Market research is foundational to business strategic planning, especially for branding and product development—whether it's physical or software. However, it doesn't stop once your product or brand is launched.
To have a realistic bird's eye view of your business landscape and how your company measures up to the competition and is perceived by the target customers, research these three key areas continuously.
Your research should be a blend of primary and secondary methods, combining both qualitative and quantitative data to be really thorough. Use internal marketing metrics, interviews, observation-based research, surveys, and public or commercial sources to dive deeper into the following:
Buyer Persona Research
When it comes to product or brand development, you always start by understanding the target customer or audience. Why should they buy from you? What problems are you solving for them?
This is easier to do if you're only offering a single product or service to all your clients or if your products and services are fairly standardized.
But even in this case, considering today's highly fragmented media landscape, businesses have had to learn to communicate one-to-one with customers through digital marketing and communication channels.
For your buyer persona research focus on:
Audience segmentation by grouping your audiences up based on demographic and behavioral data.
Building out personas using fictional characters. These are representative personifications of your audience segments.
Creating lists that organize and track the flow of your customers through different stages of your marketing and sales funnel. This especially supports your email marketing strategy.
Understanding customer satisfaction and loyalty. This helps inform strategies for better customer service, rewards, and loyalty programs.
Read more about how to create detailed buyer personas for your business here.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis plays a crucial role in shaping your brand’s strategic positioning. While there will always be competition, no one can replicate your unique brand identity—especially if you've done thorough research.
By analyzing competitors, you gain valuable insights into the market, identifying your own strengths and weaknesses while staying ahead of industry trends. This process also provides a benchmark for future growth, especially when comparing yourself to both larger, established companies and smaller, emerging ones.
To dig deeper, tools like SWOT analysis and market landscape charts can help you pinpoint where you stand in the competitive landscape.
Primary competitors - Analyze your direct competitors (similar product/service for a similar target audience) and indirect competitors (different product/service for similar target audience).
Industry trends and standards - Stay ahead by identifying emerging patterns in your industry.
Pricing Research - Analyze competitors' pricing strategies and compare them to yours to gauge perceived value.
Read more on how to conduct a competitive analysis here.
3. Brand Awareness Research
Brand awareness research reveals how well your audience knows and recognizes your brand, and the associations they make when they think of it. High brand awareness often means being seen as ‘trending’ or ‘popular,’ which is crucial for marketing, especially in a business’s early stages.
Though brand awareness isn’t an easily measurable metric, it’s still essential for your overall marketing goals and business success. The more you focus on building and optimizing brand recognition, the stronger your overall brand presence will be. It’s not about exact numbers, but about fostering familiarity and trust with your audience.
Social Listening and Media Monitoring - If you're brand new or about to launch, you can skip this part, otherwise pay very close attention. Track conversations about your brand and identify trends.
Optimizing Marketing or Communication Channels - Use a mix of owned, earned, paid, and shared media (e.g., website, social, PR) to reach your audience effectively.
Building Strategic Partnerships - Build alliances that amplify your brand’s reach and credibility.
Some of My Favorite Research Tools and Resources:
Statista - Data visualization platform.
Glimpse - Analyzes consumer behavior trends across platforms like Google, Amazon, and Reddit.
Think with Google - Tarket research tools like Google Trends and Market Finder.
Typeform & SurveyMonkey - Survey tools for direct feedback from your audience.
Pew Research Center - Insight into social issues, public opinion, and demographics.
Forrester - Research and advisory company offering blogs, webinars, and market insights.
G2 - Peer-to-peer review site offering market insights.
If you enjoy discovering new tools, read my article: Efficiency Boosters: 5 Must-Have Tools for Business Automation
Conclusion
Market research is very eye-opening, often uncovering new opportunities and insights that can enhance your marketing strategy. Even if you think you know your audience, there’s always more to discover—helping you improve customer interactions and brand engagement and stay ahead of the competition.
If you are about to go to market, launch a brand or product, and need help with strategic planning, contact PENEDIT Marketing here.
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