Market research is the first thing a business does before launching a product, running a campaign, or starting a new venture. The idea is that by getting a good grasp on what consumers want, businesses can create products or services that actually meet those needs, which helps lower the chances of failure.
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What is Market Research?
Market research is the process of gathering information and data about a business’s target market and customers. There are many ways to do this, like surveys, chatting directly with people, interviews, and other methods.
Once the data is collected, the business starts to analyze it to get a feel for how its target customers think and behave. With that insight, they can create strategies to meet customer needs and tackle any issues by offering the right products or services.
Market research usually focuses on consumers, companies, competitors, and the industry as a whole. For instance, when looking at competitors, market research helps businesses see how their products are doing in the market. In terms of the industry, it helps them understand growth trends and what’s happening overall.
The Importance of Market Research
For a business to succeed, it’s important to understand its target market such as what they prefer, what they need, and what messages or campaigns will resonate with them. You can gather all this information by doing some market research. It also helps businesses make smart decisions about pricing, product features, promotions, distribution, and more.
If a business skips the market research before launching a product or service, there’s a good chance it will fail and not meet what customers are looking for.
Remember, the whole point of doing market research is to make decisions based on solid data, not just gut feelings or personal opinions.
Types of Market Research
There are two main types of market research: primary research and secondary research. Here’s a breakdown of what each one is all about.
Primary research
Primary research is when a company gathers data directly from consumers or hires third parties to do it. The data can be either numbers (statistical) or more qualitative (non-statistical).
There are two types of primary research: exploratory and specific.
- Exploratory research involves asking open-ended questions to a small group of people, usually about 6 to 10, to get their thoughts and insights.
- Specific research is more focused. It’s used to dig deeper and solve issues that were spotted during the exploratory phase.
Primary research is often done through focus group discussions (FGDs), online surveys, virtual meetings, and even ethnographic research.
Secondary research
Secondary research is when a company uses data that’s already been collected by others, such as the government, media, or other organizations.
You can usually find this information in newspapers, magazines, government websites, or reports from other institutions. This type of research is more suitable and useful for analyzing competitors.
Benefits of Market Research
Now that we’ve covered what market research is, why it matters, and the types, let’s look at how businesses can actually benefit from doing it.
Understand the market better
Market research helps businesses get a clearer picture of the market and their audience, such as what’s trending and what people are into. With these insights, businesses can come up with the right strategies to stay ahead of the competition.
Spot opportunities and threats
Market research helps businesses spot both opportunities and potential threats. Whether using primary or secondary research, it gives valuable insights into new opportunities to tap into and areas where the business might face challenges or risks.
Improve customer service
Market research helps businesses gather info about their customers and analyze things like their behavior, opinions, and feedback through interviews, group chats, surveys, online reviews, and more. Using this data, businesses can improve their customer service by addressing any issues or suggestions that come up.
Create personas
Market research helps businesses figure out who their ideal customers are by creating customer personas. These personas represent the people who are most likely to need the product, based on data about demographics, behaviors, and needs.
By doing market research, businesses can break the market into different groups and create specific personas for each one. Then, they can tailor their marketing messages and strategies to fit each persona perfectly.
Easy Ways to Do Market Research
Here are some steps that businesses can take to conduct market research:
Define the problem
Before jumping into market research, businesses should nail down the problem or topic they want to explore. This could be anything from figuring out product features, developing a new product, and understanding new target markets, to improving marketing strategies or customer experience.
Write down the research hypothesis
Once a business knows what topic they want to dig into, they can jot down a research hypothesis. This is basically an assumption they have about the topic. For example, they might think that the price of a product or service doesn’t really impact how people see the brand.
Choose the research method
After that, businesses should choose a research method that works with their budget, timeline, and the kinds of questions they want to answer. They can go with primary methods like surveys, group discussions, or interviews, or use secondary methods, or even a mix of both.
Analyze the research results
The final step is to analyze the information you’ve collected. This is where businesses can uncover valuable insights, like discovering that consumers need products or services like A to solve their issues, or that industry B is following trend C.
These insights can help businesses develop new products or services or create effective marketing campaigns.
How LOKASI Intelligence Makes Market Research Easy
Businesses can make market research quicker and more efficient with LOKASI Intelligence. LOKASI is a geospatial analytics platform combined with location intelligence.
It offers an in-depth analysis of everything from competitors to consumer behavior. With its detailed location data and telecom insights, businesses can get valuable information fast while saving both time and money.
Want to learn more? Reach out to us at [email protected] or via WhatsApp at 087779077750.
FAQs
Why is market research important for businesses?
Market research is important because it helps businesses understand what their customers need, want, and how they behave. The insights gained help businesses spot new opportunities, tweak their products or services to meet market demand, and track how well their current offerings are doing. In short, it helps businesses make smarter decisions and boosts their chances for long-term success.
Is market research only for big businesses?
No, market research isn’t just for big companies, small and medium businesses need it too. Even though big companies have more resources, market research is valuable for businesses of all sizes.
These days, there are plenty of tools and platforms that make market research easier, like LOKASI Intelligence. LOKASI helps businesses do market research fast and provides detailed reports to guide their decisions.
