Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 4: Plan Your Market Research
• Part 2 of 4: Getting useful information
• Part 3 of 4: Doing Your Own Research
• Part 4 of 4: Analyzing Results
• Tips

Marketing research is carried out by both future entrepreneurs and actual businessmen in order to collect and analyze useful information about the market of the type of activity in which they are engaged. Marketing research is used to find effective strategies, weigh the pros and cons of development paths, determine future business moves, and more.You will have a competitive edge if you have good marketing research skills. To get started, start at step number 1.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Plan Your Market Research

1. 1 In your mind, state the purpose of your research. Marketing research is conducted to help you and your business become more competitive and more profitable. If your marketing research ultimately does not provide any benefits, it will simply be wasted time, and you, in that case, would be better off doing something else. Before you start marketing research, it is important to determine what you want to get from them. Your marketing research can lead you in unexpected directions - and that's okay. However, it is best not to start marketing research without at least one or more goals in mind. Below are some questions you may want to consider when designing your marketing research:
   • Is there a market need for my product? Explore customer priorities and spending habits. This will help you assess whether placing your product in a specific market is justified.
   • Are my products and services satisfying customer requirements? Researching customer satisfaction with your products can increase your competitiveness.
   • Is my pricing for goods and services effective? Researching your competitiveness and market trends will help you determine the maximum profit you can afford without compromising your business.
2. 2 Create a plan for efficient collection of information. Not only is it important what you want to end up with, but it is important to understand how you can gather the information you need. Again, planning will help you succeed in your research. Don't set goals without knowing how to get there. The following are the questions you should consider when planning your marketing research:
   • Do I need to find comprehensive market data? Analyzing existing data can help you make decisions about the future of your business, but finding meaningful and accurate information can be difficult.
   • Do I need independent research? Building your own database through surveys, target audience research, interviews and other methods can provide a lot of information for a company about the market in which you operate. To get them, you will need resources, time, which can also be used differently.
3. 3 Be prepared to submit your research and, with reference to it, move on to action. Marketing research ultimately influences the actual decisions in the company. When you are doing market research, unless you are a sole proprietor, you usually need to share your research with colleagues and have a plan of action in your mind. If you have a boss, he may or may not agree with the course of action. As long as you do not make mistakes in the way data is collected and processed, you will most likely agree with the market trend that your data is displaying. Ask yourself the following:
   • What is my research predicted to show? Try to hypothesize before starting your research. It will be easier for you to come to a conclusion if you have already considered a similar outcome and does not come as a complete surprise.
   • What if the assumptions come true? If your market research ultimately confirms your assumptions, what implications will it have for your company?
   • What if the assumptions don't come true? If the result of the research catches you by surprise, how should the company proceed? Do you have backup paths of development in case of unforeseen results?

Part 2 of 4: Getting useful information

1. 1 Use government sources of industry information. With the advent of the information age, it has become much easier for businessmen to access a huge amount of data. Another question is how reliable these data are. In order to reach a conclusion based on market research, it is very important to start research from reliable sources. One of the main reliable sources is government (sources). Market research conducted by the government is usually accurate, well-proven, and available freely or at low cost, which is essential for a nascent business.
   • For example, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can find a detailed monthly report on non-agricultural employment of the population, as well as grouped data for the quarter and year. These reports contain information on salaries, employment levels. Data can be displayed by region, region, as well as by industry.
2. 2 Use trade association data. Trade associations are organizations formed from groups of companies with similar activities, united by a common goal. In addition to general activities such as lobbying, community outreach, advertising campaigns, trade associations often conduct market research. Research data is used to increase competitiveness and profitability. Some of this data may be publicly available while others are only for members.
   • The Colombian Chamber of Commerce is an example of a local trade association that offers market research data. Annual reports detail market growth and trends in Columbus, Ohio. The data is available to anyone with an Internet connection. Members of the Chamber also process individual requests for specific data.
3. 3 Use data from industry publications. Many industries have one or more journals, publications to keep industry members up to date with current news, market trends, government policy goals, and more. Many publications conduct and publish their own research, which benefits members of the industry. Raw marketing research data can often be made available to non-industry members. Nearly all trade publishers publish some articles online to learn about strategic advice and marketing trends. These articles often include the results of market research.
   • For example, ABA Banking Journal offers a wide variety of free online articles, including articles on market trends, leadership strategy, and more. The journal also has links to industry resources that may include market research data.
4. 4 Use data from educational institutions. Since the market is very important to society, it is often the subject of science and academic research. Many colleges, universities and other educational institutions (in particular, economics schools) often publish research results based on the market as a whole, or on some of its sectors. Research results are available from educational publishers or directly at the institution. It should be noted that this data is often available for a fee. Therefore, in order to access them, a one-time payment or subscription to certain publications is often required.
   • For example, the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania offers free access to a variety of market research data, including academic papers and periodic marketing reviews.
5. 5 Use third party resources. Since a good understanding of the market can lead to starting or closing a business, entrepreneurs and companies often rely on analysts and services from companies that do not directly work in the industry to be researched.This type of company offers its market research services to companies and business people who need an accurate, highly specialized report. However, since these companies are profitable, you need to pay for them.
6. 6 Don't fall prey to marketing services. Keep in mind that marketing research can seem complicated and confusing, which is something that companies that provide these services take advantage of, significantly inflating prices for inexperienced entrepreneurs. So, they can significantly inflate the price of information that is in the public domain or costs very little. In general, you shouldn't sacrifice large resources for information that is publicly available or inexpensive.
   • As an example, the well-named MarketResearch.com offers access to market research data, books and analyzes for a fee. The price for a paper can vary widely from US $ 100-200 to US $ 10,000. The site also offers the opportunity to consult with expert analysts, paying only for specific portions of long, detailed reports. However, the usefulness of some of these studies seems questionable - one report, priced at $ 10,000, has its own summary (including key findings), which may be free on another online resource.

Part 3 of 4: Doing Your Own Research

1. 1 Use the available data to assess the supply and demand situation in the market. In general terms, your business has a good chance of being successful if it can meet market needs that are still unmet - so you need to focus on delivering products and services that are in demand. Economic data from governments, educational institutions, and industry publishers (described above) can help you identify whether these needs exist or not. In general, you need to identify the market niche where there is a customer willing to pay for your company's products.
   • For example, we would like to engage in landscaping services. If we research the market welfare and local government data, then we can that people in a certain area of ​​the city have a fairly high income. We can dig deeper and find regions with high water consumption, which may indicate a large number of houses with lawns.
   • This information may be the main reason for opening a store in a wealthy, abundant area of ​​the city where people's homes have large gardens, rather than in an area where the gardens are small and people do not have funds for landscaping. Using market research, we come to informed decisions about where (and where not) to start our business.
2. 2 Conduct a survey. One of the most basic, time-tested ways to find out how customers feel about your business is through a survey! Surveys offer market researchers the chance to reach out to a large sample of people for data that can be used to make big strategic decisions. However, since surveys are impersonal, it is important to make sure that your survey can be easily quantified.
   • For example, if a questionnaire asks how people feel about your business, it may not be effective because you need to read and analyze each answer individually to get the point. Better to ask customers to rate certain aspects of your business in terms of points: customer service, prices, and so on. This allows you to more quickly and easily identify your strengths and weaknesses, giving you the ability to quantify and graph against the data.
   • In the case of our landscaping company, we could interview our first 20 clients, asking them to fill out a survey card at the time of invoice payment.On this card, you can ask your customers to rate you from 1 to 5 in terms of quality, price, speed of service, and the quality of the customer service department. If the first two are mostly rated 4 and 5 by customers, and the latter at 2 and 3, then you should consider how to improve customer needs and provide training for your staff.
3. 3 Conducting research with focus groups. One way to determine how your customers might be responding to your strategy is to invite them to participate in a focus group. In focus groups, small groups of customers gather in a neutral place to try a product or service and discuss it with a representative. Often, focus sessions are reviewed, captured, and analyzed later.
   • If a landscaping company decides to consider selling high-priced lawn care products as part of their services, you can invite repeat customers to participate in a focus group. Focus group offers new products for lawn care. They are then asked questions about which product, if any, they are most likely to buy. You can also ask them what has changed from the use of new products - has something changed for the better?
4. 4 Conducting personal interviews. The most accurate and high-quality data for marketing research can be achieved by conducting a personal interview with a client. Individual interviews do not provide the broad, quantitative data like a survey, but on the other hand, they allow you to dive relatively "deep" in search of the information you need. Interviews allow you to understand why specific customers like your products or services. It's a great choice for learning how to get to your client's market most effectively.
   • In the landscape company example, let's say our company is trying to design a small ad that will run on local TV. Surveying dozens of customers can help you decide which aspects of your service should be emphasized in your ad. For example, if the majority of our respondents say they are hiring landscaping because they don't have time to maintain their lawns on their own, you could advertise with a focus on saving potential clients time. For example, "Tired of wasting all weekend on weedy lawns? We'll do all the work for you!" (etc).
5. 5 Testing. Companies considering introducing new products or services often allow potential customers to try their product or service for free in order to iron out any problems before launching it on the market. Conducting customer selection testing can help you determine if further changes are needed.
   • If you take a landscaping company, for example, it decided to offer a new service - planting plants in the client's garden after the landscaping work. We can allow several clients to use this service for free, provided that they then appreciate the work done. If customers like this service but would never pay for it, they should reconsider their program for launching such a service.

Part 4 of 4: Analyzing Results

1. 1 Answer the main question that faced your research. Before starting your research, you have set goals for yourself. These are questions about your business strategy that you would like to apply - for example, whether or not to invest additional investments, whether a certain marketing decision is the right one. The main goal of your marketing research is to get answers to these questions. As the goals of marketing research differ, the information that needs to be obtained to answer the questions will differ. Usually, you choose the path of development that will be most effective.
   • Let's go back to our landscaping company, where we were trying to get an opinion on a new planting service. Suppose a study of government publications showed that the population in the region is wealthy enough to pay for additional landing services, but your survey shows that a very small percentage of the population would pay for this service. In this case, we will most likely decide to postpone the launch of such a service. We may change the idea or discard it entirely.
2. 2 Conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Marketing research combines the application of this method. If SWOT analysis is used in research, you can assess the economic health of the company by identifying the overall strengths and weaknesses.
   • Suppose that when we tried to determine if our planting service was a smart idea, we found that a significant number of respondents said they liked flowers but didn’t have enough resources to care for them after planting. We could classify this as an opportunity for our business - if we end up selling a flower planting service, then we could start selling gardening tools as a standard or premium service.
3. 3 Find new target markets. In simple terms, a target market is a group (or groups) of people for whom you create products, run advertising campaigns, and end up trying to sell your products or services. If data from a research project showed that certain types of people predominantly buy your goods, then this group of people can be used to concentrate their limited resources, thereby increasing their competitiveness and profitability.
   • For example, in our example of planting flowers, for example, while the majority of respondents reacted negatively to planting flowers, most older people reacted positively to the idea. If follow-up studies of this group of people have shown positive results, you can carve out a niche in your business directly for the elderly population - for example, through advertising in local bingo halls.
4. 4 Identify the following research topics. Market research often gives rise to the need for further marketing research. After you have answered one pressing question, new questions arise or old questions remain unanswered. Further research or different methodological approaches may be required to provide an answer. If the results of your initial market research are promising, you can obtain permission for further research.
   • In our case with a beautification company, research has shown that planting flowers is not a good idea. However, there are still a few unanswered questions. Examples of other questions and how to solve them are given below:
     • Is the planting of the flowers itself unattractive to the customers, or is there a problem with the colors offered for planting? This can be explored by offering customers variations of floral arrangements.
     • Perhaps a certain market sector is more susceptible to flower planting than others? We could investigate this by cross-checking the results of previous studies, breaking down the correspondents' responses by demographic characteristics (age, income, marital status, gender, etc.)
     • Perhaps there were people in the study who were more enthusiastic about a flower planting service that complements basic services with a slight price increase, rather than being offered as a standalone service? We could investigate this by conducting two separate product studies (one with an add-on service included in the overall package of services, the other as a separate service).

Tips

• If making a decision you risk losing a lot of money, use the services of professional marketing companies. Carry out a tender for the execution of these works.
• If you are on a tight budget, look first at the reports that are available for free online.Also look for reports that have been published by an association in your market or specialized magazines (magazines for professional hairdressers, plumbers, plastic toy manufacturers, etc.)
• You can ask local university students to participate in your research. Contact a professor who teaches the discipline of marketing research and inquire about the possibility of such a program. You may have to pay a small amount, but it will not be as significant compared to professional marketing research.
• Sometimes there may be multiple target markets. Finding new markets is a great way to expand your business.