Marketing research is the right start for any business project. It helps you find out who your customers are, what pains they have, what you can offer them, what makes your product unique, how to build advertising, etc.
Relevance of market research
Market research is where any business project should ideally begin. Analyzing its results will help you correctly form a promotion strategy and minimize possible risks even before the product is launched on the market.
In one way or another, Almost every company is engaged in marketing research. It isn’t easy to imagine a manager or marketer who does not collect information about competitors or the target audience. Of course, such studies can hardly be called professional, but on their basis, a competent leader may well make decisions based on experience and intuition. However, when the wrong decision can cost the company too much, it is worth taking market research more seriously. Alternatively, you can order marketing research from specialists.
When should research be done?
Market research is carried out in the following cases:
- Entering new markets.
- New product introduction.
- Rebranding.
- The need to determine the price of products or services.
- Deciding on channels and methods of product promotion.
- Sales policy formation.
- Determination of consumer incentive methods.
Marketing research itself is just a collection of statistics. The principal value for the head of the company is the conclusions that are made on their basis. Incorrect or inaccurate conclusions will direct all further actions along the wrong path, while a well-conducted analysis of the collected data will allow:
- Study the needs and preferences of the target audience.
- Assess the market prospects of your products and services.
- Evaluate and improve the effectiveness of promoting your products.
- Determine your strengths and weaknesses compared to your competitors.
- Develop an effective strategy to counter competitors.
And make better-informed management decisions.
How is market research done?
As part of the study, the following activities are carried out:
- Market analysis: determining its size, capacity, and structure, segmentation, determining the leading players and their market shares, and building development forecasts.
- Study of the needs and preferences of consumers through a survey and questioning.
- Conducting a study of the effectiveness of the work of personnel using the “mystery shopper” method.
After that, the obtained data is processed, and statistical analysis is carried out (averages, frequencies, correlation coefficients, etc., are calculated). Finally, conclusions are drawn based on the data obtained, and recommendations are made on forming a different strategy for promoting the product on the market.
Data collection usually requires time and human resources. Therefore, it can be challenging to carry it out for the company. This applies, for example, to telephone surveys and questionnaires when it is necessary to call a large number of people in a short time. In such a situation, the involvement of an outsourcing contact center in work will help. In addition, professional operators will perform a survey of potential customers and act as “mystery shoppers” if there is a need to evaluate the performance of your staff.