1 Who is our ideal customer?

2 What do they struggle with?

3 What does your ideal customer really WANT?

4 What sets you apart from your competition?

5 Who is currently buying from us?

6 Why are other people not buying from us?

7 Who can buy from us in the future?

8 Why do people buy from you? What value or need does it fulfill?

9 What would make you a perfect brand?

10 What single aspect about your brand makes it stand out and makes clients trust you?

11 What is the best way to communicate with the kind of people you are trying to reach out to?

12 What do customers make of your product and/or service line?

13 What improvements could be made to your products or services to have a wider reach?

14 What product or service improvements should be made to ensure a superior user experience?

15 What is the right price to charge?

16 What is the vision for the brand?

17 What is the way to ensure you reach that vision?

18 What should the brand branch out into to avoid stagnation or imitation?

19 What bundled service or product that you can offer in conjunction with yours?

20 What benefits do your customers perceive?

Individual Assignment 1 - Written Memo Key information Memo due: Week 5. refer to E-learning for date (by 11 p.m.). Details Goal: Get you to produce an Overview to a market research proposal (see lecture of week 2): the main notion is that you will help one organization in its response to the current COVID-19 situation Background: The sudden changes brought about by the current pandemic have placed many successful organizations at crossroads. Indeed, while some organizations are now contemplating their future viability, others are considering whether and how to alter the way their organization operates. Making the right decision, and therefore, having the best information (market research), has never been more important Method: You are going to individually produce an Overview to the problem: what will represent a key component to your group assignment. This should be doable in one page. I have provided you with an example in lecture 2 (note that this represents an example, not a rigid guideline) First, you will select one organization (it is okay to start with more organizations and then narrow down your choice to one). Second, you will make sure that you understand the organization (see 20 Questions). Third, you will try to situate the problem created by the current pandemic and set your objective. Fourth, you will set (bulleted) objectives for the rest of your assignment. For this assignment, I will expect to find the following components. An attempt to answer the 20 Questions (see lecture 1 and lecture 2) - In Appendix An understanding of the organization from its own perspective. While this will ultimately be condensed to one paragraph, the following might be relevant: o overlooked problem (unmet need) that its customers would have experienced prior to its operation A valuable but simple solution Targeted market (how big this could get) o Well of users (first users that it targets) Competitors in your market Thesis ( the problem the current pandemic has created for the organization, this should be related to the organization's identity, and the problem that the organization wishes to solve for its ideal customer) Hypothesis (as you craft your thesis you will usually come up with element of answers which will appear more intuitive than factual, the opportunity that you uncover will usually emerge from uncertainty, your early aim will be to remove this uncertainty through secondary and primary research) MEMO: Since this is a memo, you will use the following opening TO: Organization FROM: JP Bertrand Valery, Market Research Assistant DATE: March 19, 2020 SUBJECT: Research Proposal Deliverables: This assignment should be done in less than two pages (ideally one page): 1. A memo, in the form of a 1 page written report, due the Week 5 (by 11 p.m.). The actual assignment will need to be emailed as a PDF Grading: I will primarily mark you for the outline of your proposal, but will give some marks for your set objectives. Is the memo well structured? Content - were various components of the assignment included Are the objectives that you provided clear, concise, tangible, credible, well-founded and relevant? Lateness: Late assignments will be accepted at a cost. Each day that you are late will cost you 10% of your total grade. Since this assignment is only worth 5 marks of your final grade, it would be wise to try to submit on time