Understanding The Audience - How Companies Conduct Market Research

By Author: Zak Agency
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This is especially important for start-ups that have designed a great product idea but are not yet sure who their target audience would be. Determining whether there is a market for a product could save a new company from investing money into a fool’s errand, or could help them to decide on doubling down on their idea.

So, how do companies conduct market research?

How Market Research Can Benefit a Business

Market Research remains relevant for companies no matter their size, success or employee count. Here are some of the ways Market Research can benefit a business:

• Improving the Product. When you find out what customers really want and need, you can evolve your product to meet those requests.
• Adjusting the Price. If the product is too expensive, you might be losing sales. If it is too cheap, you could be losing profit. Market Research can help a company get the price just right.
• Designing Promotions. By taking inspiration from the rest of the market as well as what appeals to your customers, you can develop a promotion that's more likely to engage with them.
• Placement. ...
... Market research helps you find locations and channels that are most visited by your audience so you can promote your product and sell it in just the right place.
• Avoid unpleasant surprises. Market research can help a company determine whether a new feature or product is a good idea, and stop it before they invest too much money. It can also reveal unfavourable release dates or seasons.

Market Research should be conducted regularly, so it has the potential to inform you about changes in the industry and demographic. This, in turn, permits you to create more effective marketing campaigns, recognize changes in demand, find new markets to sell to and offer products and services that enjoy high demand.

Market Research not only includes researching your audience, however. It also requires you to take a look at existing and emerging competition.

How Companies Conduct Market Research

Effective market research has to be undertaken regularly and can, therefore, be a considerable time investment. Often, companies have teams dedicated to this purpose. However, it is also possible to outsource the task to a market research company.
These will usually be well versed in strategies that allow them to collect relevant information.

Market Research involves two main sources of information:
Primary

This is information gained directly from the source. For example, information obtained through interviewing or surveying customers and speaking to competitors or potential buyers. This allows the information to be more detailed, qualitative and personal and can help establish a deeper connection with an audience.
Secondary

Secondary information is more easily gained via data that is already accessible online. It is cheaper and easier to find this information, and there are many tools available to market research companies and teams to obtain this type of information.

Some of the channels for secondary research involves

• Gathering statistics
• Reports
• Studies
• Competitor research via SEO tools
• Google Analytics to analyze audience demographic

Information can also be accessed via the company’s industry trade association. This often provides a wealth of knowledge such as market statistics, member lists, as well as books and reference material.

At the heart of market research lies targeted investigation at questions that are a priority to new and established companies.
These questions include:

• Who are your target customers?
• Who and where is your main competition?
• What are the defining characteristics of your market?
• What potential is there for your product?
• Can you meet current needs in the market?
• What is your geographic market?

Once these questions are answered, market researchers can conduct more specific research and gather primary data from the right sources.

Market Research - A Necessity.

A company might decide to bypass researching their market in the belief that it would only confirm what they already guessed. But failing to investigate the right market can lead to the death of a product or company and cost the owner dearly.

While market research isn't cheap, it enables companies to find the most fitting audience for their products. That's as well as uncovering the most effective sales and engagement techniques for your brand. Without knowing your audience, it is nearly impossible to establish a connection that makes them feel heard and understood.

It is crucial to gather both secondary and primary information to really understand the needs of an audience. If your company is unable to invest the time into market research, it might be worth hiring a market research company to answer the most pressing questions.