“Strong Marketing Plan Series: Step 1: Market Research”

In part one of our Strong Marketing Plan Series, we will explore market research—what it is, why it is important, and how you can conduct it to help your small business. To achieve sustainable business growth, you must first get to know your customers, your competitors, and your industry. Market research is the process of analyzing data to help you learn which products and services are in demand, and how you can gain a competitive edge. Many people fail to include this important step in their marketing strategy and dive head first into creating content. It is natural to be eager, but without market research you run the risk of creating the wrong content. As an entrepreneur, you don’t have that time to waste.

By incorporating these 4 dos and don’ts into your marketing plan, you will gain valuable insight that will help you identify business risks, trends in your industry, and sales opportunities.

1   Do: Size Up Your Competition

Before you can play the game, you need to know who your opponents are and how they operate. This can be as simple as running a Google search for popular terms in your industry or searching “top 10 (insert your niche) blogs”. You can also turn to social media and learn who the prominent businesses and influencers are in that space. Who are people following, engaging with through comments, or re-tweeting? Many industry leaders are writing e-books. Visit the Kindle section on Amazon and search with key words to discover which authors are most popular. Keep track of what you learn about your competition on a spreadsheet.

2   Don’t: Assume Your Customer’s Needs

As a business owner, you are a problem solver. But before you can provide your clients with a solution, you need to know what they need help with. To do this, refer back to your list of competitors. Dig a little deeper and visit their websites. What customer problems are they solving? Do they have a list of FAQs? Do the majority of their blog posts address a specific challenge their customers are facing? What are they selling and at what price? Add this information to your spreadsheet. As a result of this research, you may opt to add additional services or change the way you deliver your product. As your business grows, you will have ample opportunity to get creative with product development. However, to ensure success from the start, market something that you are confidant people want.

3   Don’t: Recreate The Wheel

Trade groups, business magazines, academic institutions, government, and other third parties gather and analyze research data about business trends. Internet databases are chock full of information related to your location and industry. In addition, you may already be collecting analytics that you aren’t aware of. If you have a Facebook page for your business, you have access to helpful data about who is clicking and when. The same applies to your blog. Comments are indicators of engagement, but you can also learn a ton from the back end of your platforms. For example, if you embedded an infographic with tracking capabilities, you can monitor every time it is clicked, viewed, shared, and how long each online user viewed it. This wealth of knowledge will afford you a greater understanding of what makes your target market take action. You can then adjust your content accordingly to make it even more relevant.

4   Do: Get To Know Your Customers

While secondary research is critical, it is also important to go straight to the source. This means conducting qualitative primary research such as interviews, surveys, questionnaires, or focus groups. Once you have a group of willing participants, you can design and questions that inform your business plan. You might choose to incorporate questions about a person’s demographic, buying habits, what they dislike about similar products on the market, or what problems motivate them to purchase a product.

Once you have done your market research, you can incorporate it into your marketing plan. You will no longer be throwing a dart while blindfolded, hoping to hit a target. Instead, you will have incredibly valuable information about who your customers are, what they want, and how they are likely to purchase your product or use your services.

Have you been surprised by something you’ve discovered in your market research? If so, please share in the comments below!