Determining Market Needs

Once you’ve got an idea of the project, the basic needs of the client, site intent,
and audience, it’s time to determine whether the market will bear out a site of
the nature you’re trying to develop. This is specific to public Web sites, but even
private intranets may be improved by asking similar questions.
The goals of determining market needs include the following:
Understanding the market size for the product or service, which you’ll be
representing
Preparing to manage any economic or other challenging factors within
the market in question
Knowing the market players and examining their methods for success or
stumbling blocks
Identifying potential competitors for long-range tracking
Identifying potential collaborators for long-term, mutually beneficial
relationships
At this stage of the game, it’s very helpful for the project manager to sit down and
do serious research to answer the following questions:
Who are the existing market players?
How are they using their sites effectively (or not)?
Who is their targeted demographic and is it different from the one
defined by this project?
Is there any current measure of customer satisfaction?
Of course, the real work comes in once you’ve got this information. By studying
market players, economics, demographics, and current satisfaction levels, you will
be best able to position your project effectively in the current market.