Market research is analogous to having a toolbox in your home. You may have heard of it, but many cannot apply this valuable power into their own work. Market research is also called dispatch research, which helps the public understand what they are buying and what they want to buy. If you find yourself interested in sales and marketing, market research can be a passion that will come easily to you, as there’s an understanding not only needed for using all the pieces inside that box at once but also setting them up, so they are user friendly as well!
Market research is sort of like watching pictures unfold. You must be patient before you can see the whole picture, but it’s so worth the wait. Just like seeing a photo album come together, market research will help present a thorough view of who your audience are and how they think about your product or service and what’s missing from your offerings.
Market research is something that is typically associated with data-driven businesses, so you need to know the basics behind market research and why you should invest in it if you are planning on running a data-led business of your own. Once you have some background information on market research, then you can tailor your own market research strategy to the specific needs of your business. By doing this, not only will you be able to develop new products more efficiently, but you’ll also be more informed when it comes time for marketing these products to customers!
What is Market Research?
Anyone can come up with a successful idea for a product, but it’s only the ones who have the capacity to explore certain details that really succeed. As an entrepreneur, there’s no doubt that starting your own business is one of the best ways you can make a name for yourself currently. But without an understanding of aspects like audience behaviors, choosing to dive into the depths of industry performance data isn’t going to do you much good at all.
Market research is essential to the foundation of any successful global marketing strategy, but it requires the application and use of Big Data. Big data allows researchers to explore not only the ways that customers interact with web pages and applications but how they shop, spend, and determine their next purchase choices.
The new wave of technological breakthroughs has made market research much easier to access. Today’s online tools and apps make interpreting data simple. For example, businesses have got access to Google Analytics for free and it offers insights into how people find your website, how users behave on your pages and so on. This makes it easy for business owners to get the information they need quickly without having to waste too much time or money on market research. Even if you’re a brick-and-mortar owner of the store, we believe that market research might be the key to success – especially when paired with forecasts from competing businesses nearby what’s gone viral throughout your home country or continent in recent times.
Powerful research relies on being able to analyse the sorts of patterns that are easy to find in databases containing huge amounts of information related specifically when it comes down to assembling data. Artificial intelligence works well for this because computers can only learn so much, but they are able to perform a lot better than humans alone in these kinds of situations. A market research analyst is someone who knows how to find the best strategies for maximizing profits and reaching affluent customer bases through research – and utilizing new technologies like artificial intelligence can help them do their jobs far easier as this type of information is constantly changing so quickly.
A professional market researcher can be a great source of value for any business. But to succeed you need access to the tools and know-how or at the very least someone who’s done it before. Either way, researching your target market is well worth doing for anyone hoping to start their own business.
Using Research to its Fullest
Most data can be found in public information you can explore through a variety of sources. We feel that market research is a task for those who are willing to dig and can spend long hours using the Internet to tease out the bits and pieces of data needed to make the right decision.
Conducting market research using a host of digital tools is best when supported by your entire team as well as your colleagues, as about 50 percent of all workers worldwide report being given no training whatsoever on how to use their organization’s IT for business purposes. As such, it’s important to make sure your market research efforts are given the support they deserve so that you can get the most out of them – and boost your business revenues in the long run.
- Use all available resources: Measure, measure and then measure again. Although we all love a bargain, not all platforms are created equal (ahem, Groupon…), so be sure to understand what each platform can do and whether it is digestible in the long run. Some digital platforms like Google Analytics can be taken advantage of for free. Meanwhile other sites such as YouTube offer fun little rewards to those who create their own channels – the perfect way to pull on consumer heartstrings while educating them about your product or service!
- Study your customers: They’re second only to your employees in terms of being important. Get to know them better by way of customer analytics. Customer analytics are defined as the process of gathering information about your audience’s habits, behaviors and preferences throughout their relationship with you. It’s worth noting that there are two kinds: online-based analysis and offline-based analysis. Online-based analysis refers to making use of consumer data provided by third party vendors such as Twitter and Facebook, whereas offline-based analysis refers to compiling information from surveys, interviews and focus groups.
- Expand your horizon: Don’t limit yourself to drawing your conclusions only from one platform like Facebook. Explore a broader perspective of your customers’ preferences by using email surveys, phone calls and face to face focus groups. And make sure you have the permission of everyone who is participating in these surveys to protect their privacy. Exploring more areas will give you an honest view of what’s trending out there when it comes to targeting your consumers!
- Summarize and communicate information with your team that could be used to improve your business: Market research is only as valuable as how it’s implemented across your business and marketing process. Without clear and quality communication shared through spreadsheets or whiteboard sessions throughout your team regarding the revelations of your market research, your ability to modify these revelations into a springboard for actionable insights will be limited. Translate data into a story surrounding and captivating verifiable personas, which stem from all types of data like customer surveys and numerical data you might have available on file, then share this across the team via tools like PowerPoint or Google Drive.
- When you’re running a business of your own, it’s very important to never stop researching. It’s not the same for all businesses to constantly stay up to date with news and other forms of media, but it is certainly necessary in most cases. When you have access to relevant information that pertains to your business and its performance, you can then use it accordingly to make better decisions which will ultimately help you gain more ground within the business world in terms of growing your company while always keeping time at bay so as to ensure you’re making the best possible use of this asset. One way that professionals choose to do this when it comes down to using data services is by investing their time into improving their programming skills.
Helpful tools and strategies like these can smooth the course of market research. Improvements in this area will lead to more informed medical and health research. Research which is guided by on-the-ground study with real people as opposed to being led by scientific hypothesis alone will improve the rates at which patients are both diagnosed and treated for illnesses together with prescribing medication. With such new information, you will be able to truly understand how alternative applications of medicinal remedies may affect patients, both negatively and positively, before such practices get adopted universally. This will help improve the quality of life for people around the globe.
Expand your business with our experts
The number of business professionals and sales representatives who use the internet for doing research is rapidly increasing. Business or corporate people, whether they’re B2B or B2C sales reps, have grown so accustomed to being able to get information at the click of a button that they are beginning to expect it everywhere! Studies have shown that many people in the business world now do very little actual “seeing” – even though their work could be improved if they took more time out of their day to check things out in person while also gauging the reactions and feedback of the customers they serve.
Take advantage of market research to explore your clientele, industries, competitors, and even new ideas that could help lead to the next big boost in sales. Utilizing tools such as customer surveys can make a world of difference! Consider outsourcing research work if you need help compiling data or want to go above and beyond to ensure that your business is on track for growth. The key here is not only understanding what customers want (and don’t want), but how successful products differentiate themselves from the competition based on their use case or required features – especially for startups who are designing a custom solution versus competing with an existing product such as something off of Amazon or iTunes.
Market research is an important aspect of growing your business. Becoming a data-driven marketer means to be aware in real time about the changing needs and behaviors within your marketplace. These tools can help you monitor those changes and glean deeper insights into how consumers perceive your brand.
If you’re interested in brainstorming more Inbound Marketing strategies, we invite you to schedule a consultation with our team.
