Most organizations know their current market. They may have defined it geographically, mapped it, and know their market share. But how can they systematically identify and assess new markets? Potential new markets can be assessed by combining knowledge about the key quality characteristics of the product or service and typical customer archetypes. The demographic and sociographic characteristics of the new market can then be compared to the customer archetypes. The analysis can be enriched by any number of additional types of information, including:

• Information about competitor locations and their service offerings
• Results from market preference surveys
• Traffic statistics and drive time analysis

Then, today’s mapping software can be used to create detailed analytics and systematically assess market potential, optimal points of service, and even project customer volume.