they’re clicking, navigating around your site, and much more.

For new business owners, Google Trends is a powerful tool to discover what people are searching for online. 

For the environmentally friendly cleaning products business we’ve used as an example—you could see how many people are searching on Google for information about products like floor cleaners or dishwasher detergents.

Social media metrics

If your business uses social media, there are plenty of tools to help you understand your audience on these platforms. 

Many social media companies make their data available to businesses at a cost. For instance, the Facebook Audience Insights platform gives you information about the types of people who visit your page or interact with your posts.

There are also third-party tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer, which track various metrics across social media platforms.

Wherever you find the data, including social media metrics in your customer analysis provides instant feedback about how customers interact with your business.

Specialty tools

Software companies have created numerous tools that collect and analyze customer data from various online sources. 

Audience research tools like SparkToro and FullStory analyze large amounts of data online and spot trends—such as the topics people discuss online and which websites or social media accounts those audiences visit. 

These are insights that would be incredibly time-consuming to get directly from customers. However, understanding where potential customers spend time online and what they talk about can easily turn your analysis into a targeted marketing campaign that addresses their needs.

4. Create a customer persona

After gathering and analyzing all this data, you should have plenty of information about your customers. The next step is to create a customer persona . In case you need a refresher, the customer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on your collected data.

For example, a customer persona for that environmentally friendly cleaning products business will reflect that audience’s demographics, behaviors, and needs. 

In addition to being an effective tool to focus your marketing efforts, creating this persona can help determine the size of your customer base and how to prioritize your time and resources to attract them to your business. It’s also helpful to show potential investors you know your target audience.

5. Connect to your problem/solution statement

Many business plans include a problem and solution statement as early as the introduction. It’s a reasonable way to start, considering that successful businesses identify a problem and provide a solution. 

So as you put your customer analysis together, ensure the research is grounded in the problems they’re experiencing. Doing so will keep you accountable by making you validate your product or service as the solution they need.

• Get started with your business plan template

A customer analysis is a key part of any business plan. But it’s just one piece. At Bplans, we take some of the pain out of business planning. 

We’ve developed a free business planning template to help reduce entrepreneurs’ time to create a full, lender-ready business plan.

Bplans has also collected over 550 free sample business plans across numerous industries. Find one that fits your industry to get inspiration and guidance when writing your plan.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Elon is a marketing specialist at Palo Alto Software, working with consultants, accountants, business instructors and others who use LivePlan at scale. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA from the University of Oregon.

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Free Marketing Plan Examples: Real-World Samples & Templates

By Joe Weller | April 27, 2024

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A  marketing plan  is a comprehensive document that outlines a company’s marketing strategy and tactics, and ensures that its marketing goals align with its overall objectives. Effective marketing plans include detailed analysis of the market along with roadmaps for upcoming campaigns. Inside this article, you’ll find the  elements of a marketing plan , 10 real-world examples of marketing plans with commentary from experienced marketing professionals, free marketing plan templates and samples , and a  chart to help you determine which template suits your needs .

Marketing Plan Elements

Typical marketing plans begin with an executive summary and include audience demographics, company objectives, situational analysis of the business, and marketing strategies and tactics. Market research and analysis provide campaign direction, and the budget and timeline offer practical parameters. A marketing plan can provide an overview of all strategies and campaigns to be executed in a certain time frame, or it can focus on a specific product, channel, or strategy. The level of detail and the sections included might vary, depending on the organization’s needs. The nine main elements of a marketing plan are:  

Executive Summary and Mission Statement:  A concise, high-level summary conveys the purpose of your marketing plan, introduces key strategies and research insights, and highlights the most important takeaways for stakeholders. For example, an executive summary might outline your brand’s identity, its place within the competitive landscape, and the major opportunities that upcoming marketing campaigns will target. Longer plans might include a separate mission statement or vision statement to align marketing efforts with your company’s larger goals. Discover more  examples of executive summaries with templates to help you write one effectively.  

Situational Analysis:  One of the most crucial elements of your marketing plan, a situational analysis is an assessment of the internal and external factors affecting a business’s performance. It should include research-based insights into market trends and dynamics, customer demographics and pain points, and internal resources.  A strong situational analysis often includes a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, which provides a foundation for an effective marketing strategy. Learn more about  how to perform a SWOT analysis .  

Competitive Analysis:  Understanding the competition is key to developing a compelling marketing plan. This analysis should consider recent marketing campaigns from similar brands to identify successful ways to reach a shared target audience. Being aware of the competitive landscape can also help your business develop a unique selling proposition and stand out in the market. The competitive analysis might be included in the larger situational analysis, or it might be a stand-alone section. For example, a marketing plan could include data on how competitors rank on keywords, or it could evaluate the performance of competitors’ recent social media campaigns. One common framework for understanding market dynamics is a Porter’s five forces analysis, which identifies the forces that contribute to industry rivals. Learn how to evaluate the competitive landscape with  free industry analysis templates .  

Target Audience: In order to implement marketing strategies that engage consumers and drive conversions, businesses need to know who their audience is, what they want, and how they behave. A marketing plan should define a specific, segmented target audience with demographic, geographical, psychographic, and behavioral data.  This section often includes customer profiles or buyer personas — fictionalized representations of ideal customers or audience segments — which help marketers typify consumer behaviors. These profiles should include media habits and most-used platforms to ensure that your marketing plan selects the right channels for each campaign. Learn how to analyze your target market with  free customer profile templates .  

Goals and Objectives:  Marketing plans typically include both long-term goals, which provide broad direction for the company’s marketing strategy, and short-term objectives, which focus on more immediate tactics and campaigns. Goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) and include corresponding key performance indicators (KPIs).  The goals and objectives in a marketing plan often focus on conversions, market share, brand awareness, or engagement. Clearly defined goals ensure strategically aligned marketing initiatives with measurable results. Take a look at  real-world examples of SMART goals for more insights.  

Marketing Strategy:  This section of a marketing plan details the business’s unique value proposition and the channels that will communicate it. A robust marketing strategy addresses the touchpoints in a consumer’s buying cycle and breaks down the 4 Ps (product, price, place, promotion) of the marketing mix. Channels might include digital marketing, advertisements, social media, and influencer partnerships. To develop an overarching marketing strategy, consider using a  marketing strategy template . To learn more about the 4 Ps, read this  product marketing guide .  

Tactics and Action Plan:  A marketing plan is not an abstract strategy document, but a concrete roadmap for executing specific campaigns with specific tactics. Your plan should detail the messaging for each campaign and the corresponding methods for communication — such as email newsletters, social content, targeted ads, and public relations.  This section provides KPIs and actionable steps such as resource allocation, deliverables, and distribution plans. It might also include the expected outcome for each campaign. To plan individual campaigns, consider using a  marketing project plan template .  

Budget:  Marketing expenses might include the cost of advertising, content creation, website maintenance, or promotional materials; no marketing plan is complete without a budget that breaks down the costs of such initiatives. A clear, comprehensive budget ensures that marketing efforts are financially feasible and resources can be allocated for maximum impact. The budget also enables the marketing team to track the return on investment (ROI) of each campaign. To create a comprehensive budget, try our  free marketing budget templates .    

Timeline:  Finally, a marketing plan includes a clear schedule for implementing its initiatives and tactics. This timeline details the start and end dates of each campaign, deadlines for deliverables, and key events or milestones. It keeps the marketing team aligned and initiatives on track, ensuring that marketing objectives can be achieved within the set time frame. Organize dates and deadlines with the help of a  marketing timeline template .  

Marketing Plan Examples

Real-world marketing plans show how businesses utilize effective planning documents. These 10 examples from various industries exhibit unique strengths and weaknesses. With insightful commentary from marketing experts, these plans offer practical takeaways any marketer can use.  

Delmarva and the Ground for Change This  in-depth marketing plan for a documentary produced by the USDA Northeast Climate Hub includes audience profiles, competitive analysis, and a distribution plan. Along with a detailed breakdown of its digital marketing strategy, it considers how different tactics will affect the viewer’s content journey.   

John Dinsmore , a marketing consultant and professor at Wright State University, praises this plan for its attractive design and thoughtful, thorough content: “They do a nice job of extrapolating on who the target market is and tying their tactics to achieving specific goals.”  He appreciates the inclusion of a SWOT analysis, but feels it could be done more effectively. “‘Opportunities’ is not a place for business ideas. It’s a place to identify external, positive trends that can help your initiative. In this context, an opportunity could be ‘Rising concern for and awareness of climate issues.’ Similarly, ‘threats’ is not a place to list things that are difficult. It’s for negative external trends such as ‘Increased skepticism over ability to combat climate change.’” 

Dekker Fraser , former Global Marketing Manager at Sony PlayStation, adds that this plan includes a strong focus on collaborations with media and influencers: “Many marketing plans place too much emphasis on target customers and not enough on target collaborators.”  

Minnesota Tourism This  marketing plan by Explore Minnesota , the state’s Department of Tourism, showcases Minnesota’s beauty with vivid imagery. It uses a variety of demographic information to identify priority audience segments and includes well-designed infographics that analyze audience and competition. As a result, the campaigns are clearly targeted at specific audiences and objectives. 

John Rarrick , Head of Marketing at Movius Corp., admires the strength of the message behind the strategy. “This plan has a very well-developed ‘why,’” he says. “You’ll see that often when the plan is to repair or save something that has undergone a time of great loss — such as a loss of revenue or reputation. The audience personas, goals, tactics, and budget are all detailed and measurable.” 

Gold Coast Transit District  

A  short, high-level marketing plan for Gold Coast Transit highlights key campaigns and includes the most important details, such as timelines, budgets, and tactics. It begins with a bulleted overview of the most important takeaways and takes into account general marketing efforts that don’t fit under a specific campaign umbrella. Fraser notes that this plan includes year-round marketing initiatives, with an effective “emphasis on strong offers, such as youth-free fares.” However, he points out that its brand awareness goals could be more specific. “Instead, use context-specific awareness goals such as ‘When commuting to work, residents first think of Gold Coast Transit’ or ‘When coming home from the library at night, I think of taking the bus,’” he says. “In other words, peg awareness to specific category-entry points.”  

University of Arizona College of Engineering This  marketing, branding, and communications plan for the University of Arizona College of Engineering sets out a long-term vision, high-level goals, and strategies for achieving these goals. It has a section for methodology — including promotional videos and email newsletters — and segments its audience to align with its strategies. This plan “demonstrates a clearly defined audience,” according to Rarrick. That said, not every section of the plan includes the same level of specificity. “The KPIs are vague,” he adds. “I would expect to see something more measurable, rather than ‘increase’ or ‘improve.’” 

Timberland Regional Library This  library's two-year marketing plan sets initiatives in motion with a clear schedule for action. It includes both promotional and production calendars for effective planning, which is especially important for campaigns pegged to external events.  Dinsmore cites this plan’s “professional and elegant graphic design” as a strength. It also offers a roadmap for tackling several marketing campaigns on different timelines. However, he suggests that the plan needs more measurable goals and defined strategies. “There’s no overarching strategy that ties all of these tactics and initiatives together,” he says. “It’s just a laundry list of dates and actions.” 

Safe Haven Family Shelter Nonprofit organizations need creative marketing strategies to reach their targets and use funds efficiently. With specific objectives and actionable steps, this  marketing plan for Safe Haven Family Shelter delineates high-level goals and details the path to achieving them. It identifies the roles and responsibilities of individual team members to ensure alignment. Rarrick commends this plan for its “clearly defined audience and very clearly defined goals.” The plan showcases the differences between strategic business goals and measurable marketing objectives.  

Visit Myrtle Beach This  destination marketing plan by the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Chamber of Commerce  incorporates detailed information about target markets, audience personas, and key behaviors. It includes an infographic that illuminates the touchpoints in a traveler’s journey and shows the marketing team how each tactic contributes to conversions.  Overall, Dinsmore praises this plan as a “very smart and thoughtful presentation.” It outlines a distinct media mix for each target audience, defines its objectives clearly, and ties these objectives to success metrics. He continues, “I want to thank the Myrtle Beach folks for planning to measure their efforts. Measurement is often anathema to marketing people, but if you’re not measuring, you don’t know how to improve.”  With so much information to cover, the plan would benefit from an executive summary to introduce key takeaways. “The bigger the scope, the harder it is to make everything feel connected, and that’s a bit of an issue with this plan,” Dinsmore adds.  

Tropical Avocados This  example of a no-frills plan was commissioned by the nonprofit Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC) to help brand and launch tropical avocados in the U.S. market. It shows the importance of making branding decisions backed by market and consumer research. A detailed SWOT analysis and competitive analysis provide essential insights that enable the company to determine the best unique selling proposition.  A key strength of this plan is its detailed research into its audience. Fraser cites its “excellent identification of consumer objections — e.g., concern over how natural the avocado size is — and consumer behavior.” As a result, the brand can adopt effective messaging in its marketing campaigns. As with USDA Northeast Climate Hub’s Delmarva and the Ground for Change documentary, “target collaborators — e.g., food writers, organizations, and chefs — are included in the target audience. Collaborators are often more critical to the marketing plan than the consumers themselves,” Fraser adds.  

Rochelle Community Hospital This  case study of Rochelle Community Hospital in Rochelle, Illinois, shows how a targeted marketing plan can be used to achieve significant results. The report by Legato Healthcare Marketing showcases the importance of reevaluating an existing marketing strategy — in this case, shifting the emphasis from print to digital. External marketing agencies often have more tools at their disposal, particularly if the business has not had a strong digital presence. With targeted ads and website updates, the agency employed tactics with direct metrics in order to track its impact.   

Visit Concord This  example from the Concord Tourism Improvement District marketing plan is concise and includes streamlined insights on the audience and market. It details each marketing channel with specific tactics and measurable KPIs.  The overall strategy, according to Fraser, offers “an excellent emphasis on social proof and word-of-mouth marketing,” as well as a “good balance of awareness and activation marketing.” In order to improve, he suggests, “the plan should factor in the following critical quantitative factors to help drive the media strategy: reach, frequency, and the total-addressable market.” 

Marketing Plan Templates

Using a template takes the guesswork out of organizing a marketing plan document. These customizable templates include essential elements and options for specific industries or marketing channels, and they range from one-page plans to comprehensive, presentation-ready reports.

Microsoft Word Simple Marketing Plan Template

Download the Simple Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Simple Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word

This example of a simple, customizable plan focuses on key strategies and prioritizes readability. This one-page marketing plan template includes space to summarize marketing strategy and overarching business objectives, along with an action plan to highlight responsibilities and deadlines.

Microsoft Word Annual Marketing Plan Template

Download the Annual Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Annual Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word  

This comprehensive marketing plan template includes a number of key sections — such as goals, target market, marketing channels, and performance standards — that can be customized to suit a variety of businesses. In the situational analysis, you can find space for both a 5C (company, collaborators, customers, competitors, climate) analysis and a SWOT analysis. The blank template begins with a table of contents, a business summary, and a mission statement to allow for easy readability. The sample focuses on marketing strategies for one fiscal year, but you can modify this plan for any time period. 

Microsoft Word Small Business Marketing Plan Template

Download the Small Business Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Small Business Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word

A strong marketing plan is essential for small businesses looking to stand out from larger competitors. This small business marketing plan template provides an outline for a detailed marketing strategy, including a unique selling proposition, the 4Ps marketing mix, and marketing channels. It builds its strategy on situational analysis and identification of the business’s core capabilities. Find  more marketing plan templates  for different industries.

Microsoft Word Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template

Download the Nonprofit Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word

This example marketing plan for a nonprofit incorporates information on the funding climate into its situational analysis, as well as a detailed organizational summary. With sections for short- and long-term goals, marketing strategies and channels, and stakeholder profiles, the template is comprehensive and customizable. Find  more nonprofit marketing plan templates here .

Excel Product Marketing Plan Template

Download the Product Marketing Plan Example Template for Excel Download the Blank Product Marketing Plan Template for Excel

When integrating a new product into existing marketing strategies, it’s important to take into account all the elements of the marketing mix. This product marketing plan template is organized by product, price, place, promotion, process, people, and physical evidence. In these sections, you can find space to consider market research, consumer behaviors, and marketing channels.

Excel Social Media Marketing Plan Template

Download the Social Media Marketing Plan Example Template for Excel Download the Blank Social Media Marketing Plan Template for Excel

For planning specific campaigns, this social media marketing action plan template begins with the campaign goal, highlights important promo dates, and separates actions by platform. It’s useful for executing targeted social media campaigns within a larger marketing strategy. Find  more marketing action plan templates here .

Excel Digital Marketing Plan Template

Download the Digital Marketing Plan Example Template for Excel Download the Blank Digital Marketing Plan Template for Excel

Focusing on digital marketing channels is an effective way to organize strategies into a streamlined and actionable plan. This strategic digital marketing template highlights important audience behaviors and access channels to ensure messaging reaches consumers. Customizable for a variety of digital marketing projects, the template includes space for keywords, goals, and tasks. Find  more digital marketing plan templates here .

Which Marketing Plan Format Is Right for You?

To choose the right marketing plan format for your needs, consider the plan’s role in your marketing strategy. Do you need a comprehensive plan to provide an overview of tactics that will take place over a long period of time? Or are you looking for a plan to focus on specific channels, campaigns, or product launches? 

Each template in this article offers space to detail market research, strategies, and access channels. The longer plans include more sections for in-depth situational analysis and audience demographics, while the shorter plans focus on the marketing mix and action plan. This chart highlights the key elements of each marketing plan:  

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When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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How to create a marketing plan [free template].

What is a Marketing Plan?

What is a marketing plan template, use workamajig’s free marketing plan templates, how to write a marketing plan that works, build & execute your marketing plan with workamajig, browse more blogs.

As the famous Benjamin Franklin quote says, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This rings especially true in highly competitive industries, and even more so with the rise of social media and the vast array of options for selling products and services.

It can be easy to get lost among all the options available, which means you need a framework for quickly and successfully launching and supporting your brand, product, or service in the market.

This is where a marketing plan comes in.

A marketing plan outlines a company’s overall marketing strategy, including the research and data that support it. Key information that comprise a marketing plan include:

• Company information : highlighting its relevance to the strategy in place
• Company, market, and competitor research: isolating and informing high-value marketing opportunities
• Concrete marketing plans: outlining goals, activities, and resources for enabling success

Marketing plans are typically laid out over a year but can change depending on the team’s objectives—the more frequently you need to create one, the more valuable it becomes to do it efficiently. This is where a marketing plan template comes in handy.

A marketing plan template is a tool used to build a comprehensive marketing strategy. It mainly eliminates the manual work of identifying and structuring the key information we outlined above. This allows you to focus on the actual task of building your marketing strategy, from setting goals and conducting research to identifying activities and resources essential to your campaigns. Our template is designed to cover these essentials while also leaving room for you to tailor content and sections to your specific needs.

Why Are These Important?

Alignment and efficiency are the overarching themes when creating a marketing plan and building an easy marketing plan template. For starters, a marketing plan helps establish a clear set of goals and objectives, which allows teams to optimize their efforts toward the same outcome. It also qualifies as an effective risk management tool when done right by clearly outlining stakeholders and their responsibilities for minimal overlap, as well as budget allocations and projections to ensure that planned activities are equipped to succeed.

When you create a marketing template, you achieve even more efficiency. This allows for more seamless creation of new marketing plans to fit new requirements and continuous learning from using and evaluating an established format.

The difference between a marketing plan and an effective one is subtle yet critical to your success. A basic marketing plan template should be:

•   Simple: by following a straightforward approach, using terms and a structure that’s easy to digest, both for the one creating it as well as those reading it,
• Interesting: with expertly designed layouts or formats that synergize well with the outline/structure and
• Versatile: allowing you to freely and easily add, remove, or rearrange sections and information to make sense of your strategy.

Below, we’ve created two free marketing plan templates that are designed around the above principles.

The Google Slides template is designed for more flexible layouts and more images.

The Google Docs template offers a more straightforward approach.

To begin using either template, click the matching link above and select File > Make a copy.

While you’re free to start populating the template however you like, there are ways to optimize this activity further. Below, we’ve reorganized the various sections in our template so you can populate them in an order that makes sense; these are grouped into five phases: Introduction, Research, two Strategy phases, and Polish. By following this section like a step-by-step guide, you would prioritize sections that inform other parts of the document so that you can complete each part almost in one go.

Introduction

First, fill in your Title Page before navigating to the Company Overview. This is like the ‘About Us’ section of a website and will help stakeholders learn about your business by filling in the following:

• Your Company Name
• Where your company is located (Headquarters)
• Your market category and a summary of the products or services you provide (Category, Products & Services)
• Your Mission Statement

It’s important to create a mission statement if you don’t have one yet—this gives both you and your audience a vivid impression of what your company is about and what it’s trying to achieve, which would be an important piece to understanding why your whole marketing plan can be expected to work. Your goal here is to write a mission statement that is clear and easy to understand.

An option to include information about your team or other specific individuals within the company is included. This would make sense if a specific group of individuals in your company is involved; the alternative implies that the plan may involve efforts from across the entire organization.

After wrapping up your introductory sections, it’s time to collect data to inform your marketing strategy. In this phase, we’ll be looking at your company, your customers, and your competitors and using that to identify your ideal client.

Start with the SWOT Analysis. This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Here is a quick rundown and some guide questions for identifying each section:

• Strengths refer to internal advantages that your company might have over your competition. For example, do you have a strong brand reputation? Do you have a tried-and-tested pipeline and track record for launching successful marketing campaigns? Do you have a sizable budget? How about highly skilled employees?
• Weaknesses outline the opposite—these are factors that might put you at a disadvantage against competitors. These are often related to either a limited budget or a lack of skills or experience.
• Opportunities serve to highlight external factors that you might be able to use to your advantage. Consider this: are there relevant changes to market trends or consumer behavior? Have new market segments emerged? Are there new business models you can utilize in your strategy?
• Threats, on the other hand, are external factors that could negatively affect your business. Look into the following: Have new competitors emerged, or have existing competitors experienced substantial growth or change? Has the economy taken a turn for the worse? Are your customers’ preferences seemingly changing? Are there notable changes in technology or the environment to worry about?

Next, move to Customer Analysis. This is the process of evaluating and understanding different aspects of your consumer base, including their preferences and habits. This is fundamental to your overall strategy, as customer satisfaction almost always directly correlates to greater returns. A customer analysis is mainly broken down into demographics, which relate to their biological, educational, professional, and marital information, and psychographics, which relate to their behaviors, thought processes, and preferences. This also includes exploring various external factors that might influence their purchasing decisions, such as events and the offerings of competitors.

Once that’s finished, navigate to your Competitor Analysis section. This is the process of analyzing competitors who offer similar products or services or operate within the same industry or market as your company. This includes inspecting their overall strategy, including branding, operations, and promotion, identifying strengths and what resonates with their market or yours, and looking into areas where they might be lacking. This helps inform opportunities for your plan to stand out and succeed.

Finally, you can jump back to the Buyer Persona. A buyer persona is a detailed description of your target audience or customer built on the market research you conducted above; this includes existing data on your customers—this would include demographic information, motivations, and behavior, among other details. This helps businesses build a deeper understanding of their audience and is used to anchor marketing, sales, communication, and product development strategies to satisfy a given persona’s needs and preferences. Creating an effective buyer persona now will help build strategy for meaningful engagement.

Strategy-Building (Part 1)

Completing the previous sections should result in a clear picture of your position in the market. You can now use that to build the marketing plan's meat thoroughly. For starters, you will want to find the Goals section—our guide on SMART goals has everything we believe you will need to fill in this part of the plan.

Next, we will be tackling the Marketing Mix in two parts.

Product. In this section, discuss the products and/or services you intend to release or market as part of this strategy. This means outlining various features, design elements, or variants that will be available to customers.

Pricing. This is where you’ll be outlining amounts—how much will each of the products you included previously cost? When determining these, it’s critical that you consider your buyer persona, as well as competitor pricing and any promotions or discounts that might be part of your strategy. This will further increase your products’ perceived value among customers, especially your target market. Tables are a great formatting tool here; you can also link to an external spreadsheet, where you have more room to create a detailed pricing scheme.

Place. This section discusses how you would make products or services available to customers. It includes the method by which sales are generated (e.g., retail, online, direct), as well as strategies for storing, housing, and distributing inventory. Your main consideration here is making sure that your products and services are as convenient and efficient to access as possible in order to sufficiently meet customer demand.

The second part of the marketing mix covers both the Promotion and Marketing Channels sections. This is done so you can cross-reference between the two sections, ensuring that they are updated to synergize with one another.

The Promotion section primarily focuses on how you will help customers understand the value of your products and services, including tools and techniques for providing support across the customer journey (before, during, and after a sale.) A critical consideration here is ensuring the methods align with your goals while respecting your brand identity.

Marketing Channels then focus on the what or where of your promotion plan, which is typically broken down into traditional, digital, retail, and event marketing channels. Building this section relies heaviest on your buyer persona and the specific products and services you’re looking to promote—understanding where you can best reach your existing market or attract new eyes is important here.

Working on these sections first allows you to transition seamlessly to your Unique Value Proposition. Use this section to talk about how or why your products/services are a better choice than the competition. Your customer and competitor analysis would feed a lot of information here.

Strategy-Building (Part 2)

The second phase of your strategy will move between the template's Performance Management and Budget sections.

Under Performance Management , it’s time to identify your Key Metrics. Also known as key performance indicators (KPI) are quantifiable measures that determine your campaign or strategy’s progress or success. To assist with this, look back at your Goals section to see what factors can be represented by numbers and data—for some of these, you may need to derive them from computations of other factors. Common key metrics include total conversions, conversion rate, click-through rate, and social media engagements.

At this point, you can freely work on two sections simultaneously: Monitoring & Evaluation Methods and  Projected Expenses.

Monitoring & Evaluation Methods answers the question of how you will collect the metrics listed. Include relevant tools and data collection methods to be used here.

Projected Expenses refer to an itemized list of unique costs required to execute the strategy. This includes hardware and software needs, resources needed to run online or in-person events and promotions, travel and other logistics, and even compensation for in-house or outsourced manpower. A table is a great way to format information here.

Once all of that is ready, you can begin working on Projected Returns . In this section, you want to outline how this strategy is expected to generate value beyond just the immediate sale of whatever products or services are being offered and how much each of these sources is expected to contribute. From here, you can define your expected return on investment (ROI) by subtracting the total earnings from the costs in your Projected Expenses section.

You will notice that only one section remains—jump back to the early part of the template to work on your Executive Summary. This section combines all of the sections into a big-picture pitch. Your highest priorities here are summarizing your Goals, Marketing Mix, Unique Value Proposition, and Projected Returns sections.

Now that you’ve filled in all template sections double-check everything for errors or omissions.

A marketing plan serves as the blueprint for your success over time. A marketing plan template ensures that you can quickly and expertly craft a strategy while allowing for continuous improvement.

With Workamajig, the premier agency management software , you have an all-in-one solution for planning, organizing, and delegating these efforts and easily transitioning between the phases of every project. Easily adjust your schedule or modify task requirements and assignees to ensure efficiency, and use native reporting tools to measure your progress and identify and address roadblocks along the way.

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How To Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps

Write your business plan with this step by step guide and take your idea into reality.

Salesforce Staff

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You have this amazing idea for a business. It’s been brewing for a couple of years now, and you’re finally ready to act on it. So, what’s your plan?

Like you, many people are preparing to start a business — and even some who have already started one — and fail to research and write a business plan that tests the feasibility of their idea. Some may think it’s a “waste of time.” They would rather wing it, stick with a pitch deck, or hope for the best.

But hope, unfortunately, isn’t a strategy for success. Writing a business plan and executing it kick-starts your road to success.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

Three reasons why you need to write a business plan Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be difficult How to write a business plan in 9 steps What’s left to do?

Three reasons why you need to write a business plan

If you haven’t considered writing a business plan until now, here are three key reasons why it’s a crucial tool when starting your business .

1. A business plan provides clarity

One of the easiest ways to gain clarity on your goals and brand message is to practice how you communicate them. Clearly describe what problem or need your business addresses and why it’s necessary for your target market. This strengthens your case when marketing and selling to your target audience.

It’s also useful when you need to apply for or raise funding for your small business. A clear picture of what your goals are will help you chart a course to deliver it as promised.

2. A business plan confirms the math

A lot of ideas sound great on paper or in casual conversations. But when you dive into the financials, such as how you plan to make money and how much it will cost, those ideas can fall apart.

Writing a business plan provides you with the space to create a financial model. It outlines the best- and worst-case scenarios that validate your idea’s worth.

3. A business plan establishes goals

Writing a business plan helps establish benchmark goals — those that are on your path to the main goal — and determine what you need for your success. Setting mini benchmark goals with deadlines for each month, quarter, and year provides you with short-term targets to focus on.

Nearly every plan for your business changes as the company grows. These benchmark targets ensure that your company is always moving forward.

( Back to top .)

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be difficult

Creating a plan for your business can seem like an overwhelming project. Especially, if it’s your first business or you lack a background in finance or operations. Luckily, there are a number of resources available online, including Trailhead’s “ Salesforce Essentials for Small Business ” lesson, which helps you write a detailed plan. Your options vary based on your specific industry or product offering. However, all plans share a similar outline that you can follow when writing your own.

Below, we’ve put together a resource template for creating a thorough business action plan . Following a template allows you the opportunity to organize your thoughts and clearly present the plan to prospective partners, investors, or vendors. It can be a lot of trouble to start from scratch. Instead, try using this outline to draft a plan for your business and turn your napkin scribbles into a solid, well-researched plan that’s ready for financial investment.

How to write a business plan in 9 steps

Almost every detailed plan for a business follows the same framework. You can expand this however you’d like, but make sure these essential pieces are in place:

• Executive summary
• Company overview

Industry overview

• Market analysis
• Sales and marketing plan
• Business team

Operating plan

1. Executive Summary

Every thorough plan for a business opens with an executive summary that provides a brief description of the business, a mission statement, the products and services offered, and a summary of plans to succeed in the marketplace. If someone were to ask for a more involved version of your business elevator pitch, you’d recite your executive summary.

2. Company Overview

This is your napkin drawing on steroids. The company overview section is a snapshot of your business:

• Your business’s history
• A detailed list of products and services
• The physical location (if there is one)
• The problem/need your product or service addresses

Briefly touch on your target audience and how you plan to attract them (you’ll go into more detail later). This is only a snapshot summary for someone to grasp your idea and see the opportunity behind it. You also want to clearly define your company’s strategy for starting or growing in the marketplace.

3. Industry Overview

Your plan needs to address the industry as a whole, including relevant statistics, current trends, consumer demographics , and any external influences affecting the industry. Use this section to address how your business will fit into a specific industry and what (if any) subsections of the industry you will target.

4. Market analysis

Who will you battle for customers? The market analysis section requires you to validate that there is enough demand in the market for your business to both enter and grow. Research competitors in the industry, their market share, and how you plan to compete against them.

This is also a great opportunity to describe any industry barriers upon entry. You can explain how your company will establish itself — including your unique selling proposition — and share how the barriers will help protect your business from other startups or companies that want to go after your market share.

5. Sales and marketing plan

How will you execute your strategies and reach your goals? Your sales and marketing plan should clearly describe how you will grab the attention of busy consumers and persuade them to buy from your company. Use this opportunity to showcase your strengths, account for how your brand will stand out in the marketplace, and detail how you plan to build long-term customer loyalty for repeat business.

Don’t forget to describe your pricing strategy and how it compares to the rest of your market, as well as the advertising strategies you will use during your launch and first year.

6. Business team

Your business team section should focus on your business’s legal structure. Are you a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or other type of business? Introduce your key team members such as managers, board members, and additional owners. Detail who owns what percentage of the company and each team member’s involvement in the business’s day-to-day operations.

7. Operating plan

Your operating plan gives insight into how your business will function on an ongoing basis and what daily operations will look like. The questions you’ll address in your operating plan may include:

• Will you have a physical location?
• What responsibilities will the management team shoulder?
• Do you have a customer invoice prepared?
• What expenses are related to running the business?

8. Financials

This is the money-making section, which can be an exciting part to investigate and budget. The financials portion of your plan may be the most important because it shows how your business will make money and grow over time. This section is even more crucial if you’re seeking outside financing or investors to help fund your startup.

Your financials should outline how your business will generate revenue and profit, and if necessary, how it will repay its loan or investors. Create monthly, annual, and three-to-five-year profit and loss projections and outline anticipated expenses.

9. Appendix

Close your business plan with an appendix that provides supporting documentation such as bank statements, employee bios, licenses, agreements, and business credit history. Think of it as your supporting research and reference documents.

What’s left to do?

Once you’ve outlined a plan for your business and gathered all the necessary research and documentation, it’s time to write it. By following this template, you should have no problem taking your great idea from a general concept to real life.

Your plan doesn’t have to be as long as War and Peace — it simply has to address each key point referenced above and show that your business addresses a need in the market. Then, after you finish writing your business plan, you can follow its guidance and get started on building your business.

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PESTLE Analysis

Insights and resources on business analysis tools

PEST Analysis: Examples and Meaning in Business

Last Updated: Apr 8, 2024 by Jim Makos Filed Under: PEST Analysis

What is a PEST analysis, and what are its four parts? What is the difference between PESTLE analysis and PEST, and why is it important for every business? As a business student, analyst, manager or owner, you are called to conduct a PEST analysis sooner or later. In the next 10 minutes, I’ll go through everything you need to know about PEST analysis and how you can do a PEST analysis of an organization starting from scratch. I promise you’ll know more about PEST analysis than 99% of people out there, as I’m explaining everything as concisely as possible. Let’s start with the PEST analysis definition.

What is a PEST Analysis?

PEST analysis is a strategic tool for organizations to identify and assess how Political, Economic, Social, and Technological external factors impact operations so that they can gain a competitive edge. A PEST analysis helps you determine how these factors will affect a business’s performance and strategy in the long term. It is often used in collaboration with other analytical business tools. For example:

• A combination of PEST and SWOT analysis usually gives a clearer understanding of a situation with related internal and external factors
• PESTLE analysis is an extension of PEST analysis that covers legal and environmental factors

I’m going to explain the PEST analysis as simply as possible with examples and a template for better understanding. I will also show how to do a PEST analysis starting from scratch, even for people without any business education like me!

Why Do a PEST Analysis

It’s simple: to succeed. For a business to be successful, they need a few things:

• A solid product
• Marketing plan
• Identifiable brand
• Happy customers
• Thorough budget
• An investor or two
• Unique selling position
• And a whole lot of research

Throughout the endless market research, customer acquisition costs, and project risk assessments, business managers could forget about outside influences ( we call these external factors in this type of analysis). Aside from the company’s internal resources and industry factors, PEST’s macroeconomic factors can impact a company’s performance in a big way.

By being aware of external factors, managers can aid their business. But if they don’t know them, they can cripple their business before it begins. That’s how advantageous PEST analysis is .

What are the four parts of PEST analysis?

Now, let me explain each of the four parts of a PEST analysis more thoroughly. You’ll better understand what each of these external factors in this analysis is all about.

• Political – Here, government regulations and legal factors are assessed in terms of their ability to affect the business environment and trade markets. The main issues addressed in this section include political stability, tax guidelines, trade regulations, safety regulations, and employment laws.
• Economic – Next, businesses examine the economic issues that have an impact on the company. This would include factors like inflation, interest rates, economic growth, the unemployment rate and policies, and the business cycle followed in the country.
• Social – At this stage, businesses focus on the society and people. Elements like customer demographics, cultural limitations, lifestyle attitudes, and education come into play here. This part allows a business to understand how consumer needs are shaped.
• Technological – This may come as a surprise, but technology may not always be an ally for businesses. Depending on the product, technology may affect the organization positively but also negatively. In PEST’s last section we find technological advancements, the role of the Internet, and how an industry’s innovation creates winners and losers.

Every business is different. Some factors may not affect a firm or industry as they would with others. But it’s beneficial to have a well-rounded view of the many factors that could affect them. Along with the ones that will affect them.

This is why we do PEST analysis for a business — to be aware of risks, opportunities, influences, and limitations. Let’s go deeper into these external factors that impact the success of a business. I’ll also briefly mention a specific example for each of them.

Political Factors

Political factors in PEST analysis refer to the extent to which the government and political actions in a country influence the business climate. Here are some examples that will occasionally make it into the (P) of my PEST analysis:

• Tax policies
• Tax incentives
• Political tensions
• Employment laws
• Import restrictions
• Health and safety laws
• Consumer protection laws
• Tariff and Trade restrictions
• Regulation and deregulation

For instance, a country’s foreign policy often plays an important role in determining trade regulations. This can either result in trade restrictions or trade incentives and can affect an organization’s operations. Read my dedicated page on political factors with more examples here .

Economic Factors

In the (E) part of PEST Analysis, we run into how the economy affects the organization. I consider the following economic factors when doing a PEST analysis:

• Interest rate
• Inflation rates
• Exchange rates
• Unemployment rate

For instance, exchange rates affect a global organization by influencing the cost of imported and exported goods. Furthermore, interest rates influence the cost of capital available to the organization. Thus they are significant in the expansion and growth of a business. Find more economic factors and examples of how they affect businesses here .

Social Factors

Social factors include different cultural and demographic aspects of society. These can affect the macro-environment in which the organization operates.

In the ‘S’ part of the PEST analysis I usually examine:

• Age distribution
• Cultural diversity
• Demographics shifts
• Population growth rate
• Health consciousness and trends
• Changing consumer lifestyles and preferences

A study of these factors can help organizations understand the dynamics of existing and emerging potential markets along with future customer needs.

Social factors are more unpredictable than economic and political factors, simply because people are unpredictable. But every business needs customers. And what and how they buy has an immediate effect on an organization’s profitability.

Based on these social factors, marketers create buyer personas. These avatars are necessary for businesses to target the ideal customer.

For example, if you’re selling whey powder, you go after fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders. You are looking for people that follow an active lifestyle. Hence, a declining trend in health consciousness doesn’t seem encouraging.

That’s the tip of the iceberg. Learn more about social factors here .

Technological Factors

Technological factors aren’t important only for tech-related businesses. The (T) part in PEST analysis may affect even the most old-school organization that’s been operating for a century.

Technology is evolving at a rapid pace and consumers are becoming extremely tech-savvy. With the advent of new technology, older technology gets outdated and obsolete. If an organization does not look out for technological changes, it can lag behind its competitors.

I often include the following technological factors when conducting a PEST analysis:

• Cybersecurity Threats
• Emerging Technologies
• Big data and computing
• AI and Machine Learning
• Supply Chain Automation

Let’s consider the advancements in computing; more specifically, networking.

If a business offers the latest and fastest Wi-Fi in their store, it’s an added luxury. It’s annoying if it still operates on 3G speeds, but won’t ruin sales. However, if they handle all receipts in an online database and that goes offline because they didn’t keep their network infrastucture up-to-date then they have a major problem. Especially in big holidays like Black Friday.

Again, this is about impact on the business operation. How will ‘X’ technology affect the business in the long and short term? That’s what we’re trying to figure out with PEST analysis.

A ton more technological factors can be found here .

PEST Analysis Examples

Here is a hypothetical PEST analysis example that can give you a clear understanding of how this works:

Here at PESTLEanalysis.com I rarely limit myself to PEST analysis. I almost always go the extra mile and include the Legal and Environmental factors when I initiate a PEST analysis. This leads to a more detailed analysis called PESTLE.

PESTLE Analysis: An extension of PEST Analysis

PESTLE analysis is an extension of PEST that is used to assess two additional macroeconomic factors. These factors are the  Legal and Environmental conditions that can have an impact on a organization. Examples of PESTLE analysis are similar to those of a PEST analysis, but they will include factors such as these:

• Discrimination laws
• Copyright and patent laws

Environment:

• Waste management
• Changes in weather and climate
• Laws regarding pollution and recycling
• Use of green or eco-friendly products and practices

So, if you want to assess a business situation comprehensively, a PESTLE analysis is a definite must. You can find more about that analysis here .

Why PEST Analysis Is Important For Every Business

So, now that we did a PEST analysis, how’s that going to help the business?

What does a five-year business plan look like? Or a ten-year plan? It likely involves growth.

Whether it’s the expansion of a product line or opening stores in new locations, business changes need proper preparation. And that’s where the PEST analysis comes in.

PEST analysis is the foolproof plan for business expansion !

Both new business owners and veterans should include PEST analysis in their business plan. By breaking down the critical influences in the P.E.S.T. categories, businesses get a better understanding of whether their next business move is strategic or doesn’t make sense.

For example, politics isn’t just about political tensions, unrest and elections. Politics are also about trade policies, regulations and taxation. Companies doing business worldwide have to consider laws in the countries they operate, as well. Even if they aren’t doing international trade yet, it could be a possibility in the future, and going in blind is a good way to toss success out the window.

PEST analysis helps people become aware.

Aware of how political parties and regulations can impact a business. And how the economy (past, present, and future) affects an industry. It allows people to understand consumers — who they are, what they buy, and why they don’t buy. And finally, it identifies what technology is necessary for the development and success of a product, business, or industry.

It’s almost like an outline. It shows people what influences impact the quality, success, or devastation of businesses and industries. You can’t stop the four influences, but if you’re aware of them and their impact, you can plan around, against, or with them.

PEST analysis is often used by business analysts, marketers, students, and business owners, since it’s super important for every business!

All you need to do a proper PEST analysis is time. And the payoff is worth every second.

How PEST analysis works

PEST analysis requires research and data, sometimes ten years old, sometimes only a couple. The more information I have to go through, the more accurate my final results will be. By looking into the past and the present, I can make predictions for the future.

By studying these recent developments through a PEST analysis lens, organizations are deciding whether to jump into this for the long haul or for the time being.

You want to look at your industry in a similar light. Ten years ago, did it exist? Has it slowed down within the last two years or are more companies diving in? More competition can be a strong sign an industry is booming, but it could also be the first sign of oversaturation.

Break down your assessment into the four categories of PEST analysis. Start with politics and work your way through the remaining factors. Or start from the bottom. Whatever gets the job done and makes the analysis enjoyable.

How to Do a PEST Analysis From Scratch

I’ve written dozens of PEST analyses over the last couple of years. Below I document my process on how to do a PEST analysis , even when you’ve never written one before.

You should have a topic in mind. Most PEST analyses are about a specific business, industry, or product. However, they can also be applied to countries, too. You can’t start without a topic, though, so have it ready.

Where to find information for your PEST analysis

It’ll be easier to find and segment information if you break your analysis down into four sections, like the acronym implies:

• Technological

Each section will require its own information. However, some of this information will overlap.

For instance, the economy is often closely tied to political (in)stability. And the state of the economy always affects consumers (social). You don’t need to look for these patterns specifically— it’ll become apparent as you discover new information.

Start with the history

You should be familiar with your topic. If you’re not, read about its history. Learn how it was established, how long it has been around, and who founded it. Read about any major achievements on the organization in question over the last few years. Jot down notes whenever something that seems relevant or important pops up.

After this informational primer, it’s time to start on the four sections. I do my PEST analysis in order of the acronym because the information often bleeds into the next section.

Finding Political Information

Political information is easier to find than in other sections of the analysis (social and technological, specifically). Here, you’ll want to investigate the current political climate.

For instance, if the organization originates from America, you’ll research the current political parties. Who is in charge? Has this affected business operations in any way?

If your topic (business, product, industry) was established years ago, what was the political climate like then? Are different parties in power now? If this is the case, then you’ll want to compare how things have changed for your topic from then to now.

This is also the section where you’ll look into laws and regulations affecting business. Remember the list we went through in the beginning.

I find this information with a simple Google search. Such as “tariff laws USA” (plug in the country you’re searching for if it’s not the United States).

It’s best to get this information from a government site. These sites end in .gov. You may also find information from organizations (websites ending in .org) but not all of these sites are legitimate organizations. Be wary while you research.

Honestly, most of the information you’ll find is dense. But it’s easier if you have a goal. Look for signs of:

• Government (in)stability
• Possible political corruption
• New bills/regulations that may impact your topic
• Any issues your topic has had with current/former regulations or political parties

If your topic is a company, finding the right information may be easier. Search for “company name + political issues” or “company name + policies” and see what comes up. Avoid any information from untrustworthy sites and sites with no legitimate source.

Finding Economic Information

While you’re researching political information, you may come across connections to the current economy. For instance, political instability often leads to economic instability. This causes unemployment rates to rise and employee strikes. This affects how much disposable income people have.

You may have already found information in your political section that confirms economic problems. But if you haven’t, search government sites for current tax rates, interest rates (if your topic involves international business), and the current state of the economy. Is it good? Thriving? Or bad and declining?

Again, use government websites. Search for economic statistics over the last few years. If your topic is an industry, see how many companies (startups) have started within the last few years.

If your topic is a business that has international stores, look into the relationship between the country of origin and each country the company does business. If the relationship is good, it’s often a good outlook for the company. But if it’s bad, it may lead to problems. What problems? Do a bit of digging online.

Also, if your PEST analysis is for a company, you may look into stocks . Have they been declining? On the rise? Because if it’s the former, then the business may not be looking good. And you’ll want to find out why .

If my topic is a business, I sometimes check out the competition. I’ll look into how that other company has been fairing economically, specifically how its sales have risen or fallen over the last couple of years. If it’s dropped products, shifted marketing efforts, etc., I want to know why . A competitor analysis isn’t always necessary , but it can shed light on possible problems your topic may face.

Finding Social Information

This section is a bit trickier. Political and economic sectors rely heavily on data and evidence. You can find this information on government websites. News sites too, even. And although you can find databases about demographics and population growth for this section — all applicable in a PEST analysis — I wouldn’t stop there.

In the social section, I often examine how consumers are impacted by political and economic factors. You can draw conclusions based on the information you’ve already gathered from your political and economic segments.

For instance, if there is political instability and the economy is on the fritz, then consumers may feel uneasy. They may have fewer job options. And that means they’re less likely to spend frivolously. If your topic is a luxury product, it may mean the company that makes it may have lower sales this year.

But you also want to learn about how consumers feel about your topic. If it’s a company, do consumers generally like it? Or is public opinion souring? There should be a reason for why.

Consider Facebook. The company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has consistently been in hot water over the years. If not for data breaches affecting millions of users, but for their shady involvement with fake news and political tampering.

This has led many consumers to shy away from using Facebook. And this affects businesses that use Facebook to reach new customers.

In this section of the PEST analysis, I’m more likely to search for my topic on news sites and publications. The more popular the topic, the easier it’ll be to find articles written about it. But if the topic has ever been in the news, you’ll likely find it online.

Websites to search include :

• Consumer Reports
• Local news websites
• Other reputable sources

If you know your topic has been in the news for something bad, you can search the topic + the problem.

Although the information may overlap, take keynotes here. See how the problem is affecting consumer opinion. You may even want to take a look at the comments (if there are any) and see what people are saying. It’s coming straight from the lion’s mouth (consumers).

I think many PEST analyses favor numbers too much. We live in a world where anyone with an opinion can be heard, thanks to the internet. And enough of those voices can cause a business to change its policies and products. It can even cause the company to collapse.

So it’s important to search for how consumers feel about your topic too.

Finding Technological Information

This section of the PEST analysis is a bit abstract as well. You’re looking into how new technological advancements has affected your topic positively or negatively. You should also look into what technology your topic uses (currently). And what technology they may want to incorporate.

You may want to look at competitors if your topic is a product or business. See what others are using. And think about why they are.

Press releases

It may be beneficial to search for press releases involving your topic, if possible. If your company is using new technology, they may have announced it through a press release. You can search “company name + press release” or search through these press release websites:

• PR NewsWire
• NPR: National Public Radio

You may also find other information here for the other sections of the PEST analysis. Which is just an overall bonus. If all else fails, check if your topic has a website (unless it’s an industry or country). Discuss how they use social media (if they don’t, then… discuss that too!). In this section, you’re assessing what your topic uses, what it doesn’t, and why.

Putting it all together in a final PEST analysis

You’ll likely have heaps of information at hand. For some it’ll feel like too much — but that’s never the case for a PEST analysis. As you begin to read through each section’s notes, incorporate the most interesting, pressing, or surprising information. If anything overlaps with other sections, include that too.

I write each section of a PEST analysis at a time. I take my notes and create coherent sentences. Sometimes I make a list of the most important points and include them that way. If the section is long, I’ll use subheadings to break up the information.

Work on each section separately. And then if there are overlapping themes, incorporate those in. You may want to use those at the end of each section to connect to the next.

Once you’ve done this, you’ve completed your PEST analysis! Most of the work is in finding the information and making it coherent. The last 10-20 percent is putting it all together. So, once the research phase is done, you’re basically done too!

Understanding PEST Analysis: Taking Action

In conclusion, developing an understanding of what is PEST analysis becomes even more important when a company is about to launch a new business or a new product. In general, when they are about to change something drastically. That’s when all these factors play an important role in determining the feasibility and profitability of the new venture.

Therefore, developing an understanding of PEST analysis is useful for organizations for analyzing and understanding the ground realities of the environment they have to operate in.

Realizing what is PEST and knowing how to take this analysis into consideration, the organization can be in a better position to analyze the challenges, environment, factors, opportunities, restrictions and incentives it faces. In case an organization fails to take into account any one of these factors, it may fail to plan and operate properly.

But don’t PEST analysis stop you. Here are some variations that may come in handy when assessing how the external environment affects an organization:

• STEEP Analysis
• STEEPLED Analysis
• SWOT Analysis