Market research, route to market strategy, Competition research

 Market research

Primary research- surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, observation, test marketing.

Secondary research- market research group, gathering existing information, government statistics.

PRIMARY. Surveys could have a more general audience whilst focus groups may require people in power of a business/ organisation. For example, EN Sports tutors, staff who run social media for organisations, self-employed people, students with portfolios. Approaching these people with surveys and conducting a focus group.

-Looking at what these people look for in buying a service for their business.

 

SECONDARY.       

Route to market strategy:

 

https://entrepreneurhandbook.co.uk/right-route-to-market/

-Direct channels include sales reps, physical shops, e-Commerce websites, mail order and exhibitions

-Indirect channels include sales agents, distributors and franchisees.

 

My business will likely use Direct channels to target customers. Possible options for this are selling online, opening a retail shop, trade shows, pop-up shops, selling to retailers and using sale agents.

OPTIONS:

1.               ☆Selling online☆

2.               Opening a retail store may be difficult unless it was more of an office/ studio for video production. This also has a lot of costs of rent, furnishings, business rates, staff and maintenance.

3.               Trade shows and exhibitions would be a good way to promote business as it would be an opportunity to display showreels or examples of my best work and attract customers. They would understand what style of videos are produced.

4.               Selling via mail-order catalogues could be an option, other than catalogues, pamphlets and advertising flyers could be effective in promoting the business. Although my customer base is quite niche and not aimed at the general public, I would not know where to deliver them to generate more sales.

5.               Using sale agents to promote and sell my service could be effective if it is targeting the right customer base. This could be a cheap and quick way to target my customers whilst also finding out more about what my customers want.

Find customers at local film festivals and small award shows.

Selling online is the main strategy for most video production companies.

Other video production companies with good branding include Skeleton Productions which mainly promote their products using social media. Their website is up to date and visually pleasing, with examples of their best professional work and big companies that they work with.

Market research:

	What they do	How they reach customers	Pricing	Advantages	Disadvantages
Topline Films	Video production company, providing many services from animations to corporate videos.	Work for many large, global, corporations such as Sony and Autotrader. They have most of their following on their YouTube account with 2.27k followers.	Minimum project size is £10,000	Small team size, 6 employees meaning less employee costs. Range of services to offer	High end prices, not available for smaller businesses
Stada Media	Offering corporate video production to businesses through live-action, animation, motion graphics, livestreaming.	Stada Media offer a range of different promotional videos and display their work on their website. They produce TV adverts to explainer videos which provides companies with options to promote. They aim to target businesses’ audiences.	Their website says corporate videos can be from £500 to £50k+. But on average, a 2.3-minute corporate video distributed online usually costs between £1,500 and £5000	They have a range of types of videos that they produce.	They don’t work with many globally known companies. Could add a distinct style to their production to make their company recognisable
Fully Focused Productions	They are a youth-driven production company, founders of Million Youth Media and the MYM Academy. Full scale production company who offer commissions with broadcasters and streaming services.	They have a successful YouTube channel with over 400k subscribers. They also have Million Youth Media and the MYM Academy.
Dragonfly video production	London-based video production company. They provide a full production service for creative campaigns.	Dragonfly work with many large companies such as Sony, Peroni, British Transport Police, NHS, Tui and more. They promise to spread messages with audiences in mind.	Their video advertising service is budgeted at £45,000. Promotional videos at £18,000. Animated videos at £14,000. etc	Used by many big brands. Offers full services of many different video productions.	High-end production with high-end costs.
Eye Film	Video production company producing documentaries, promotional videos, commercials and feature films	Eye Film offer filmmaking workshops and training for people who want to learn the craft. They also target large corporations to create videos for them	Training workshops start at £300 a day. Video productions are likely above £5000 due to high quality productions.	Personal backstory on website. Large team of employees meaning more skills. Has two main customer bases due to offering different services.