PR TIMES AFRICA PR TIMES AFRICA Magazine june 2015 | Page 22

5. Link Profiles of Top
Competitors
Understanding the other websites
that link to your competitors is also
helpful. You may want to contact
and/or partner with similar
companies/websites, or use their
link profiles to identify other
websites to contact to link to you.
6. Web Traffic to Top
Competitors
Among other things, understanding
the website traffic of your top
competitors will show their traffic
trends. For example, is one
competitor's traffic rising or
decreasing? Do they experience
seasonal fluctuations? Etc.
Likewise, understanding which
keywords are driving their traffic
alerts you to the keywords for
which you should focus on ranking.
7. Social Media Profiles of Top
Competitors
Social media can tell a lot about a
competitor. Do they have a large
Facebook following? What about
Twitter, or Pinterest, etc.?
Understanding their social media
profiles alerts you to the types of
customers they are serving, and
how customers perceive them,
among others.
Customers are the key to any
company's success, and investors
want to know exactly who your
customers are. Importantly, identify
the distinct customer segments you
are or will target.
9. Demographic Profiles of
Customer Segments
Once you detail which customer
segment(s) you will target, you
must detail their demographic
make-up. For example, what
gender are they, where do they live,
how much money do they make,
etc.? If you serve business clients,
demographic variables also include
the size of their company, what
their title is, etc.
10. Ancillary Needs of Key
Customer Segments
The final step in assessing your
customers is to determine what else
they might be buying before,
during and/or after purchasing from
you. This will help in further
understanding their needs, and alert
you to potential business partners
to contact.
research and present your industry's
average financial metrics, such as
average industry costs, profit
margins, etc.
In summary, when selling to
investors, particularly savvy
investors, be sure to appeal to their
emotions. But remember that
logical selling will generally be
more effective. So rigorously
conduct your market research so
you can present facts and logic that
convinces them to invest in your
company. Not only will the
research prove the viability of your
business to investors, but it will
give you great market and
competitive intelligence that allows
you to gain more customers and
grow faster.
11. Financial Research
Financial Research gives great
credibility to your financial model
and the potential financial returns
to investors. Here you should
8. Detailed Identification of Key
Customer Segments
20
VOL 1. JULY 2015
1ST EDITION
PR TIMES AFRICA