What is market research and why is it important to your business?
First, we need to understand WHAT it is. Market Research can be described as the action of gathering, analysing and interpreting information to help solve marketing challenges, which are pertinent to your business and the sector(s) you are involved in.
Why is it important? It is an integral part of the success of your marketing plan. As mentioned in previous posts here on the Kleurvision website, you want to view your marketing plan as a living, breathing, evolving thing, that is in a constant state of evolution with many moving parts. We use market research for a variety of reasons, as it helps our marketing team make educated decisions on our clients’ businesses. Market research is a vital element when developing your marketing strategy! And when it is done correctly, it will provide details and help carve out your marketing plan by enlightening you about your marketing activities – such as identifying who your core audience is, understanding the requirements of your target audience, helping to understand what key messages you should convey and what is the best way to convey them.
You want to view running your business as an on-going education session. Your company will have to jump, pivot, change, alter your plans – and market research will help you keep your business current and at the forefront of your audiences’ eyes. In business, we should always be learning about our working environment, our customers and their needs and preferences. No matter what sector your business is in, the environment is constantly changing (as the year 2020 has shown us!), so it’s important to make sure you are researching it and understand what factors are changing that could impact your marketing strategy and plans.
Without market research we are reliant on personal bias, instinct and anecdotal information to make key marketing decisions, and this is not always accurate.
The main goal of market research is to gain insight. To grow, educate and empower ourselves as business owners, so that our ROI in marketing efforts are maximized. In your research, you will want to explore the following:
- Brand research – researching into your market, your sector, your own brand and what associations are made
- Review your current marketing campaign effectiveness
- Explore your competitors and research their marketing environments
- Conduct consumer research for your industry
- Look into product development for what you sell – how are you unique and how do you stand out?
These are just a few things to explore – and each business’ research needs to be customized to what you offer to your customers and audience.
Market research works. Consider what your industry is, and how you sell, how you communicate and how you express your company and your brand. Question your business and what you put out there. For example:
- Do you translate into other languages? If so, how does your tagline/slogan of your campaign translate?
- Do you have intense brand loyalty? Will changing your product lose your fans and loyal customers?
- Does the technology you use or sell stay relevant and create a good user experience? Should you change what your customers are comfortable with using?
- Does your brand spokesperson(s) resonate well with your audience, or will your customers be offended or put off by your choice?
- Do you sell packaged items? What does your packaging look like and what story or identity does it tell to your audience?
- Do you regularly review the news and media when you release a marketing campaign? You don’t want to come across as offensive or uneducated in both localized and world events.
The questions you can ask yourself in regards to marketing strategies are endless!
In short, it is abundantly clear that market research is a vital part of developing your marketing strategy. The insights you can get for your business and on the wider marketplace are instrumental in your education of your business. Market research can identify how your audience, your customers and your potential customers might view your business and identify gaps in customer expectations and experience. This is powerful information to have when completing your marketing strategy.
Having market education and intelligence will help to minimize risks when making key business decisions.
There are far too many benefits in ensuring you do your market research, but there is no doubt that it is overwhelming. Want to chat? Reach out to us – our team at Kleurvision is always happy to chat about anything to do with marketing!
