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How do you know if your business idea has potential? To predict the future of a project and launch a successful startup, you first need to conduct the market research.
A marketing analysis will give you a clear understanding of whether your product is unique in the market, whether it can compete with others, whether it will be in demand among a certain target audience, and much more.
In this case study, we’ll tell you how our remote marketing department conducted a marketing analysis for a startup that is at the business idea stage — the production of peanut butter in Canada.
Project CMO — Krystyna Gladunova.
Our service is a remote marketing department: marketing analysis.
Case study navigation
- Our team
- Stage one. Introductory consultation
- Stage two. Marketing research
- Stage three. Conclusions
- Stage four. Basic strategy
- Results of the work
Approximate time for reading the case — 10 minutes.
Our team
To conduct a marketing analysis, we form a team of specialists who can fulfill the tasks.
Stage one. Introductory consultation
The specifics of a marketing analysis will differ depending on the stage of a startup — a business idea or a finished product — and the corresponding needs.
That’s why we always hold an introductory consultation with the client first, during which they fill out a brief. This allows us to better understand the project, its product, and the need.
This is how a client came to us with the following request:
№1: It is necessary to understand whether it is advisable to launch and develop a brand of natural peanut butter in Vancouver and Canada in general;
№2: if the business idea is promising, what marketing strategy should be used to enter the market and further promote it.
The planned project, as we have already partially mentioned above, is the production of natural peanut butter, jams, honey, and salted caramel.
Its key advantages should be:
- free delivery;
- a wide range of products;
- a social initiative to plant trees.
Stage two. The market research
After we learned more about the business idea and the client’s needs, we proceeded to conduct a direct marketing analysis with a focus on the market research. It consisted of the following steps:
Step 1. General market overview
At this stage, we have generally defined whether peanut butter is a popular product in Canada, what competitive brands are on the market, and what consumption trends exist in the market.
We found out that:
- the peanut butter market in Canada is relatively stable and developed, as this product is popular in the Canadian food market;
- the market is quite competitive, with many well-known brands: Kraft, Jif, and Skippy. They have a wide customer base and are quite well known among consumers. However, there are also lesser-known brands on the market that target a specific segment of consumers;
- Canada is a country that focuses on a healthy lifestyle, so there is a growing demand for peanut butter with less sugar, salt and saturated fat.
Step 2. Quantitative research on consumption and consumer behavior
This is how we investigated what products Canadians most often consume, their attitude to brands, and the impact of advertising on consumers. We also determined how often they consume peanut butter and what part of the target audience is ready to switch to a new brand, etc.
Step 3. Market trends and tendencies
Analyzing market trends is an important stage of marketing analysis for any business. It allows you to:
+ predict the demand for your product or service;
+ identify opportunities for development;
+ learn about changes in consumer behavior;
+ differentiate yourself from competitors and take a leading position.
Therefore, we analyzed the data by region, the seasonality of demand, and the factors that influence it.
Step 4. Analyze your competitors
If your product is not unique, you will inevitably face competition. Of course, this can create difficulties and obstacles. But if you study your competitors thoroughly and analyze their strengths and weaknesses in depth, you can stay one step ahead.
That’s why we researched which competitors exist in the market, what they offer and for how much, what visual design their product has, etc.
Examples of packaging design:
In particular, we analyzed competitors’ content on their social networks and websites. These are two Canadian local producers of craft pastes — New World Organics and Nuts to you Nut Butter.
Social networks
First of all, we identified which social networks competitors use:
- TikTok
What exactly did we analyze?
- filling in the profile header and highlights;
- profile visual and its content;
- percentage of audience engagement;
- regularity of posting;
- what paid social media promotion tools they use;
- examples of influencers with whom brands have collaborated;
- strengths and weaknesses of the company’s pages.
Competitors’ websites
To be effective, each website should have a clear structure, attractive and modern design, comprehensive, useful and interesting text content, be easy to use and adapted to any device: from a PC to a smartphone.
That’s why we analyzed these components while studying competitors’ websites.
Stage three. Conclusions
After analyzing the peanut butter market in Canada and Vancouver in particular, we concluded that it was inappropriate to launch this project as originally planned and explained why.
Reason №1. There are a lot of manufacturers on the market, from giants that are sold in supermarkets to small businesses.
Reason №2. According to the research, most consumers are used to and usually buy certain brands. And only less than a third are ready to change brands.
Reason №3. Peanut butter is usually bought together with other products, so ordering it separately means additional time and resources.
Reason №4. Based on Google trends, we can say that there is a little demand for peanut butter in the city of Vancouver and in the District of British Columbia in general.
Reason №5. Statistics show that although organic pasta is quite popular in Canada, it is not a key criterion in making a purchase decision for most people.
Reason №6. Peanut butter is a national product for Canada. Therefore, most brands that position themselves as organic producers develop storytelling about a family business that has existed for many years. Or it is expected that behind a small production is a person who has been consuming this product since early childhood and therefore understands it well.
Reason №7. Cost. Consumers are already used to buying peanut butter at a price of $6.7 for a 750 gram jar. At the same time, smaller producers have an average price of $8.99 per 500 gram jar.
Stage four. Basic strategy
If we focus on the whole of Canada, the hypothesis of producing organic peanut butter and other products still has the right to live.
In order to accurately assess demand, we proposed to launch a test promotion of the product.
To do this, we developed a basic marketing strategy that included:
- developing a specific positioning;
- creating attractive minimalist packaging;
- placement of products on marketplaces;
- creating store pages on social media;
- ordering advertising from influencers;
- attracting paid traffic channels such as Google, Facebook, and Instagram;
- selling products at retail outlets that sell “healthy food” and eco-products through a partner network.
This is how we described each of these areas to the client in more detail and provided additional recommendations.
Results of the work
As a result of the marketing analysis, a business idea for the production of peanut butter was developed:
Market research
- target audience;
- consumer behavior;
- trends and tendencies;
- competitors;
- their social networks and websites.
Basic strategy
- packaging and positioning;
- content strategy for the website;
- content strategy for social networks;
- design of pages in social networks;
- work with influencers;
- marketplaces;
- paid traffic channels on Google, Facebook, and Instagram;
- offline trading.
Also, learn how we conducted a marketing analysis for startups with existing products but different needs. You can read them here and here.
