The Importance of Market Research in Marketing
It’s becoming more and more important for companies to understand their target audiences in today’s competitive markets.
That means companies need to conduct thorough research of their past, current, as well as potential customers to create more effective marketing campaigns and improve their solutions.
Fortunately, that information isn’t too difficult to obtain due to the development of tools, platforms, and technologies.
Benefits
Since 2008 the global revenue of the market research industry has doubled, and these days is valued at over $70 billion.
That’s because market research tends to give companies plenty of benefits and any company that wants to create a brand new marketing campaign or improve its solutions is at a disadvantage if it doesn’t rely on market research.
In fact, it’s through market research that companies can keep their target audiences at the focus of every business decision.
That’s because by understanding the needs and desires of the target market, companies can personalize everything, from their marketing efforts to their products, according to the wants and needs of their customers.
By doing that, companies also reduce the negative customer experiences, which is an incredible benefit since even a single negative customer experience is enough to make over 60% of customers leave a business.
Additionally, market research tools can also help companies figure out new business opportunities as well as potential threats.
By communicating with customers and understanding their purchasing behaviors companies can figure out which new markets they can target.
With the same strategy, companies can figure out their market competitors and any potential external threats that could damage a company’s reputation if that business doesn’t take action.
At the end of the day, through market research companies can get a lot of competitive advantages, and that’s especially true because less than 40% of companies are using market research in their business decisions.
Using Market Research
There are several different ways that companies can utilize the data from market research in their business decisions and marketing campaigns.
However, using this data to inform or optimize a marketing strategy from the creation of a campaign to the execution and analysis stages is one of the most powerful ways that companies can utilize that information.
For example, companies can ensure that any new products they launch will achieve success by using information from market research. According to studies, about 50% of all product launches tend to be delayed, and about 20% don’t meet the goals they were set out to achieve.
However, when a company has a better understanding of what its customers want precisely, it’s a lot easier to successfully launch a new product because all that a business needs to do is give that product to its customers.
Furthermore, companies can utilize market research to focus all of their promotional efforts on the areas where they already have a competitive advantage.
By focusing the marketing efforts in those areas, instead of the ones that are overly saturated, companies can improve their return on investment as well.
Lastly, market research data can be used to improve a company’s marketing efforts even after a campaign has been launched so that the company can focus on using the elements that are performing well instead of the ones that aren’t.
Co-CEO at 5W Public Relations, Dara Busch oversees 5W’s Consumer PR Practice, which includes Travel & Entertainment, Apparel & Accessories, Non-Profits, Home & Housewares, Health & Wellness, Mom & Baby, Beauty & Grooming, and Consumer Packaged Goods.