You have a business. Goes well. But you would like to develop it, try new ideas, explore and exploit opportunities. Then come to the feelings of doubt and fear: if it doesn’t work, if you make mistakes, if you lose more than you invested?
In such situations, the first step is to ask the right questions. Once the questions are established, you start looking for answers. This stage can seem overwhelming, even for the most experienced businessmen. It is important to know where to look for the answers.
Because the questions you have are complex, you sense that the answers are at least at the same level of complexity. And you are right, the answer to a question like “who are my competitors, and what do they do?” May consist, depending on the industry in which you operate, in a report with comparative graphical illustrations and their interpretations.
Such a report can be made following a market study. Market research is a tool that is used in the harmonious development of a business and, especially when you need answers and guidance.
In this regard, you have several options: you can conduct an internal market study, together with your marketing team, or you can choose to consult the market research agencies, which provide you with data accuracy, but also an objective interpretation. Theirs.
How does the market study answer your questions?
When you have questions about your business, it is best to discuss them with specialists who will help you better assess your needs and outline the direction of development.
The questions you have been transformed into the objectives of market research, and these objectives, in turn, are transformed into other questions. Only these new questions are formulated in such a way to be addressed to the respondents (consumers or business clients). In other words, this is how the process of finding the answers you are looking for begins. Together with the research team, set the goals, and then start collecting the primary data.
Primary data is analyzed (through crossover and specific methods of analysis) to extract information that at first sight, is undetectable.
Why do a market study?
Through its objectives, market research offers a strategic advance over competitors. With the help of a market study, products and services can be launched, tested, and improved.
Based on the information gathered, informed decisions can be made, and thus, the risks are reduced. Market research analyzes the behavior, attitude, and opinions of the target audience. This facilitates the definition and planning of other aspects of marketing: promotion, brand evaluation, e-marketing, and business plan.
With the help of a market study, a marketing strategy adapted to the market can be implemented in a well-defined context.
How to do a market study?
Market research is based on methods developed and tested over time both in the business environment and in the academic one.
The main means used in market research are the collection, centralization, analysis, and interpretation of market data relating to customers, competitors, market dimensions, products, and services.
In other words, through research, we look closely at what is happening on the market: what are the needs of consumers, what competitors look like, what opportunities and trends are. Consult the Expert’s Guide to market research to better understand what is, how, and when to do a study.
We present to you the most common methods used to collect the information needed in a market study. Browse them and decide which of them or which mix will have a bigger contribution to your strategy.
Interviews and focus groups
What and how we find out: Even if they are not the same thing, both of them use in-depth sounding opinions. They can use us to examine problems we find (some of the respondents think prices are high) or to test a new idea (a promotional campaign for pops).
Advantages: We can get the answers that interest us directly from our customers. Such polls can be recorded, and then we can pay attention to the nuances of the voice, body language, etc.
Disadvantages: Requires budget, especially for the respondents’ incentive. It requires time and concentration, possibly even an experienced moderator.
Where: We can apply it in any room where it is quiet, and we can have an uninterrupted one-hour discussion.
How to Calmly, with an open mind to critics, attentive to details, with questions ready. Respondents must receive a gift at the end.
The questionnaire in the store
What and how we find out: One question we never give up is, “Where did you find out about us?” The answer to this gives us the dimension of the impact of the different marketing and communication tools we use.
Then, questions for the socio-demographic profile (age, gender, home, education, income, etc.) and for the rest of the things we are interested in, such as preferences, consumption habits, media consumption, etc.
Advantages: The answers are the most representative of what you can have because the respondents are your customers. It’s a quick way to get feedback.
Disadvantages: You can not ask too many questions (maximum 10-12), the man came to the shopping, not to the opinion poll. You can hardly generalize the answers received, because the analysis base is small. However, you can rely on them for a larger online questionnaire.
How to: Printed on a letterhead, accompanied by the seller’s smile request and (possibly) a small personalized gift.
The online questionnaire
What and how we find out: The above question turns into, “Have you heard about us?” And only if the answer is “Yes,” we ask and where.
Advantages: We can interpret the results, which we have directly in the electronic version. We can get representative answers.
Disadvantages: It takes longer to get all the answers we want (for example, 500 respondents). It requires documentation or the advice of someone more experienced to choose the sample and distribution channels to promote the questionnaire.
Where: We can apply it on specialized platforms (like Survey Monkey) or very cheap (like Google Forms).
How: The recommendation for them would be not just to drop it online, waiting for that number of people to answer us, and then see us. And this form of polling can be accompanied by an incentive, such as an email discount voucher.
Find out the answers right now
Sustainably grow your business model, test new ideas, and identify opportunities by conducting market research. The key to your questions lies in the solutions of your consumers or competitors.
While the laws of the market are consistent with the principles, each brand or company has its particularities, so the suggestions must be selected according to these particularities and applied in an optimal context.
Some of the tips can be applied in-house with minimal budgets, while others require the expertise of the specialists.