By Juno Yates
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It’s not always easy knowing what your customers want. It’s even tough in many cases to reach new audiences that might be tougher to identify. We all wish we could read minds, but it’s just not possible. The next best thing: market research.
Market research is a practice that allows businesses to use various strategies to learn what customers new and old want. It helps identify purchasing trends, needs, and even preferences that could help boost your business. If you’re getting started with market research or looking to revamp your approach, check out these 8 market research tips to perfect your marketing strategy from a trusted startup branding agency.
8 Tips for Market Research Every Business Should Know
Even if you have a plan in place for market research, this list of tips should help make sure you’re covering every element you need for growth and marketing success.
Determine What You Need to Know Most
It’s not likely that you need every bit of information on every single potential customer right away. The door that market research opens can flood information into the hands of your marketing team. Rather than overwhelm them, find out what you need to know most.
This might be as simple as finding out which demographic views your products the most. It might be as complicated as what regions of the country tend to buy what you sell most frequently. There are things you can uncover with market research; if you know how to do it right, that is. That’s why these tips can mean a world’s difference.
Explore Your Options
From surveys to customer focus groups, there are a variety of ways to do market research. Every method is going to work differently for each business. Take some time to review the different options you have and see what you think might work best for your industry, market, and location.
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Utilize Collected Data
Guess what: you already have access to data you can be using more effectively.
Collected data from purchases can tell you a lot of what your audience looks like and wants without even having to draft a survey. Explore customer orders to find out if trends exist, such as age, gender, and other demographics that might help your marketing strategy.
Make Sure to Use What You Learn
When you complete market research, don’t just look it over and say, “Okay, now we know!”
This info is to be used, so draft strategic marketing plans with these findings for maximum success.
Seek Out Overlooked Audiences
If you’re usually catering to adults over the age of 35, it might be too short-sighted to say you don’t have an audience for young adults. In fact, take stock of all the audiences you “Don’t cater to” and think again. You might have some surprises in store.
Use Market Research to Fuel Product Research
When you find in your market research that certain wants or needs that exist in your audience aren’t being met, it’s time to do product research as well.
See where you can expand and grow. If you know your audience wants it, you’ll have less of a risk in guessing if it’ll sell.
Track your Subsequent Marketing Strategies Carefully
When it’s time to move past the process of conducting market research and into the actual marketing strategy phase, think carefully and track carefully.
Make sure you have your KPIs and metrics for success defined from the getgo so you know what works and what doesn’t.
Keep Researching!
One thing that won’t help anybody is a single market research campaign and then some minor changes. While it might seem daunting, you’ll want to work market research into a permanent role in your business.
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With these tips and a dedicated approach to market research, you’ll be surprised how much more prepared you are for the future!
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