Marketing research in practice
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2025 6:51 am
Today's consumers have enormous power. When running a business, you need to understand your customers and what influences their purchasing decisions.
This guide was created to help you conduct thorough research on your market, target audience, competitors, and more. Let's dive into it.
What is marketing research?
Marketing research is the process of gathering zalo database information about the target market and customers to ensure the success of a new product, help the team refine an existing product, or understand brand perception to ensure the team is effectively communicating the company's values.
Marketing research can provide answers to a variety of questions about the state of an industry. Marketers research several areas of the market, and it can take weeks or even months to build an accurate picture of the business landscape.
However, studying just one of these areas can help you better understand your customers and how to provide value that no other business is offering them right now.
Competitors also have experienced industry professionals and a customer base. It is quite possible that the immediate resources largely coincide with the immediate resources of competitors. To gain an advantage, you need to strive for a larger sample size to obtain answers.
Why conduct marketing research?
Marketing research allows you to meet your customers where they are. As our world becomes increasingly noisy and demanding of attention, this is invaluable. By understanding the problems, pain points, and desired solutions of customers, you can properly develop a product or service that will interest them.
Marketing research also provides insight into:
Where your target audience and current customers conduct research on your products or services
Which competitors does the target audience turn to for information, options, or purchases?
What are the trends in the industry and in the eyes of the buyer?
Who shapes the market and what are its problems?
What influences purchases and conversions among the target audience
Consumer attitudes toward a particular topic, issue, product or brand
Is there a demand for business initiatives?
Attitude towards pricing of a specific product or service
Ultimately, marketing research allows you to gather information from a large sample of your target audience, removing bias and assumptions to gain insight into consumer sentiment.
Types of Marketing Research
Let's look at each type separately.
1. Interview
Interviews allow for face-to-face discussions, which allows for a natural flow of conversation. Interviewees can answer questions about themselves that can help build a picture of the buyers and shape the entire marketing strategy.
2. Focus groups
Focus groups provide a handful of carefully selected people who can test a product and provide feedback. This type of marketing research can provide ideas for product differentiation.
3. Research on the use of the product/service
Product or service usage research provides insight into how and why an audience uses a product or service. This type of marketing research also provides insight into how convenient the product or service is for the target audience.
4. Observational research
Observational research allows you to sit back and observe how members of your target audience use your product or service, what works well in terms of UX, and what aspects of it could be improved.
5. Buyer persona research
Buyer persona research provides a realistic picture of who your target audience is.
6. Market segmentation research
Market segmentation research allows you to divide your target audience into different groups (or segments) based on specific and defining characteristics. This way, you can determine effective ways to meet their needs.
7. Pricing research
Pricing research will help you determine your pricing strategy. It will give you an idea of what similar products or services are selling for in the market and how much your target audience is willing to pay.
8. Competitive analysis
Competitive analysis provides deep insight into the competition in the market and industry. The analysis will allow you to learn what is doing well in the industry and how you can stand out from the competition.
9. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research
Researching customer satisfaction and loyalty will help you understand how you can attract current customers to your business and what will motivate them to do so (e.g. loyalty programs, rewards, excellent customer service).
10. Brand Awareness Research
Brand awareness research will tell you what your target audience knows about your brand and what they learn from it. It will tell you about the associations people have when they buy a product or service.
11. Research the campaign
Campaign research involves studying past campaigns and analyzing their success among target audiences and current customers. The goal is to use the knowledge gained to conduct future marketing campaigns.
How to Conduct Marketing Research
1. Define the buyer persona.
You need to understand how customers in your industry make purchasing decisions. That's where buyer personas come in. Buyer personas, sometimes called marketing personas, are fictional, generalized images of ideal customers.
Here are some key characteristics to look for in a buyer persona:
Age
Floor
Location
Position(s)
Job Titles
Family size
Income
Main problems
The idea is to use the image as a guide to effectively engage and learn from real audiences in the industry.
2. Determine the group of characters with whom the interaction will take place.
This should be a representative sample of your target customers so you can better understand their real characteristics, problems, and purchasing habits.
How to Identify the Right People to Participate in Marketing Research
When choosing who to involve in conducting marketing research, you need to:
Expect 10 participants per buyer.
Select people who have recently communicated with you.
Focus on behavior over the past six months (or up to a year).
Gather a group of participants. Attract people who have purchased the product, a competitor's product, and decided not to buy anything at all.
Provide an incentive. Encourage someone to spend 30-45 minutes researching.
3. Prepare research questions for marketing research participants.
The best way to get the most out of conversations is to be prepared for them.
You should always formulate questions to ensure that time is used wisely. Questions should be short and open-ended (with the possibility of a longer answer). Asking open-ended questions will help avoid monosyllabic answers (which are not very helpful).
Sample 30-minute survey plan
Background information (5 minutes)
Here, find out background information about the buyer (job title, how long they've been with the company, etc.). Then ask a fun/simple question to lighten the mood (first concert attended, favorite restaurant in town, etc.).
Introduction (5 minutes)
The key here is to understand how they first realized they had a problem that needed to be solved, without getting into the question of whether they already knew about the brand.
Review (10 minutes)
Now it's time to go into more detail about how and where the buyer researched potential solutions. This is where you can ask for more information.
Decision Making (10 minutes)
Find out what sources have an impact, whether there were alternatives for comparison, the pros and cons of different suppliers. Identify what factors influenced the final purchase decision.
Closing
Taking stock and understanding what could have been better for the buyer. Clarifying what the ideal buying process would look like. How would it differ from what they experienced?
Leave time for further questions after the work is completed.
4. List your main competitors.
Sometimes a division of a company may compete with the core product or service, even though that company's brand may be putting more effort into another area.
Don't underestimate the importance of looking at the websites that come up when you search Google for industry terms that describe your company. Compare the search results to your buyer persona. If the content being published on the website is similar to what the buyer would like to see, it is a potential competitor and should be added to your list of competitors.
5. Sum up.
To make the process easier, you can use your favorite presentation program to create the report, as it makes it easy to add quotes, charts, and a spreadsheet is great for breaking down teams by persona and customer/prospect.
Conducting market research can open up new horizons. Completing the research will likely open up new channels and provide messaging tips to help improve engagement.
This guide was created to help you conduct thorough research on your market, target audience, competitors, and more. Let's dive into it.
What is marketing research?
Marketing research is the process of gathering zalo database information about the target market and customers to ensure the success of a new product, help the team refine an existing product, or understand brand perception to ensure the team is effectively communicating the company's values.
Marketing research can provide answers to a variety of questions about the state of an industry. Marketers research several areas of the market, and it can take weeks or even months to build an accurate picture of the business landscape.
However, studying just one of these areas can help you better understand your customers and how to provide value that no other business is offering them right now.
Competitors also have experienced industry professionals and a customer base. It is quite possible that the immediate resources largely coincide with the immediate resources of competitors. To gain an advantage, you need to strive for a larger sample size to obtain answers.
Why conduct marketing research?
Marketing research allows you to meet your customers where they are. As our world becomes increasingly noisy and demanding of attention, this is invaluable. By understanding the problems, pain points, and desired solutions of customers, you can properly develop a product or service that will interest them.
Marketing research also provides insight into:
Where your target audience and current customers conduct research on your products or services
Which competitors does the target audience turn to for information, options, or purchases?
What are the trends in the industry and in the eyes of the buyer?
Who shapes the market and what are its problems?
What influences purchases and conversions among the target audience
Consumer attitudes toward a particular topic, issue, product or brand
Is there a demand for business initiatives?
Attitude towards pricing of a specific product or service
Ultimately, marketing research allows you to gather information from a large sample of your target audience, removing bias and assumptions to gain insight into consumer sentiment.
Types of Marketing Research
Let's look at each type separately.
1. Interview
Interviews allow for face-to-face discussions, which allows for a natural flow of conversation. Interviewees can answer questions about themselves that can help build a picture of the buyers and shape the entire marketing strategy.
2. Focus groups
Focus groups provide a handful of carefully selected people who can test a product and provide feedback. This type of marketing research can provide ideas for product differentiation.
3. Research on the use of the product/service
Product or service usage research provides insight into how and why an audience uses a product or service. This type of marketing research also provides insight into how convenient the product or service is for the target audience.
4. Observational research
Observational research allows you to sit back and observe how members of your target audience use your product or service, what works well in terms of UX, and what aspects of it could be improved.
5. Buyer persona research
Buyer persona research provides a realistic picture of who your target audience is.
6. Market segmentation research
Market segmentation research allows you to divide your target audience into different groups (or segments) based on specific and defining characteristics. This way, you can determine effective ways to meet their needs.
7. Pricing research
Pricing research will help you determine your pricing strategy. It will give you an idea of what similar products or services are selling for in the market and how much your target audience is willing to pay.
8. Competitive analysis
Competitive analysis provides deep insight into the competition in the market and industry. The analysis will allow you to learn what is doing well in the industry and how you can stand out from the competition.
9. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research
Researching customer satisfaction and loyalty will help you understand how you can attract current customers to your business and what will motivate them to do so (e.g. loyalty programs, rewards, excellent customer service).
10. Brand Awareness Research
Brand awareness research will tell you what your target audience knows about your brand and what they learn from it. It will tell you about the associations people have when they buy a product or service.
11. Research the campaign
Campaign research involves studying past campaigns and analyzing their success among target audiences and current customers. The goal is to use the knowledge gained to conduct future marketing campaigns.
How to Conduct Marketing Research
1. Define the buyer persona.
You need to understand how customers in your industry make purchasing decisions. That's where buyer personas come in. Buyer personas, sometimes called marketing personas, are fictional, generalized images of ideal customers.
Here are some key characteristics to look for in a buyer persona:
Age
Floor
Location
Position(s)
Job Titles
Family size
Income
Main problems
The idea is to use the image as a guide to effectively engage and learn from real audiences in the industry.
2. Determine the group of characters with whom the interaction will take place.
This should be a representative sample of your target customers so you can better understand their real characteristics, problems, and purchasing habits.
How to Identify the Right People to Participate in Marketing Research
When choosing who to involve in conducting marketing research, you need to:
Expect 10 participants per buyer.
Select people who have recently communicated with you.
Focus on behavior over the past six months (or up to a year).
Gather a group of participants. Attract people who have purchased the product, a competitor's product, and decided not to buy anything at all.
Provide an incentive. Encourage someone to spend 30-45 minutes researching.
3. Prepare research questions for marketing research participants.
The best way to get the most out of conversations is to be prepared for them.
You should always formulate questions to ensure that time is used wisely. Questions should be short and open-ended (with the possibility of a longer answer). Asking open-ended questions will help avoid monosyllabic answers (which are not very helpful).
Sample 30-minute survey plan
Background information (5 minutes)
Here, find out background information about the buyer (job title, how long they've been with the company, etc.). Then ask a fun/simple question to lighten the mood (first concert attended, favorite restaurant in town, etc.).
Introduction (5 minutes)
The key here is to understand how they first realized they had a problem that needed to be solved, without getting into the question of whether they already knew about the brand.
Review (10 minutes)
Now it's time to go into more detail about how and where the buyer researched potential solutions. This is where you can ask for more information.
Decision Making (10 minutes)
Find out what sources have an impact, whether there were alternatives for comparison, the pros and cons of different suppliers. Identify what factors influenced the final purchase decision.
Closing
Taking stock and understanding what could have been better for the buyer. Clarifying what the ideal buying process would look like. How would it differ from what they experienced?
Leave time for further questions after the work is completed.
4. List your main competitors.
Sometimes a division of a company may compete with the core product or service, even though that company's brand may be putting more effort into another area.
Don't underestimate the importance of looking at the websites that come up when you search Google for industry terms that describe your company. Compare the search results to your buyer persona. If the content being published on the website is similar to what the buyer would like to see, it is a potential competitor and should be added to your list of competitors.
5. Sum up.
To make the process easier, you can use your favorite presentation program to create the report, as it makes it easy to add quotes, charts, and a spreadsheet is great for breaking down teams by persona and customer/prospect.
Conducting market research can open up new horizons. Completing the research will likely open up new channels and provide messaging tips to help improve engagement.