People come up with new and exciting food products every single day. They think about consumer needs, identify a potential product to fill those needs, and then start putting in the work to try and get it into the hands of consumers.
However, no matter how much confidence these people may have in their product, they may end up finding that it’s not exactly flying off the shelves. This may leave them wondering: “Did we miss something?”
Yes – a market opportunity assessment. If you really want to make sure your food product is going to be well-received by consumers, then you simply cannot skip this step. It’s especially important if you’re looking to attract investors and food brokers, as they often like to see that you have a solid marketing strategy to help ensure the success of your product.
Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to get started with an assessment. Here are some questions to ask yourself about your market opportunity.
Why Sell this Product?
This is probably one of the most important questions to ask yourself. What is the point of selling this product? What problem are you helping consumers solve? Are you doing it differently than the competition? You need to be able to show that there is a demand for this particular kind of product, especially if you require investors.
For example, let’s say you’ve come up with a new kind of fruit snack. There are lots of different kinds of fruit snacks on the market, so what makes yours different? What problem does it solve? Are they healthier than similar products? Identify what makes yours unique and how that helps the consumer.
Who is the Target Audience?
So, let’s say you’ve determined that you are fulfilling a need with your healthy fruit snacks. Now you have to think about the buyers. Who needs healthy fruit snacks? Should you market them toward parents or the kids themselves? Or are they for adults looking to satisfy their sweet tooth in a healthier way? Coming up with a detailed profile of your target audience can help you figure out your potential sales volume. If you find that this number is significantly less than what you were anticipating, you may want to rethink your product.
How Are You Going to Sell the Product?
A detailed profile of your buyers is likely going to be quite helpful when determining how to sell your product. It can help you come up with branding, pricing, and marketing strategies.
For example, let’s say you’ve decided that kids are your target audience. You may choose to go with brightly coloured packaging and/or a cartoon theme to catch their attention. You may also want to make it more affordable so parents are less likely to think twice about throwing it into their cart. Figure out the best way to attract your ideal buyer and get it into their hands.
The Professional Touch
If you’re not confident about your ability to perform an accurate and complete market opportunity assessment, then you should consider hiring a professional. Book a free consultation with the greater goods today to get going on your assessment and turn it into a fully realized food marketing strategy!