Is Market Research Really Necessary?
Do you think you are too small to do conduct market research for your business?
It’s not news to anyone that the business world is increasingly competitive. On the one hand, more anxious and demanding customers challenge us to deliver quality, agility, and affordable prices. On the other, markets in constant transformation, with new products and services appearing all the time. Added to this are challenging macroeconomic scenarios and a relentless pursuit of maximum productivity at the lowest cost.
So, as a small business, how do you differentiate and find competitive advantages in such a complex scenario? If you’ve thought about market research, point to you. Market research provides data and information so that your small business can succeed and grow sustainably.
In this post, we explain to you why small businesses should do market research. Read on!
1. Get To Know Your Buyer Personas Up Close
How should your business communicate? What social networks do you need to be present on? Where do you advertise your products? How do you position yourself on Google? For all these questions, the answer is: it depends on who you’re talking to.
That’s why it’s so important to know your Buyer Personas. Without knowing your ideal client, it is difficult to plan effective actions and strategies.
With a Buyer Persona survey, you’ll know who your customers are, what they think, how they search for products and services, what their consumption habits are, and lots of other valuable information.
2. Helps in Decision Making
Imagine you received extra money. What’s the first thing you do with this money?
The vast majority of people would evaluate and research the best way forward. Some would search the internet for information about the property market or investment. Others would talk to trusted friends and family. There are also those who would go to the bank manager, a consultant, or other specialists who could help them make the best decision.
In either path, the option chosen is the same: seek more information to decide safely. And if we do it in our personal lives, why wouldn’t we do it in our professional life? When making decisions that will impact your business’s day-to-day, you need to gather data that will help you in that decision and not just listen to your intuition.
Market research provides information about what consumers think about your brand, product, service, competition, or market. Based on this information, you can make strategic decisions more confidently.
3. Identify Errors in Time
You know that phrase: “To err is human, persisting in error is stupid”? In the day-to-day life of a business, the problem is sometimes we persist in the error precisely because we don’t identify the error. In this case, you can’t call it stupid or lack of knowledge, but really ignorance.
By doing market research, you should be able to know the SWOT analysis of a business. The analysis includes Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. If this is known, then you will be able to identify possible errors and plan ahead.
4. Closely Observe the Competition
Being aware of the behavior of your competitors is an essential bet to stay in the business world. Therefore, it’s important to compare your products with theirs, the prices they are charging, the service they offer, and how much they produce. With these results in hand, it is possible to identify points of improvement and opportunities.
Also, in many cases, the reason you are losing clientele may be due to your opponent’s success. Therefore, being inspired by the achievements of others is vital to learn and improve your services, prices, and positioning.
5. Predict Market Trends
By listening to your consumer frequently, you can identify market trends and changes in consumer behavior. This information allows brands to anticipate and take advantage of these changes in the best way possible.
In an ever-changing business world, predicting trends is vital. Imagine if taxis could predict that services like Uber and Lyft would become popular. Or if the hotel chain imagined that people would start staying in apartments through Airbnb.
6. Know Your Company’s Positioning
How your company is positioned in relation to competitors and customers is one of the most precious pieces of information to be obtained from market research. Therefore, it is beneficial to know the company’s position in various rankings: sales volume, quality, technology, consumer preferences, imagination, etc.
And it can and should be broken down by product, region, type of consumer, etc. However, a strategic plan, especially a marketing plan made without research, is very imprecise and can lead to severe mistakes.
7. Decide on The Marketing and Point of Sale
The analysis of the marketing channels is also one of the points to be analyzed in market research. This is because not all products require the same marketing and promotion strategy. Thanks to market research, you will be able to find the most suitable point of sale for your product or service, as well as the best promotion channel, and incorporate it into your strategy.
8. Identify Issues Related to Brand Image
Image crisis can devastate a business overnight. But, unfortunately, the reality is there to show us dozens of cases of brands recognized by consumers as sexist, homophobic, discriminatory, or retrograde and had a hard time recovering fully.
With market research, you can avoid image crises by constantly assessing your brand image with your consumers. In addition, whenever you launch a new campaign, remember to test the campaign beforehand. This way, it will be possible to identify if the campaign transmits the expected values and messages, avoiding problems and misinformation.
9. Retain Talents on Your Team
A business is made up of people. That phrase has become a cliché because it’s the purest truth. That’s why you need to take good care of your team. Retaining talent is a challenge for many small businesses, but market research can be the solution.
When carrying out an organizational survey, it is possible to identify reasons for dissatisfaction among employees, signs of lack of motivation, cultural problems, and other signs that something is not going well. Then, with the results in hand, it becomes possible to act and prevent capable and talented people from abandoning the boat.
Conclusion
In short, market research is vital so that the entrepreneur and small business owner can know the expectations and needs of his clients and potential buyers. In this way, the company will be able to continue meeting the demands of its target and continue to grow and generate profit. Therefore, use market research as a tool in your favor and gain competitive advantages to succeed in your business.
Need help finding excellent market research and digital marketing tools. Download our free eBook, The Ultimate List of Market Research Tools. We list over 70 tools to help you accomplish the research you need to grow your business.
Get Our Ebook on Market Research Tools
As a business owner, you probably know how vital it is to keep an eye on the competition. When done right, market research can help you be vigilant of your competitors, make wise business decisions, and much more.
