Irrespective of whether you are an old player or a business breaking new ground, market research is key to understanding your target market and niche customers to design valuable services and products, fill a yawning supply-demand gap, and push sales. But that’s not all. Here are five ways market research can help your business.
Story Stages
1. Brand Perception
If you are a veteran in the business, you might want to know how your product/services are matching up to the consumer’s expectations. Businesses rarely work unilaterally where products are designed and released in the market ceaselessly. It is important to gain control by taking your target customers’ feedback from time to time to check their awareness of your brand, how they perceive it, what changes they suggest, and how they compare your brand with your competitors’. Gather survey results to improve your brand assets and develop your positioning in the market.
2. Consumer Study
It is not easy for entrepreneurs to guess their market reach and make holistic projections about their target audience and discover the best ways to reach them. Designing consumer questionnaires containing pertinent questions would help you focus better on production, designing, and distribution/marketing processes. This will weed out the dispensable, and reduce production and campaign costs in many ways by streamlining your approach methods. Design useful questionnaires that would give you an idea about the age, gender, marital status, area of residence, education, and personal preferences of your focus group.
3. Review the Blueprint
If your brand is getting a lukewarm response — not exactly the kind you expected, perhaps it is time to review the original blueprint and tweak your marketing strategies. It takes time and effort to design methods to gain feedback from your customers about the look and feel of your marketing approach and messages. As an entrepreneur, you leave no stone unturned to spread and increase brand awareness through various marketing gimmicks and campaigns. However, you must ensure that your techniques are resonating well with your target audience.
4. Grab Opportunities
Never miss an opportunity to grow, expand or try something new in the territory. Market research will help you gain insight into the existing data and form conclusive and realistic business decisions. It is imperative to test the waters before you go big — conduct thorough research before you launch your brand in a new geographical region or float a new product in the market. Optimise your strategies to make allowances for and study the market size, industry dynamics, demographics, industry suppliers, distribution system, and competitors.
5. Seek Feedback on Prototype
Before you nosedive full swing into production, marketing, and finalising a product, it is important to take your customers’ feedback on the prototype, product features, and packaging. Important information like their perception of the brand features — its appearance, design, utility, ease of use, colour scheme, and other variables are valuable inputs.
Market research is an indispensable exercise for businesses of all sizes. However, it can be a time- and resource-intensive process. A trusted market research agency like Kadence International can take away the load of conducting exhaustive market analysis and help businesses achieve incredible results.