Digital Marketing form Zero: Step 2 Market Research
Market research is the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data for customers, competitors, and trends.
What to research?
- General market environment research
- Consumers
- Competitors
General market environment research
Also known as sector analysis, or industry trend research, involves gathering data about industry characteristics trends, market size, competition, customer preference. We do this to gain industry insights, to make better strategic decisions.
Research the following
- Market size and growth
- Market segmentation
- Competitive analysis
- Customer analysis
- Industry trends
- Barriers to enter market
- Suppling and distributing channels
- Economic factors
This information is critical to create business plans, launching new products or services, expanding into new markets, and staying competitive.
Customer research
This research refers to the systematic process of gathering info about consumers to better understand their needs, preferences, behaviors, opinions. It helps better define the target audience, improve products, increase customer satisfaction.
Research the following:
- purchasing patterns
- purchasing experiences
- customer characteristics and motivations
Some ways to research consumers:
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Data analysis
- Customer feedback and comments
This information is used in product development, marketing and customer service strategies, pricing and offerings.
Competitor research
This research is the collection and analysis of info about direct competitors. The purpose is to have a look at some of their good strategies, get ideas there, and look at their weakness to get competitive advantages to where they don’t do so well.
Template : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-slJc-9fDQjfV01RqNKdq8wjC5xqjzdv7Sc-yq0J8QY/edit#gid=0
Research the following:
- SWOT research
- strengths
- weaknesses
- marketing positions
- product offerings
- pricing
- marketing tactics
- customer relationship
After research. create an action plan to make adjustments. Such research will help you differentiate yourself, anticipate market changes, devlop effective strategies.
Consumer market research
Research the following:
- Demographic data: age, gender, income, education, occupation, location — to identify target audience segments
- Psychological data: customer attitudes, values, interests, hobbies, lifestyle, personality — to understand motivation, preferences, buying behavior
- Customer needs and pain points: problems, challenges desires — to tailor your products and info to their needs
- Purchasing behavior: why they purchase, frequency, average amount spent, preferred channels, factors that influence them — to decide price, quality, how to get brand loyalty
- Customer satisfaction: feedback on product quality, customer service, website usability, design
- Communication preferences: email, social media, in person, call and the type of content they find most valuable, like articles, videos, infographics
- Competitor analysis: customer interactions wit your competitors, what brands they like as your alternative, what factors influence their choice, their strengths and weaknesses
- Feedback and reviews: collect customer feedback via surveys, comments and find ways of improvement
- Future needs and trends: Anticipate the tends by analyzing industry and technologies.
Primary Research (survey)
- Clearly define the objective of research
- Keep survey brief and focused
- Use simple language
- Use a variety of question types
- Test the survey before giving out
- Give clear instructions
- Offer anonymity
- Thank them
Tools for surveys: Google forms, typeform
Secondary Research (survey)
For a better filtered Google search you can use:
- Google search operators
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11hLSyjvdvKD7TgXWHz_SFMpR8ldUV6LTRVPcNwcJFDo/edit - Google dorking
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vjOXlafgWkMKEd7sW2bQyxlYfWSaKPk9rfBjFoRaeWI/edit#heading=h.vzmel9gzjrzi
How to check credibility of data?
- Authority of source — academic institutions, government, reputable organization
- Qualification of author or specialist
- Transparency is research methodology, sampling techniques, tools, how they obtained data
- Date
Target Market vs Segmentation
Market segmentation is a process of dividing a population into groups that share common characteristics. A target market is a specific segment or segments that a company wants to reach with its products or services. Market segmentationis the basis for identitfing your target market.
- Demographic segmentation- based on age, gender, income, education, occupation, family size
- Psychological segmentation- based on personality traits, interest lifestyle
- Behavioral segmentation- based on usage patterns, loyalty, frequency of purchase
- Geographical segmentation- based on location, climate, population density, cultural differences
Creating a Buyer Persona
Example here, to edit yourself: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gSU3vbaQXqI5Rq3tafKY9Wsir751Mr_Ks2wxWAN4PKo/edit#heading=h.x20f8t9eyxt8
Market Positioning
Creating the most suitable position for your brand, based on the demands of the customers, taking into account the company’s advantages, compared to competitor’s positions.
The formula of a positioning text is: Product X offers Y to benefit the consumer, which determines what the brand is from the point of view of the product, what advantages it has.
OR
The {name} brand for {short description of target audience, 3-5 words} is {brand category} which is {brand advantage} because {evidence}.
