Entering into the market: Force evaluation

Entering the Market: Attractiveness

Primary objectives and targets set when attempting to enter into any market are the main focus of gaining advantages.  Attractiveness of any market can be evaluated in a variety of ways but one in particular comes to mind.  Micheal Porter's 5 forces model for evaluating attractiveness is based on 5 key business principles that are commonly known.

These are: Buyer power, Supplier power, Threat of new entrants to the market, Threat of substitutes, and the Rivalry among existing competitors. 

Buyer Power is simply the customers ability to either buy a product or service or not.  Buyers have an ability to affect the price they pay for an item.  Some factors of buyer power include the sheer number of customers, their sensitivities to the price of an item or service, how big an order is, and the availability of substitutes in the market.  Companies will attempt to reduce or combat against buyer power by creating Switching costs or costs incurred for changing products or brands.  These can be tangible or intangible.  Some companies like airlines have rewards for maintaining customers loyalty called loyalty rewards or customer rewards.  Gas stations have rewards cards, Grocery stores like Winn Dixie, and Airlines utilize these customer rewards systems.

Supplier Power is the supplier's ability to control or affect change on the price of raw materials.  The supply chain itself consists of that which is needed to bring raw materials and finished products to the market or the business.  These can be direct or indirect services.  Suppliers can affect the price of raw materials, labor, and services needed to provide the materials and transport of them to the customer or business.  Suppliers can greatly influence the price they charge for these.  Some factors that may influence supplier power are the number of or totality of suppliers in a market, how unique or ordinary the suppliers services or products are, and again the availability of substitutes.  It is not uncommon for suppliers in some markets to influence prices or the quality of materials available as well as the availability of the materials.

Threat of New Entrants is a threat situates around the power of competitors to enter into the same market.  This threat is very high when it is easy for a company to enter a market and it is low when their are Barriers to Entry that are significant enough to reduce the ease of entering a market.  Barriers to entering a market are those things which would allow a customer to set a product or service a part from the competitors and force them to provide the same feature or characteristic in order to compete successfully.  If a Brick and mortar company does not have an online presence it is at a disadvantage to its competitors who are already operating in an online environments.  This would be a barrier to entry for them in the particular market.

Threat of substitutes is just the threat to a market of being too many substitutes for a product or service.  If you are developing a company that has an application for stucco removal or a service for tree removal how many others are in the same market and what do they offer in comparison to your company should be considered.  This is a threat to a company because a customer can just take another alternative to you if your prices are high, your service is not as unique, or you have no competitive advantage.  You can reduce the threat of a customer substituting your product or service for another by providing some other unique added value, like a rewards system or discounts or anything else that competitors are not offering.

Existing competitors and Rivalry among them is considered to be high or extreme when when competition is thriving in a market and is thought to be low when competitors have grown complacent in their strategies.  When considering  a market to enter into to make money online, it is best to look at how many competitors are already in that market or niche.  This way you can get an idea of how they are carrying them self or operating and what advantages they may have.  Product differentiation is key in highly competitive markets.  This occurs when you have a unique difference or set of differences in the product or service offered in comparison to the competition, which influences its demand.

So when entering into a market and checking for how attractive it is size is a factor of attractiveness and is customer's demand for the product or service.  offering a wide variety of products can help in differentiating one company from another and set them apart from the competition.  if any of these forces are high then competition is high and vice-versa.   A careful analyses of these 5 forces is necessary to evaluate a markets attractiveness but are not the only evaluative measure.  industry analysis, environmental forces analysis and market share analysis are also primary areas of research when entering in to any market.

Entering the Market: Attractiveness

Primary objectives and targets set when attempting to enter into any market are the main focus of gaining advantages.  Attractiveness of any market can be evaluated in a variety of ways but one in particular comes to mind.  Micheal Porter's 5 forces model for evaluating attractiveness is based on 5 key business principles that are commonly known. 

These are: Buyer power, Supplier power, Threat of new entrants to the market, Threat of substitutes, and the Rivalry among existing competitors. 

Buyer Power is simply the customers ability to either buy a product or service or not.  Buyers have an ability to affect the price they pay for an item.  Some factors of buyer power include the sheer number of customers, their sensitivities to the price of an item or service, how big an order is, and the availability of substitutes in the market.  Companies will attempt to reduce or combat against buyer power by creating Switching costs or costs incurred for changing products or brands.  These can be tangible or intangible.  Some companies like airlines have rewards for maintaining customers loyalty called loyalty rewards or customer rewards.  Gas stations have rewards cards, Grocery stores like Winn Dixie, and Airlines utilize these customer rewards systems.

Supplier Power is the supplier's ability to control or affect change on the price of raw materials.  The supply chain itself consists of that which is needed to bring raw materials and finished products to the market or the business.  These can be direct or indirect services.  Suppliers can affect the price of raw materials, labor, and services needed to provide the materials and transport of them to the customer or business.  Suppliers can greatly influence the price they charge for these.  Some factors that may influence supplier power are the number of or totality of suppliers in a market, how unique or ordinary the suppliers services or products are, and again the availability of substitutes.  It is not uncommon for suppliers in some markets to influence prices or the quality of materials available as well as the availability of the materials.

Threat of New Entrants is a threat situates around the power of competitors to enter into the same market.  This threat is very high when it is easy for a company to enter a market and it is low when their are Barriers to Entry that are significant enough to reduce the ease of entering a market.  Barriers to entering a market are those things which would allow a customer to set a product or service a part from the competitors and force them to provide the same feature or characteristic in order to compete successfully.  If a Brick and mortar company does not have an online presence it is at a disadvantage to its competitors who are already operating in an online environments.  This would be a barrier to entry for them in the particular market.

Threat of substitutes is just the threat to a market of being too many substitutes for a product or service.  If you are developing a company that has an application for stucco removal or a service for tree removal how many others are in the same market and what do they offer in comparison to your company should be considered.  This is a threat to a company because a customer can just take another alternative to you if your prices are high, your service is not as unique, or you have no competitive advantage.  You can reduce the threat of a customer substituting your product or service for another by providing some other unique added value, like a rewards system or discounts or anything else that competitors are not offering.

Existing competitors and Rivalry among them is considered to be high or extreme when when competition is thriving in a market and is thought to be low when competitors have grown complacent in their strategies.  When considering  a market to enter into to make money online, it is best to look at how many competitors are already in that market or niche.  This way you can get an idea of how they are carrying them self or operating and what advantages they may have.  Product differentiation is key in highly competitive markets.  This occurs when you have a unique difference or set of differences in the product or service offered in comparison to the competition, which influences its demand. 

So when entering into a market and checking for how attractive it is size is a factor of attractiveness and is customer's demand for the product or service.  offering a wide variety of products can help in differentiating one company from another and set them apart from the competition.  if any of these forces are high then competition is high and vice-versa.   A careful analyses of these 5 forces is necessary to evaluate a markets attractiveness but are not the only evaluative measure.  industry analysis, environmental forces analysis and market share analysis are also primary areas of research when entering in to any market.

MLM Network marketing is not Affiliate marketing--Just the Facts.

MLM is acronym for Multiple Level Marketing or now commonly called Network Marketing.  MLM has gotten a very bad name due to its very nature.  It incorporates the marketer to purchase a company's products by an automatic renewal program, focuses mostly on signing up users rather than actual sales, and the exploitation of personal relationships.  MLM or referral marketing will allow you to lose or diminish a personal relationship in a fast and expedient manner.  By soliciting you peer groups or local communities for membership in the programs the marketer makes money off of their recruit's high initial sign up costs and creates a down line.  A down line is the number of individuals below the marketer that feed income to the top members by the sign ups for the auto renewals.

Beware of these types of online money making opportunities because of the high risk involved.  Risk of losing valuable community relationships, risk of losing money faster than ability to generate from lack of down line creation by auto renewal products, and time invested that could otherwise be allocated to more fruitful marketing efforts.

MLM is a form of direct selling that creates high incomes for the top most level members and is reminiscent of Avon or Tupperware type of direct selling from an previous era of direct selling.  although direct selling in those days was not as similar to Ponzi Schemes like today.  Avon and Tupperware are reputable companies who do not prey on their down lines like some of the newer age Systems or companies.  They do incorporate direct selling as a major means of sales and bring quality products to their customers.

That being said, NOT all MLM are legitimate businesses.  Some are actual Ponzi Schemes with no products for the auto renewal, and prey on the values and hardships of the limited income households.  The FTC Federal Trade Commission, disregards most MLM as business opportunities all together if they do not provide enough information for the individual to make an informed decision.

The FTC also advises that MLM companies with significant motivations and incentives for recruiting over product sales should be highly scrutinized and skeptically approached. The FTC also warns that the practice of getting commissions from recruiting new members is outlawed in most states.

So when making business venture out into the reaches of the internet look for opportunities that focus on individual sales, personal growth, and education for the marketer in the business and also forums and communities with actual people to talk to rather than recordings or lacking community involvement.  Becoming an affiliate marketer is not network marketing for the reason that you promote products by reputable outlets or vendors and no auto renewal or required purchases. Beginners and intermediates can look into places like Clickbank, Amazon, JVzoo, Offervault for opportunities in affiliate marketing and feel secure in the review process of acceptance into programs and affiliate networks.  The vendors should be getting to know the marketer before accepting them in the program as an affiliate and creating a reputable relationship between one another.

Looking for options to make money online

Making Money

There is a plethora of opportunity on the internet for anyone to make money, there just has to be am intrinsic motivation that pushes for option seeking.  When it comes to some ideas to venture out into the online money making business caution must be exercised or some futility ensue.

Some of the options for making money online are obvious and others are just crackpot ideas.  In  one of the more obvious ways first, online store or resale one can easily reduce risk associated with online business unlike MLM or Pyramid type ventures. These will be discussed in a later blog.

Once you have secured a domain, installed an SQL or CSS database or other platform (Discussed in a later blog) you can market products or services on your online store built with your database software or other platform.  Some people make online garage sales where they sell various things that they have found or traded for.  Similar to how E-bay got started.  It fairly common now to open an E-bay store or Amazon store and link it to your own site in order to have this online garage sale venue.

Like online retail stores, you can have your own but never have tangible products in inventory.  Promoting other business or individual's products is another way to have a retail environment via affiliate marketing.  CPA, CPC, PPC all these terms are associated with this type of online venture.  Cost per action, Cost per click, Pay per click ads allow the marketer to pay when their ad is clicked on by their target audience.

Hackney Productions_Online Marketing page

Our Online marketing page is now almost finished.  I have some informational materials that I would like to post and opportunities for beginning online marketers to get in the industry.  As an entrepreneur myself I know it is a difficult process and the is so much information out there.  I want to help bring you products that I use and feel will help you build your trust with your customers and communities. 

Online Marketers Tool Box

It is important to have a solid and aged website for starters and be indexed significantly in the major search engines.  There is the tried and true ability of SEO experts to do this for you or you can do it yourself depending on your skill level.  There is an option to buy an already aged domain name but this can be expensive.

Next, you will want an auto responder service and email marketing system.  There are plenty of these out there to choose from and some more expensive and more fruitful than others.  It is important to have a means to build subscriber lists in order to be successful marketing on the internet.  A good squeeze page or sign up page rather, will assist in doing this.

Finally, but not exhausting this list is traffic and content.  Content is what drives traffic to your sites and increases likelihood for conversions.  A good CTR Click Through Rate is a top goal for online marketers.  There are various other ways to get traffic from content as well like blogging, (CPC) cost per click and (PPC) Pay per Click ads that promote your sites.  Some key words may be more expensive than others depending on your niche.

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Fixed Blogs landing page  it will now no longer redirect to my site

About

I am former Military and a 12 year Flooring Contractor venturing into Internet Marketing. I am a Communication Scholar and Marketing Entrepreneur who takes great pride in sharing information that may increase the quality of someone's life and/or bring them a product or service that full fills a need.

Hackney Productions is dedicated to revolutionizing our customers and communities by creating a more progressive experience. The way you have always done business or shared information on a forum community will be a thing of the past. We strive to make your relationship and customer experience come alive and drive you home satisfied and away from shoddy communities, services or products. Far too often lack of sincerity, compassion, and selfless service can hinder one's loyalties. Loyalty constraints like forgetting that customers are people and not meeting their needs will reduce satisfaction levels for customers, and online communities. It is time for you and your family to help us complete our mission to deliver personally satisfying and unique esteem building relationships allowing you to create your own unique customer experience.

Initiate quality interpersonal interactions with our members and customers by Integrating our goals and needs in order to build Interlucidity.

Interlucidity

Hackney Productions seeks to earn that Interlucidious relationship status with our customers and communities. That is a relationship that is inter-connected in its understandings of one another, each of our needs, and lifelong goals and partnerships. 

Interconnected Lucid Information exchanges and Customer need satisfaction are just the types of relationship communities we aim to create.  We dedicate our time to efficacious endeavors for our readers and customers, allowing a stable, goal oriented and solution based Interlucidious relationship.

Initiating superfluous communication with our following and customers will insure minimal breakdowns in customer understanding through our communication channels, and the informational resources provided will maintain a level of lucidity.

Integration is the key to success in any business or relationship growth.  We seek to integrate our customers and communities into our lives by sharing our concern for their goals and not creating demands for their already complex needs.  Our customer's goals are top priority in seeking solutions for our niches, whether it be Flooring project goals, Health and Fitness, Marketing or any other targeted achievements.

Services

 Services

Hackney Productions is serving many areas of internet marketing, information sharing communities and also the Flooring industry in Oklahoma. Our sites are intended to venture into the many other areas where Consumers need solutions, whether it be Flooring, Marketing and Advertising, or Niche oriented Social communities.

As an Oklahoma based Custom Flooring solution we saw it necessary to provide other services to those in need. Therefore, we have ventured into Food & Beverage, Health and Fitness, Technology & Internet, and Video Game markets in order to provide unique customer solutions.

Moreover, our websites create lifestyle changes by empowering you with knowledge to increase your quality of life. Our cooking show and recipe club brings money saving meals that bring you away from fast food and back to unique family eating experiences. We will be teaching legitimate health & fitness lessons, workouts, and diets while debunking the bad ones on the internet. And ideas for Family Entertainment. Making money on the internet and internet marketing opportunities will be available on our Main site and will cover several niches.

Mission

Our company values long term Customer Relationships over short term profits for the very reasons that you would value Dedication, Support, and Family Commitment. At Hackney Productions we CANNOT simply rely on short term income for long term growth of our family. You the customer are our Family in the same sense that you children are your family. Like children, our customers are our primary investments for our future and the care we give them determines their excellence, accomplishments, and above all veritable satisfaction.

Hackney Productions

Hackney Productions is a locally owned and operated Flooring Installation and Design Contractor Service. We have been in business since 2000 and have recently expanded into Internet Marketing.

Our Web presence exists within several Industries: Flooring, Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, Online Marketing, and Technology & Internet.

We seek to satisfy Consumer needs for Flooring and Information.
Increased Quality of Life for our customers and readers through Community and Empowering Educational websites is our top priority.