In March's blog post, I listed eleven market research related questions that a new business owner and founder should be asking. In continuing the market research questions' series, I will focus on the second question this month: "Being clear on my Purpose: what positive impact do I intend to have on the world?"
I did a previous blog post about Purpose. As a quick recap, I wrote about how as business owners we can ensure that 'purpose' remains at the core of the business. One way I put forward is having the purpose formalised in a Business Purpose Statement. With the purpose statement, business owners have a means to define and measure what actions are keeping us on track versus what actions might take us away from the "why" or reasons our businesses exist. Most importantly, the purpose statement needs to have concrete and measurable commitments to give it authenticity and credibility, which is where a simplified version of the McKinsey The 5 Ps framework can come in to provide guidance on measuring your actions towards delivering on the purpose.
This takes us back to the eleven market research questions, which are all interlinked. In the first question we covered assessing the value of our solution versus the existing solutions in the market and as a result of market research, we can answer the question why customers will be buying our product and we can articulate what makes your product different from the competition/ other solutions in the market. The second question is assessing "Being clear on my Purpose: what positive impact do I intend to have on the world?"
Using the steps outlined from a previous post, you have now created your Business Purpose Statement, in which you have defined the measurable actions and commitments you will take and have a point of reference for further and future actions. Market research can support you in how well the Business Purpose Statement resonates with customers and how you can incorporate your positive impact within your business as a whole and within your marketing messages. Marketing, in the simplest definition, is having a process for how you will get potential customers knowing that your products and services exist and getting them interested in your products and services. Knowing who your customer is and what motivates and interests them is key.
It is important to incorporate customer feedback in your marketing and marketing messages. Why? So customers can more easily identify with you and your products or solutions and with market research you can validate and test any assumptions you have. In addition to understanding the problem that your customers are seeking to solve, you will gain an understanding of their values, attitudes and behaviour in relation to your purpose and the intended positive impact of your business.
If you would like to hear more what results market research can provide to you, please reach out via the Contact Form for a free consult call. I help owners of small businesses to be clear in communicating the scope of their offers and in identifying their ideal clients or customers.
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