4 Essential Market Research Strategies to Improve Your Business

According to Entrepreneur Magazine,the aim of market research is to understand why consumers would like to buy your product. It considers factors such as consumer behavior and the influence of culture and society on such behavior.

What’s the point in building an enviable team but lacking the understanding of how to put your products in front of the consumers? When your company begins to experience a decline in sales and revenue, it’s probably time to review your market research strategies.

There’s no gainsaying that market research is one of the most important factors in making a successful business. But your market research should be spurred by data derived from research and not through speculations.

So whether you have a new business or an existing business that’s losing its groove, market research can put you back on track provided you do it correctly. Here are some essential market research strategies you could implement, going forward, as shared by some successful business leaders in various industries.

1. Define your brand

“Defining your brand is imperative. Your brand is the image your prospective customers would see. It’s also the impression you want to create when you eventually locate or come in contact with your target market. You should therefore create a brand image that customers love to relate with. Take feedback and comments through your business blog, social media, and surveys. Once gathered, the feedback would give you a picture and guide you towards an effective implementation.” – Steve Lionais, CEO of Dr. Bill.

2. Find your target market

“An important aspect of market research is finding the perfect target market to buy your products or services. To do this, you must streamline your focus by determining the needs you can satisfy. You’d also need to obtain data from different sources. Data collection could be done via the phone, online or by mail. The market research process should include methods and technologies that are necessary to provide significant information in the most cost-effective manner. Doing this will definitely make an impact in your business and, by extension, on your customers.” – Chris Riley, Founder of Nerdnation.

3. What does your target market want?

“Many businesses get financially grounded as a result of low patronage. Most times, it’s because they seem not to understand what their target market wants. Through your research, you can identify what your target market really wants, not what you think they might want. Figuring this out is very easy. Apart from using products forums, social networks, and surveys, you could also check what your competitors are doing correctly. However, if you’ve made some pretty awesome products in the past, all you need do is intensify your efforts on improving on them.” – Roxana Zaman, Co-founder & COO of Maple.

4. Identify your competitive edge

“Every business has its own competitive edge. It could be your product design, mode of delivery, customer service, or brand image. Identifying this edge gives you more confidence that at least you’re on top of your game. But don’t be complacent, as your business rivals are waiting for a slip so that they can overtake you. For many years, Yahoo! was the preferred email marketing and search engine company until Google came from behind and took over. So you’ve got to brace up that you may avoid playing the second fiddle.” – Jimmy Rohampton, Founder of HowToCreateABlog.org.